Here is the PowerPoint Presentation for my Review Paper.

1. Girls in the Juvenile Justice
System
Charli A. Mader
Argosy University Twin Cities

2. Introduction
 More girls are entering the juvenile justice system for status offenses
than boys. A status offense is any activity that is only considered illegal
because the culprit is a minor, such as underage drinking, running
away, or breaking curfew. In 1980, girls made up 20 percent of all
juvenile arrests. By 2009, girls made up 30 percent of all juvenile
arrests. The issues underlying their delinquent acts, such as physical
and sexual abuse, mental health disorders, as well as a troubled home
life, are not being addressed. Girls’ pathways into delinquency can be
diverted through the development and implementation of programs
incorporating gender responsive approaches. Initiatives developed to
address female delinquency should be based on the
developmental, psychological, and social characteristics of this
population. Relocation, as well as counseling on an individual level and
group involvement, should be considered to divert these girls from the
juvenile justice system.

3. Girls are Over-Represented in the System
 The caseload of girls in the juvenile justice system has greatly increased in
the last 30 years. Although the juvenile justice system is still dominated by
boys, in 1980, girls made up only 20 percent of all juvenile arrests, but by
2009, girls were up to 30 percent of all arrests (Children’s Defense
Fund, 2008).
 Data suggests, however, that female delinquency has changed little in the
past two decades (Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 1998).
 The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) found that in 2007 girls made up about
14 percent of all youth in placement (2008). These data also showed that
girls were disproportionately incarcerated for status offenses.
 Girls made up 51 percent of juveniles in residential placement for running
away; 31 percent of truancy offenses; 36 percent of underage drinking
offenses; and 40 percent of incorrigibility offenses (CDF, 2008).

4. Reasons Behind Girls’ Delinquency
 Girls often have a different reason for expressing aggression
than boys.
 There is an association among anxiety symptoms and the combined
subtypes of aggression in girls (Marsee, Weems, & Taylor, 2007).
 Delinquent girls often have a background of violence and abuse.
 Research in the State of Virginia indicates that the rate of physical
abuse at home is twice as high in delinquent girls, 28 percent, as it
is in delinquent boys, 14 percent, and the rate of sexual abuse at
home is almost seven times higher , 34 percent involving girls
verses 5 percent involving boys (Cooney, Small, &
O’Conner, 2008).

5. Reasons Behind Girls’ Delinquency
Continued…
 The families of delinquent girls, in comparison to those of
delinquent boys, are more likely to be severely dysfunctional.
 In comparison to boys, girls’ abusive and traumatic events tend to
occur earlier, and are more likely to be committed by a family
member (Cooney, Small, O’Conner, 2008).
 Mental disorders are more ubiquitous in females:
 Affective Disorders
 Substance Use Disorders
 Disruptive Behaviors
 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

6. Delinquent Girls Entering a System
Designed for Boys
 In the past, girls progressed through a correctional system designed for
men and boys, while the complexities of female offenders have been
disregarded. Female juvenile delinquents often received more severe
punishments than males, even though males were usually charged with
more serious crimes (Schlossman & Wallach, 1978).
 As Christy Sharp and Jessica Simon pointed out in their book
entitled, Girls in the Juvenile Justice System: The Need for More
Gender-Responsive Service, “all youth-serving systems—juvenile
justice, child welfare, mental health, education, and so forth—and
communities need to collaborate to create gender-competent programs
for females involved with or at risk of involvement in the juvenile
justice system” (2004).

7. Delinquent Girls Entering a System
Designed for Boys Continued…
 Psychologists are developing programming specifically for girls in the
juvenile justice system. One report by Lisa A. Rapp-Paglicci, Albert R.
Roberts, and John S. Wodarski, titled, Handbook of Violence, states that
there are specific criteria that must be addressed when initiating the
programming for these girls (2002). They include: dealing with the
physical and sexual violence in the girls’ lives, confronting the risk of
AIDS, dealing with pregnancy and motherhood, overcoming drug and
alcohol dependency, facing family problems, gaining employment and
safe housing assistance, managing stress, developing a sense of efficacy
and empowerment, and addressing learning disabilities and providing
educational opportunities (Rapp-Paglicci et al., 2002).

8. Potential Diversion Programming
 Diversion Programs such as:
 Community-based services
 Community counselors
 Group sessions with girls of similar age and histories, and an
overall feeling of not being alone in their situation is a step in the
right direction for these girls
 Relocation

9. Recommendations for Reducing
Delinquency in Girls by Ann B. Loper
 Ann B. Loper, author of Female Juvenile Delinquency: Risk Factors
and Promising Interventions, has a list of recommendations for
reducing delinquent behavior by girls (1999). Loper stresses the need
to:
 provide a forum for open and safe discussion of personal safety, abuse and
victimization,
 address mental health needs and substance abuse,
 have counselors provide academic support services and encourage
school, church and community participation,
 implement positive role model will also help in deterring these girls from
delinquency; and finally,
 provide information about reproductive health and teenage parenting, as
well as parent training and child-care relief time for teenage mothers
(Loper, 1999).

10. Conclusion
 Even though there are steps being taken to help these delinquent
girls, the reality is that girls are being arrested more frequently for
status offenses than boys. The underlying problems, such as physical
and sexual abuse, and mental health disorders, are factors associated
with committing these offenses, and are not being properly observed.
Also, the current juvenile justice system is designed for boys and young
men; the system needs to implement programs specifically to meet the
needs of girls and young women in order to decrease the recidivism
rates. By creating programs such as community housing and
relocation, service requirements, positive role models, and community
counseling, both individually and as a group, these girls will have a
chance to break their old habits and reveal the underlying
problems, which will hopefully aid in the beginning of the healing
process.

11. References
 Cauffman, E.; Feldman, S.; Watherman, J.; Steiner, H. (1998).
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Female Juvenile Offenders. Journal
of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 1209-1216.
 Chesney-Lind, M & Shelden, R. G. (1998). Girls, Delinquency, and
Juvenile Justice, Second Edition. Retrieved from
https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=183683
 Children’s Defense Fund (CDF). (2008). State of America’s Children 2008.
Retrieved from: http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-
publications/data/state-of-americas-children-2011-report.html
 Cooney, S. M.; Small, S. A.; O’Conner, C. (2008). Girls in the juvenile
justice system: Toward effective gender-responsive programming. What
Works, Wisconsin-Research to Practice, 7.
 Loper, A. (1999). Female Juvenile Delinquency: Risk Factors and
Promising Interventions. Retrieved from
https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=183499
 Marsee, M. A.; Weems, C. F.; Taylor, L. K. (2007). Exploring the
Association between Aggression and Anxiety in Youth: A Look at
Aggressive Subtypes, Gender, and Social Cognition. Journal of Child and
Family Studies, 17, 154-168.

12. References Continued…
 Rapp-Paglicci, L. A.; Roberts, A. R.; Wodarski, J. S. (2002). Handbook
of Violence. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: New York.
 Schlossman, S. & Wallach, S. (1978). The crime of precocious
sexuality: Female juvenile delinquency in the progressive era. Harvard
Educational Review, 48, 65-94.
 Sharp, C. & Simon, J. (2004). Girls in the Juvenile Justice System: The
Need for More Gender-Responsive Services. Child Welfare League of
America Press: Washington, D. C.
 Slowikowski, J. (2010). Causes and Correlates of Girls’ Delinquency.
Retrieved from: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/226358.pdf
 Veysey, B. M. (2003). Adolescent Girls with Mental Health Disorders
Involved with the Juvenile Justice System. Research and Program
Brief.

13. Author’s Notes
 Introduction (Slide #2): Here we discuss what the paper and the
presentation is about. Make sure to leave time for questions from the
audience about the topic.
 Girls are Over-Represented in the System (#3): The data provided
paints the picture of over-representation in the juvenile system. The
juvenile justice system needs to focus less on introducing these young
women into the juvenile justice system and more on diversion
programming in order to help, not hinder, the growth and development
of each girl.

14. Author’s Notes Continued…
 Reasons Behind Girls’ Delinquency (#4): One study, Exploring the
Association between Aggression and Anxiety in Youth: A Look at Aggressive
Subtypes, Gender, and Social Cognition, performed by Monica A.
Marsee, Carl F. Weems, and Leslie K. Taylor, suggests that there is an
association between anxiety and reactive relational aggression; gender was
found to moderate the association (2007). The authors discovered that four
aggressive subtypes exist: reactive overt, reactive relational, proactive
overt, and proactive relational, and that there is an association among
anxiety symptoms and the combined subtypes of aggression in girls.
Siobhan Cooney, Stephen Small, and Cailin O’Conner, authors
of the article Girls in the juvenile justice system: Toward effective gender-
responsive programming, did find that some predictors of involvement with
the juvenile justice system, such as antisocial behavior, peers, attitudes, and
beliefs, are prevalent in both genders (2008). Girls’
delinquency, however, is more likely to be preceded by physical and sexual
abuse and troubled family and school relationships.

15. Author’s Notes Continued…
 Reasons Behind Girls’ Delinquency Continued (#5): A study was
conducted about psychiatric illness among youth in detention, which found
that 74 percent of girls met the criteria for a current mental disorder, as
opposed to 66 percent of boys (Veysey, 2003). Affective disorders are
especially dominant among females in the juvenile justice system, with
more than 25 percent of females meeting criteria for a major depressive
episode. Bonita M. Veysey, author of Adolescent Girls with Mental health
Disorders Involved with the Juvenile Justice System, states that, “almost
half of all females in this study were found to have a substance use disorder
and more than 40 percent met criteria for disruptive behaviors” (2003).
In her article, Veysey identifies other studies that have found similar
data; “in a study using the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument
(MAYSI) to examine the mental health needs of youth entering a juvenile
detention center, girls’ mean scores were higher than males on all of the
MAYSI subscales, with a statistically significant difference between
genders on the Depressed-Anxious, Somatic Complaints and Suicide
Ideation subscales. It was also estimated that 84 percent of girls compared
to 27 percent of boys had evidence of serious mental health problems”
(Veysey, 2003).

16. Author’s Notes Continued…
 Slide (#5) Continued: Another study suggests that a large number of
incarcerated girls also suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD). Elizabethi Cauffman, Shirley Feldman, Jaime
Watherman, and Hans Steiner, authors of the article Posttraumatic
Stress Disorder Among Female Juvenile Offenders, performed a study
which examined the incidence of PTSD in a sample of 96 adolescent
female offenders and its relation to socioemotional adjustment (1998).
Results from this study indicate that the rate of PTSD among
incarcerated female is significantly higher than the occurrence of PTSD
among incarcerated male delinquents. In addition, those who suffer
from PTSD also tend to exhibit higher levels of distress and lower
levels of self-restraint. These findings suggest a potential relationship
between trauma, psychopathology, and violence and how it directly
affects female delinquents, as well as a method to deal with these
issues.

17. Author’s Notes Continued…
 Delinquent Girls Entering System Designed for Boys (#6): Let the
audience reflect on this slide. Leave time to answer questions after the
research from the slide is articulated.
 Delinquent Girls Entering System Designed for Boys Continued (#7):
Again, let the audience have time for reflection and questions.
 Potential Diversion Programming (#8): Diversion programs are in
place, however the lack of support from the communities and funds from
the government are deterring these programs from achieving their long-term
goals. Community-based services, community counselors, group sessions
with girls of similar age and histories, and an overall feeling of not being
alone in their situation is a step in the right direction for these girls. These
kinds of groups activities need to be implemented in order to prevent them
from reverting back to their old habits, and to address the underlying issues
as to why they are committing these offenses.

18. Author’s Notes Continued…
 Slide (#8) Continued: One program that could potentially divert girls
from entry into the system is relocation. A study has examined the
effects of moving away from disadvantaged neighborhoods on later
delinquency (Slowikowski, 2010). In the Moving to Opportunity
study, public housing residents in five cities were randomly assigned to
an experimental group in which residents could use a housing voucher
to relocate to a leased unit in a non-poverty area. A control group
received no vouchers. Researchers used arrest data and survey
information to analyze delinquency among boys and girls in the two
groups. Both girls and boys in the voucher group experienced fewer
arrests for violent offenses compared with youth in the control group
that did not relocate. Girls in the experimental group were also arrested
less often for other crimes (Slowikowski, 2010).

19. Author’s Notes Continued…
 Recommendations for Reducing Delinquency in Girls by Ann B. Loper
(#9): Discuss the recommendations listed.
Reference: Loper, A. (1999). Female Juvenile Delinquency: Risk
Factors and Promising Interventions. Retrieved from
https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=183499
 Conclusion (#10): Discuss the closing recap of information, and leave
time for questions and answers.