Drug Addiction Forum
Drug addiction leads girls to prostitutionMost prostitutes in Massachusetts had a family history of abuse and addiction that prompted them to run away from home as teens, according to a Suffolk University professor's research.
Associate, Sociology Professor Maureen Norton-Hawk said runaway girls turn to prostitution as a means for survival and to support drug addiction.
Norton-Hawk said 52 percent of prostitutes she interviewed in jail reported using crack on a daily basis and 44 percent reported using heroin.
A little more than half said they were physically abused before they turned 17 and 48 percent said they were sexually abused by that age, Half said they ran away from home three or more times before they left for good.
Their average age was 32, about three-quarters were single, and 60 percent did not have a high school education. The women had an average of two children.
Presenting her study at a forum sponsored by women lawmakers, Norton-Hawk encouraged the state to consider alternatives to incarceration, which she said was damaging to the women's children and did little to prevent them from returning to prostitution.
Norton-Hawk estimated that Massachusetts spent $668,000 in 2000 to imprison prostitutes.
Inf.: Norton-Hawk, 617-573-8491; mhawks@acad.suffolk.edu.
Copyright Washington Crime News Service Jul 31, 2002
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved
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