NCJ Number
179272
Journal
Corrections Management Quarterly Volume: 3 Issue: 4 Dated: Fall 1999 Pages: 63-72
Date Published
1999
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 and provides selected policy findings from a California study that describes gender-specific services in juvenile justice to meet the needs of female juvenile offenders.
Abstract
Female juvenile offenders remain a small proportion of the juvenile justice population despite an increase in their involvement in the juvenile justice system in the last several decades. The nature of their offending is also less threatening to the public order than that of male juvenile delinquents. However, female delinquency has not changed significantly in the last two decades. The needs of females involved in the juvenile justice system are tied to specific, identifiable risk factors. Their shared characteristics include a history of victimization, especially through physical, sexual, and emotional abuse; school failure, truancy, and dropping out; repeated juvenile status offenses; unstable family life; history of unhealthy dependent relationships; mental health issues; minority overrepresentation; and economic disadvantage. The development of policy and programs has largely ignored females. The solutions to these risk factors and the documented lack of policy and program attention can be articulated through further analysis and research and through the development and implementation of model programs that incorporate gender-specific principles. It is recommended that county and State decision makers develop specific policies aimed at addressing the needs of female juvenile offenders, that funding be targeted to address the needs of female juvenile offenders, and that collaborative efforts be developed. Additional recommendations and 19 references