Lost Boys

"I guess that's what is most disheartening about the [dubious] numerical information that's coming out: We may not be putting resources where we need to put them, because we don't have a clear grasp of what the underlying problem is."

Anyone curious about the underlying problem in New York City can find numerous clues within the 122-page report documenting the several hundred in-person interviews at the core of the John Jay College study.

ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN STAUFFER

PHOTO BY ASHLIE QUINONES

Researchers Ric Curtis and Meredith Dank induced hundreds of New York's underage sex workers to open up about their "business."

Related Content

• L.A. FBI Agents Ready To Investigate Allegations Of Voter Fraud in Southern California
  November 2, 2012
• Record Gas Prices Fueled By Oil Manipulation? Senators Want Big-Time Investigation
  November 28, 2012
• Budweiser Attempting World Domination, Justice Department Says 'Hell Naw'
  February 1, 2013
• Minorities Paid More For Wells Fargo Home Loans in L.A? Feds Settle For $175 Mil
  July 12, 2012
• Matthew Keys Helped Anonymous Hack Los Angeles Times Website, Feds Allege
  March 14, 2013

More About

• Ric Curtis
• Meredith Dank
• John Jay
• Prostitution and Sex Workers
• Child Prostitution

There are, for instance, the state-run group homes for orphans and kids whose families have kicked them out:

"[H]e was, like, you know, the little leeches that linger around," said a girl who told of being picked up by a pimp outside the group home where she resided at age 15. "And I was sittin' on my steps and I was cryin' because they're givin' you allowance — 20-sumpin' dollars a week — and then you're not allowed to do certain types a jobs because you have a curfew. And if you miss curfew, they shippin' you somewhere else. So it was, like, I was just at my rope's end. And the things that he was sayin' to me, it sounded good."

And the potential pitfalls of the foster-care system:

"My mother died and I was placed in foster homes," said a girl who started hooking at age 15. "My foster father would touch me, and I ran away. I ended up coming to New York, and I was on the streets; nobody wanted to help me. And I ran into this girl, and she was, like, 38 when she passed away last year, but she taught me everything I know. She taught me how to do what I have to do — but not be stupid about it — to play it right, and be smart."

Not to mention youth homeless shelters:

"I've been raped at Covenant House, three times," one young man stated. "It was by guys in the men's ward." (The three other youths interviewed for the study who spoke specifically about the New York–based nonprofit, whose mission is to care for kids in crisis, made no mention of sexual assault; they described the shelter as a place where kids shared knowledge about how to sell sex and/or characterized it as a popular place for pimps looking to recruit.)

One recurring theme is economic desperation:

"The fact that people think that I'm doing it because I want to — I mean, I get replies all the time on email, and they tell me, 'You know, why don't you just get a job?' " reported a boy with three years' experience selling sex. "Well, no shit, Sherlock! Honestly! I don't know, I would like someone to be able to offer me something."

Law enforcement personnel, the kids say, are not always helpful:

"One cop said, 'You're lucky I'm off duty, but you're gonna suck my dick or I'ma take you in,' " a transgender youth stated. "This has happened to me about eight times."

"Police raped me a couple a times in Queens," said a female who had worked as a prostitute for four years. "The last time that happened was a coupla months ago. But you don't tell anybody; you just deal wit' it."

Though many kids said they developed buddy-system strategies to stay safe and fed on the street, nearly all wanted a way out:

"I really wanna stop now, but I can't 'cause I have no source of income since I'm too young," said a girl who'd begun hooking at age 12. "So it's like that I have to do it, it's not like I wanna do it. As I say, I'm only 17, I got a 2-year-old daughter, so that means I got pregnant real young. Didn't have no type of Medicaid. ... Can't get a job, have no legal guardian, I don't have nobody to help me but [friends], so, you know, we all in this together."

In late 2009 the U.S. Department of Justice called on the Center for Court Innovation and John Jay Professor Ric Curtis to expand their research to other cities nationwide, backing the project with a $1.275 million federal grant. Curtis and Jennifer Bryan, the center's principal research associate, now direct six research teams across the United States, employing the same in-the-trenches approach that worked in New York City: respondent-driven sampling, or RDS.

The method was developed in the 1990s by sociologist Doug Heckathorn, now on the faculty at Cornell University; he was seeking a way to count hidden populations. It has been used in 15 countries to put a number on a variety of subcultures, from drug addicts to jazz musicians. Curtis and his research assistant, Dank, were the first to use RDS to count child prostitutes.

For the John Jay study, Curtis and Dank screened kids for two criteria: age (18 and younger) and involvement in prostitution. All subjects who completed the study's full, confidential interview were paid $20. They also were given a stack of coded coupons to distribute to other potential subjects, and for each successful referral they were paid $10.

RDS relies on a snowball effect, which ultimately extends through numerous social networks, broadening the reach of the study. "The benefit of this is that you're getting the hidden population: kids who don't necessarily show up for [social] services and who may or may not get arrested," Bryan explains. "It's based on the 'six degrees of separation' theory."