Issue Paper: The Effects of Systems of Prostitution and CSE in the United States and Worldwide

Systems of Prostitution in the United States

In the United States, systems of prostitution are a multi-billion dollar industry involving both children and women, disproportionately people of color.

• One million girls and women are in prostitution.
  Miller, JoAnn L. 1991. “Prostitution in Contemporary American Society”. In Sexual Coercion.
  


• Approximately one percent of U.S. women have been in prostitution at some point.
  Lockett, Gloria. 1991. “Black Prostitutes and AIDS.” In The Black Women’s Health Book. Seal Press.
  


• Approximately 40% of individuals in street prostitution are girls and women of color.
  Brock and Thistlethwaite. 1996. Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the United States. Fortress Press.

U.S. systems of prostitution include international trafficking (including both sexual slavery and “debt bondage”), domestic trafficking, localized prostitution rings and industries, and internet prostitution and pornography.

The primary response to victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking has been punitive. Systems of prostitution are recognized as a primary cause of female involvement in the criminal justice system. Prosecution and incarceration of victims of sexual exploitation is a multi-million dollar expense.

• 1/3 of women in jails today were arrested for prostitution.
  


• 70% of women arrested for felonies were initially arrested for prostitution.
  R. Barri Flowers. 1998. The Prostitution of Women and Girls. McFarland.
  


• Although 40% of individuals in street prostitution are women and girls of color, these women and girls constitute 55% of arrests and 85% of those sentenced to jail time.
  Brock and Thistlethwaite. 1996. Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the United States. Fortress Press.
  


• U.S. cities spend an average of $7.5 million dollars on prostitution control each year.
  Pearl, Julie. 1987. “The Highest Paying Customers: Americas Cities and the Cost of Prostitution Control”. In Hastings Law Journal. p. 769-800.

• Approximately 85% of individuals in the sex industries reported history of child sexual abuse
  The Council for Prostitution Alternatives, Annual Report, 1991
  


• At least 300,000 of the individuals in prostitution in the U.S. are children
  U.S. Department for Health and Human Services
  


• Some estimates place the number between 500,000 to 1.2 million children in U.S. prostitution
  Schetky, Diane H. 1988. “Child Pornography and Prostitution” in Child Sexual Abuse, eds. Brunner and Mazel.
  


• Average age of recruitment into prostitution has been cited as 14 years
  Giobbe, Evelina. 1992. “Juvenile Prostitution: Profile of Recruitment”. In Child Trauma I: Issues and Research. Garland Publishing. p. 117.
  


• Approximately 78% of adult prostitutes began as children or youth. Of these, 60% were 16 or younger.
  Silbert, Mimi. 1984. “Treatment of Prostitute Victims of Sexual Assault” In Victims of Sexual Aggression. Van Nostrand Reinhold.
  


• Between March 1998 and September 2003, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a total of 118, 987 reports of child pornography on the internet.
  CyberTipLine FactSheet. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Individuals in systems of prostitution are extremely vulnerable to rape and sexual assault, and to physical violence

• Approximately 70% of women in prostitution report being raped.
  Mimi Silbert. 1998. “Compounding Factors in the Rape of Street Prostitutes”, in Rape and Sexual Assault II, ed. A.W. Burgess. Garland Publishing
  


• Another study reports that 85% of women and girls in prostitution are raped by pimps.
  Council for Prostitution Alternatives, 1994.
  


• According to the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault, 83% of individuals in prostitution experience assault with a weapon.

The majority of U.S. prostitution specifically involves pimping.

• 90% of interviewed women in Minnesota had pimps while in prostitution
  WHISPER Oral History Project, 1987
  


• 80-95% of all prostitution is pimp-controlled.
  Barry, Kathleen. 1995. The Prostitution of Sexuality. NYU Press.

The majority of adults in prostitution have children, whose needs are mostly unrecognized.

• More than 2/3 of women in prostitution have at least one child.
  Weiner, Adele. 1996. “Understanding the Social Needs of Streetwalking Prostitutes.” In Social Work. 41. p. 97-106
  

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