EXPERTS ESTIMATE THAT about half of the teens who live on the street will turn to prostitution to survive. When they embark on life as prostitutes, these teens take a dangerous step, though few of them realize it right away. They are hoping to find a way of living away from abusive and neglectful families, and they often think that prostitution is a way of supporting themselves. However, they soon find that prostitution leads to even more abuse and exploitation.

An abusive and threatening pimp usually controls a girl prostitute's life and takes the money she earns. Only rarely do the boys seem to have pimps; nevertheless, researchers have found that, like the girls, boys do not retain their earnings for long. Boys on the street spend their money as soon as they earn it, and they have no friends...