Two hundred juvenile and adult, current and former, women street prostitutes in the San Francisco Bay Area, served as subjects in this study. The average age of the subjects was 22: 70% were under 21, about 60% were 16 and under: many were 10,11 and 12 years old. The average financial situation of all the women interviewed was described as 'just making it.'
This study is based upon the assumption that prostitutes and vice officers each relate to their own elite publics, and the relationship between the prostitute and the vice officer is, in part, explained by the differential expectation these publics have of the incumbents of these two occupations. Specifically, this study is directed toward an examination of the scripted behavior of prostitutes and vice officers toward their differentiated publics as these two occupational groups cooperate to achieve their differing but interrelated goals.