(WKBN) – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost held the second annual Human Trafficking Summit on Thursday.

He credited the efforts of law enforcement and others for targeting people he says are preying on women and children for sex.

Yost says the victims are used as slaves.

“When you enter into that transaction to pay for sex, you’re accepting the risk that you’re furthering human trafficking, that you are complicit in slavery. I don’t think most men who buy sex think through the ethics of it,” Yost said.

Yost also credited lawmakers for enacting new legislation that creates harsher penalties for those who pay for sex, especially with underage victims.