• Women involved in street level prostitution in Toledo experience pervasive and frequent violence, are at increased risk for HIV, suffer physical and emotional deterioration, and drug addiction from IV drug use and crack cocaine (Williamson, 2000).
• The children of prostitutes are often high-risk babies in hospitals and special needs children in schools.
• Prostitution is frequently a gateway crime for women (Chesney-Lind, 1997).
• Nationally, 1 in 3 women imprisoned for felonies were first arrested for prostitution or prostitution-related offenses (Flowers, 1998).
• In 2003, 648 prostitution and prostitution-related arrests occurred in Toledo with many being repeat offenders (Williamson, 2001).
• 40-60% of incarcerated women at CCNO involved in programming reporting being involved in prostitution.
• Street level prostitution occurs in central city, suburban, and rural areas with visible prostitution concentrated in central city neighborhoods.
• Prostitution in central city neighborhoods is counterproductive to reducing crime. Prostitution encourages crime by increasing the need for drugs and the associated violence that comes with prostitution.
• Children witness prostitution activities in their central city neighborhoods. Young women who live in these neighborhoods report being approached by johns. What these young women learn from these experiences, should they not be successful in conventional markets, is prostitution is an option for them (Needs Assessment, 1993)
• Utilizing the “revolving door” approach to prostitution that involves either persistent arrest-release activities on the part of law enforcement or repeated incarceration, does little to reduce prostitution in the city.
• Arrest should be seen as a component of a more comprehensive plan that involves targeting both the supply of women into the profession and the demand for services from johns.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation is currently concentrating its efforts on teen prostitution sex rings in Toledo under the Innocence Lost Project.

Three studies have been conducted on prostitution in Toledo . A snapshot of the findings from the most recent study of adult prostitution in Toledo (2003) are presented below:

• 63 incarcerated women were interviewed for the study.
• Almost 50% of the women interviewed reported the average age of entranced into prostitution was between 14 and 15.
• The average number of years for those involved in prostitution was 10 years.
• The average age of women in the study was 35 years old.
• Of the most recent study sample, 44% were Non-Hispanic White, 42.9% African American, 7.1% Hispanic/Latino, 3.6% Bi-racial, and 1.8% other.
• Most women had children (83.6%). Eighty percent (80%) did not have their children living with them. Twenty-two percent (22%) had special needs children with 20% experiencing mental having problems and 16.7% identified as learning disabled. However, these numbers could be higher since many women chose not to respond to questions about their children’s disabilities.
• Over fifty percent (54%) of the women in the study have been or are currently involved with Children’s Protective Services.
• Women were arrested an average of 27 times in general and arrested for prostitution related offenses an average of 10 times and convicted an average of 8 times.
• Of the women interviewed, almost half (48%) were very worried about getting HIV (over half (52%) were engaging in risky behavior and not very worried about becoming infected). In addition, only 58.2% reported always using a condom when working, meaning 41.8% did not always use a condom. Over 84% didn't use a condom with an intimate lover. However, 84.2% have been tested at some point and 3.5% were already HIV positive.
• Over one-quarter (25.9%) were IV drug users and of those, 19.1% shared needles. Of those 19.1%, twenty-eight percent (28.6%) shared needles on a daily basis.
• 72% have been a victim of customer-related violence that involved one or more of the following: being raped, beaten, stabbed, attempted murder, brandings, kidnapping, robbery, and being pushed from moving vehicles.
• 83.3% have been a victim of domestic violence.
• 100% of women in the study reported using crack cocaine. 85% have prostituted in order to get drugs.
• An average of 1 to 2 women involved in prostitution in Toledo are murdered per year.