Adolescent prostitution

Although juvenile prostitution has been documented since antiquity, its rise since 1970 has been overwhelming. Newsweek (1978) reported an alarming increase in arrests of prostitutes under the age of 25 in New York from 24% to 74% in the previous 10 years. In Boston the average age of prostitutes is 20 years old; in Miami it is 18. The purpose of this paper is to explore the conditions which lead to teenagers' becoming prostitutes, and how our institutions and legal system deal with them.