Abstract Youth prostitution has plagued the American continent, after having mushroomed in Southeast Asia. Hundreds and thousands of children engage in sexual activities for basic survival, satisfy substance abuse needs, are forced into it or voluntary take it up, for the exchange of favors. These children are homeless most of the time, and vulnerable. They have no one looking out for them and so, a large of them is abducted by sex traffickers. Sex traffickers provide for sex tourism in almost all parts of the world. Sex tourism leads to child prostitution and child pornography. The scope of this paper revolves around the reasons why children engage in such activities, the stats about children who do, the consequences of youth prostitution and a review of the different strategies adopted, and laws put into effect for controlling and preventing youth prostitution. Reasons include poverty, unemployment and underemployment, homelessness, and drug abuse. Stats show that the majority of underage sex workers are females and most workers are from the ages of 9-15. Strategies used involve traditional ones such as imprisoning sex workers and forcing them to testify against their pimps. This however causes double victimization of these children. Therefore, a Safe Harbor Act has been introduced in New York to prevent this. There are many other federal law statutes and the state law preventing practices of child prostitution also. Introduction According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Prostitution of children is defined as “the sexual exploitation of a child for remuneration in cash or in-kind, usually but not always organized by an intermediary such as a procurer, family member, pimp, or madame” (Rosen, 2008). Child or youth prostitution has become a grave reality in many parts of the Americas; the Central, South and North. This had always been an issue of Southeast Asia but has now plagued America as well, and continues to do so at a fast rate. “Child prostitution was not a real problem in the United States until the late 70’s. In 1974, Congress passed the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act that prohibited the secure detention of runaways. That meant that the police were prevented from arresting children for running away from home. Consequently, children were left on the streets to fend for themselves. Since 1974 children have been allowed to live on the streets and they need to support themselves.” (Children of the Night, 2006). This paper will give a literary review of much of the material on youth prostitution in America. It will aim to highlight the major areas plagued by it, the reasons for youth prostitution with special reference to the American culture, the consequences of youth prostitution in America, and finally, the paper will identify the different strategies to counter this, that have been highlighted in literature previously. Literature Review Hubs of Youth Prostitution in America While Southeast Asia remains the hub of world sex tourism, Central America, racked by poverty and stunted by diminishing opportunities, is rapidly gaining in popularity (Gutnam, 2004). According to Gutnam (2004), Costa Rica is gaining popularity as the hemispheric capital of sex tourism. Over 3,000 girls and young women work in San Jose’s 300 brothels (Gutnam, 2004). Sex tourism