x xf xf xf xfxf x - St Clements University

findings of Alder's research is the extent to which these young people suffer violent
victimization without seeking assistance or reporting the crime to authorities.
In the United States, street children are a serious problem for young people and
delinquencies are punishable by arrest and jailing (Janus et al. 1987). Girls make up 63%
of young people appearing in juvenile court charged with running away from home
(Chesney-Lind and Shelden 1993). Because runaways are virtually without police
protection, they are the most vulnerable group for violence and sexual exploitation
(White, Underwood, and Omelczuk 1991). Once forced out, the movement into
prostitution may follow shortly there after. A study in Miami consisting of 100 seriously
delinquent, drug-addicted girls shows the age at first time for prostitution was 12.6 years
old ( Inciardi and Pottieger 1991).
Street prostitution is undoubtedly the most violent-prone experience among all street
activities, and follows a childhood of sexual assault, rape, and physical assault (Boyer et
al. 1988; Davis 1993a; 1993c). Teenage prostitutes are drawn from the chronic homeless
who often live in squats or "crash pads" in abandoned buildings without utilities or
bathrooms (Beyette 1988). Several factors may be involved with a girl engaging in
prostitution, “she may be coerced, tricked, seduced, blackmailed by a pimp, or learned in
her abusive family to communicate primarily through sex” (Campagna and Poffenberger
1988, 65-66).
Lack of shelters is a major factor in the girl's movement into prostitution (Davis 1993b;
1993c). However, the most common form of teenage prostitution is a non-commercial
transaction, "survival sex," by which the girl trades sex for "warm shelter for a night,
drugs or perhaps a few 'Big Macs'" (Beyette 1988; see also Chesney-Lind and Shelden
1993, 38). American data on drug use among young people show a strong association
between substance abuse and delinquency, a trend that is increasingly occurring among
younger ages (National Institute of Justice 1997).
23