Prostitution Incidents With Juvenile Offenders

Prostitution incidents with juvenile offenders were distinctive in a number of ways from prostitution in general. (The contrasts are presented first, and discussion of their implications occurs later in the Bulletin.) For one thing, juvenile prostitution offenders known to police were more often male (61 percent) than female (39 percent), a greater disproportion than among adult prostitution offenders (53 percent male and 47 percent female) (table 1). Second, juvenile prostitution offenders were most commonly encountered in multiple offender groups (59 percent of incidents). This contrasts with the adult offender pattern, which is composed overwhelmingly of single offender incidents (89 percent).

Although a majority (68 percent) of prostitution incidents involving juvenile offenders took place at an outside location (such as a highway, road, alley, field, woods, or parking lot), this was less frequent than for adult offenders, and juvenile incidents were considerably more likely to occur at homes and residences.

In terms of geographic context, the prostitution of juveniles was more a large city phenomenon than adult prostitution. Twenty-seven percent of all prostitution incidents involving juvenile offenders occurred in large cities compared to 10 percent of adult prostitution incidents.5

Finally, arrests were less likely to be made in prostitution incidents involving juvenile offenders than in incidents involving adult offenders (74 percent and 90 percent of incidents, respectively).

In other ways, the prostitution of juveniles did not differ considerably from adult prostitution (table 1). Both juvenile and adult offenders were predominantly white (71 percent and 68 percent, respectively). They both tended to be encountered by police in the evening (6 p.m. to midnight). And both followed a stronger seasonal pattern than crime in general, with prostitution occurring more frequently during the warmer months (May through September, see figure 1). The seasonal pattern in police-reported prostitution activity was even more pronounced for those jurisdictions located in states with colder winters.

Table 1: Comparison of Prostitution Incidents Involving Juvenile Offenders and Adult Offenders
 
Prostitution Incidents (%)
 
Juvenile Offender(s)
Adult Offender(s) Only
Offender attribute
(n=229 juvenile offenders)
(n=16,905 adult offenders)
Gender
      Male
61
53
      Female
39
47
Race
      White
71
68
      Black
28
30
      Other
1
2
Incident attribute
(n=200 incidents)
(n=13,705 incidents)
Number of offenders
      Single
41
89
      Multiple
59
11
Location type
      Outside
68
84
      Home/residence
14
4
      Hotel/motel
7
5
      All other
11
8
Time of day
      Evening (6 p.m.–12 p.m.)
61
63
      Rest of day
39
37
Large city (pop. >500,000)
      Yes
27
10
      No
73
90
Arrest in incident
      Yes
74
90
      No
26
10
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1997–2000.

Figure 1: Seasonal Pattern of Crime Incidents

Figure 1: Line graph showing the seasonal pattern by month of all crime incidents, juvenile prostitution incidents, and adult prostitution incidents.

* Shown as 3-month running average for smoothing.
** Percentages calculated separately for each group.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1997-2000.

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Prostitution of Juveniles: Patterns From NIBRS OJJDP Bulletin • June 2004