Runaway Kids and Teenage Prostitution ― America's Lost, Abandoned, and Sexually Exploited Children

This concise and accessible new text examines the correlations between runaway children and teenage prostitution in the United States from a criminological, sociological, and psychological perspective. The author takes a systematic approach to defining and describing the differences between youth who run away from home and those who leave institutional settings and distinguishes the difference between runaway and throwaway children. A careful examination of teenage prostitution among girls and boys helps to illuminate the special problems faced by children who have run away. In addition, the author discusses laws related to runaways, teenage prostitution, and the sexual exploitation of minors as well as the criminal justice response to the problems. A chapter is devoted also to the issues of runaway youth and teenage prostitution in other countries.

R. BARRI FLOWERS is an independent criminologist and crime writer. He is the author of 22 published books, including Children and Criminality (Greenwood Press, 1986), Women and Criminality (Greenwood Press, 1987), Minorities and Criminality (Greenwood Press, 1988), Demographics and Criminality (Greenwood Press, 1989), The Victimization and Exploitation of Women and Children, and The Sex Slave Murders among others.