The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
Meredith L Dank
April 2011

ISBN-13:  978-1-59332-409-4 / Hardcover
Dimensions:  5.5 x 8.5 / 180 pages

Price   $65.00

Description

Dank’s work is based on The National Institute of Justice funded study interviewing 249 prostituted youth in New York City. Her study of the data generated a prevalence rate in addition to an explanation of the attributes of the CSEC networks and its members. Social capital theories explain how youth become involved in the CSEC market and why it is difficult for them to leave. Findings suggest that youth who possess social capital before entering the market are more likely to seek help, which can lead to their leaving the CSEC lifestyle. Those youth who do not have pre-existing normative social capital are more constrained by their choices and the alternatives available to them.

About the Author

Meredith Dank is a Research Associate at The Urban Institute in Washington DC. She has substantive expertise studying the commercial sexual exploitation of children and human trafficking. She is a lead investigator on several U.S. State Department projects on international human trafficking; in addition to co-leading Department of Justice funded projects on domestic human trafficking and teen dating violence.