September 1, 2008

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in New York City. Volume One, The CSEC Population in New York City: Size, Characteristics, and Needs

This is the first of two volumes that report the findings of a study that investigated the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in New York City. The study included interviews with 249 youth involved in commercial sexual exploitation. It was conducted to make estimates of the size of the population and provide a reliable and ethnographically rich description of the characteristics, experiences, and service needs of the local CSEC population. The volume begins with a description of the study's use of Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS), a methodology that is used to recruit statistically representative samples of hard-to-reach groups by taking advantage of intragroup social connections to build a sample pool. Findings are then reported and include: an estimated 3,769 youth are involved in commercial sexual exploitation in New York City; chronic lack of jobs for youth in many neighborhoods is an important factor; the average age for entry into the CSEC market is about 15 and a half; a high number of youth reported friends as responsible for their entry to the markets; almost all of the youth said that they served male customers, predominately white males between 25 and 55 years of age; violence at the hands of customers, pimps, and other prostituted youth was something that many of the youth said that they had to contend with on a daily basis; and many CSEC youth lack social support networks to help them cope with problems. Finally, when the youth were asked if they would like to leave "the life", 87% said, yes, but most quickly added that they were doing what they had to do to survive.