1 - An estimated 300-500 youth are prostituted in greater Seattle.
2 - In the U.S., the typical age of entry into prostitution is 13-15 years old.
3 - 117 labor trafficking cases were reported in Washington State from 2012 to 2017.
[1] Debra Boyer, “Who Pays the Price?” A 2008 Study Commissioned by the City of Seattle, http://www.seattle.gov/humanservices/domesticviolence/report_youthinprostitution.pdf.
[2] This number is an estimate based on findings in several studies. M.H. Silbert and A.M. Pines, 1982, "Victimization of street prostitutes,” Victimology, 7: 122-133; D.Kelly Weisberg, 1985, “Children of the Night: A Study of Adolescent Prostitution,” Lexington, Mass, Toronto; Richard J. Estes and Neil Alan Weiner, “The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children,” U. of Penn., 2001. In a small interview-based study of survivors by BEST and OPS, the average age that respondents entered the life was 15 years old.
[3] This number was provided by the National Human Trafficking Hotline operated by Polaris. https://humantraffickinghotline.org/state/washington.
