Youth Who Exchange Sex for Money in the United States

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

In the United States, the commercial sexual exploitation of children has become a growing concern for youth advocates and policymakers. In response, the past decade has seen an array of new initiatives, including expanded federal and state enforcement; increased services for female victims; specialized human or sex trafficking courts that seek to connect the involved youth with court-ordered services; and the rise of interagency federal, state, and local task forces that are intended to foster centralized action amongst key actors in the criminal and juvenile justice, child welfare, and community-based treatment systems Amidst intensifying media and policy attention, there has been a paucity of rigorous research on the size, needs, and characteristics of the full population of youth who exchange sex for money. The absence of a research-based and representative understanding of the lives of these young people has hindered the ability of advocates and policymakers to design relevant programs and make informed policy decisions. This panel seeks to fill this gap in knowledge by presenting on findings from a study, funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, on youth who exchange sex for money.

Sub Unit

• Area II. Types of Offending and Victimization / 19. Sex Work/Prostitution and Human Trafficking

Individual Presentations

• A Portrait of Youth Who Exchange Sex for Money in the United States - Rachel Swaner, Center for Court Innovation

• Juvenile and Young Adult Prostitutes: Reconsidering the Trafficking Narrative - Andrew L. Spivak, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Jennifer M. Whitmer, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Brooke M. Wagner, Wittenberg University

• Policing Street Survival Sex: Transgirls’ Voices from Chicago, IL - Laurie Schaffner, University of Illinois at Chicago

Chair

• Rachel Swaner, Center for Court Innovation