 Prostitution of children usually occurs in environments such as brothels , bars and clubs , homes , or particular streets and areas ( usually in socially run down places ) . According to one study , only about 10 % of prostituted children have a pimp and over 45 % entered the business through friends . Maureen Jaffe and Sonia Rosen from the International Child Labor Study Office write that cases vary widely : " Some victims are runaways from home or State institutions , others are sold by their parents or forced or tricked into prostitution , and others are street children . Some are amateurs and others professionals . Although one tends to think first and foremost of young girls in the trade , there is an increase in the number of young boys involved in prostitution . The most disquieting cases are those children who are forced into the trade and then incarcerated . These children run the possible further risk of torture and subsequent death . " 
