Letters to the Editor
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to watch_this_space...
Re: minors in prostitution vs. food service. A minor working at McDonald's ain't in danger of getting pregnant, AIDS, hepatitis, etc. from the fry machine. The reason there are so many minors working in fast food service is largely because the wages are so low--it's not attractive work to people who can command higher salaries elsewhere. The general managers of McDonalds franchises would LOVE to have all adults working on their staffs because then they would not be subject to the hour restrictions of child labor laws.
The reasons there are so many minors in prostitution are many and varied, but there will ALWAYS be pimps looking to have a stable of underage girls (and boys). Unfortunately, there will always be a lucrative market for sex with children.
And it's easier to work your way up from a job at McD's than from prostitution. There's no moral taint to having worked in fast food in your younger days. There is to having been a prostitute. I don't see that legalization is going to change society's attitudes that fast.
(BTW, I'm not saying one way or the other whether it SHOULD be legalized.)