Joe Phoenix's research is aimed at improving the understanding of the way in which practitioners make decisions about whether or not to prosecute and use criminal justice sanctions against sexually exploited girls. It also explores the extent to which economic necessity drives girls into commercial and other forms of sexual exploitation, and looks at the ways in which many sexually exploited girls commit crime to try and escape the men who exploit them or as a cry for help. This talk was delivered at University of Leicester on Wednesday, 20 February, 2013.