The Double Standard of Juvenile Justice Importance of Gender: Not to be confused with biology, gender is cultural Gender establishes expectations for behavior Gender shapes all aspects of crime and criminal/ juvenile justice Gender is important when it comes to the family, as boys and girls are brought up differently, which in turn relates to delinquency

Gender & Family Adolescent girls live in a world that has not changed much despite alterations to the adult female role. Modern girls, like girls in the past, are more closely watched than their brothers. Much of the family disharmony is an outgrowth of the long-standing sexual double standard that tacitly encourages male sexual exploration and punishes female sexuality

Parents and Juvenile Court Referrals Some parents turn to the family or juvenile court to enforce their authority. For many parents, maintaining control over their children, especially girls, is extremely important. One major reason for the presence of girls in juvenile courts is the insistence of their parents that they be arrested. This pattern began to appear when the juvenile court was founded

Girls & the Child Saving Movement Many early activities of the child savers revolved around monitoring the behavior of young girls, particularly immigrant girls, in order to prevent their “straying from the path.” majority of girls appeared in court for such charges as “immorality” and other status offenses Even today we see that girls are more likely than boys to appear on such charges (even though they are no longer called “immorality”)

Obsession over Sex It was (and still is to a considerable extent) mostly about adults worrying about the sexual activities of girls Reformers apparently wanted to make sure their daughters were “chaste” and “pure” for the young men of the nation Note how many new “training schools” for girls opened in the early 1900s and what sort of “training” they received To be “good wives and mothers”

The Best Place to Conquer Girls This was the goal of the juvenile court and the double standard was and still is alive and well. Some recent research reveals that this is still the case Girls far more likely than boys to appear in court for status offenses and also to be detained and sent to a training school Note how many studies have been done documenting this (covering most of the past century) Also in other countries

1992 Reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act States were required to provide gender appropriate services to girls To deal, for instance, with issues of sexual abuse Despite such efforts, there remains evidence of the double standard Girls continue to be arrested for mostly status offenses and minor assaults (domestic violence and fights at school)

Girls Favored Over Boys? In some cases, girls who are involved with boys in serious offenses (e.g., burglaries and robberies) are often not arrested Might be because their role is as an accessory or in some cases coercion was involved In fact, the “lenient” treatment of women in general by the justice system stems more from the minor nature of their offenses Yet girls are still over-represented for status offenses

Girls and referrals to juvenile court The overall % of girls rose from 19% to 25% between 1985 and 2000 No significant change in girls overall level of criminal activity So why the change? Zero tolerance, emphasizing petty offenses, and overall changes in policies, rather than changes in behavior

Commitment to juvenile prisons 13% of the girls, but only 3% of the boys in juvenile correctional facilities as of 2011 were status offenders http://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezacjrp/asp/Offense_Committed.asp?state=0&topic=Offense_Committed&year=2011&percent=column almost one-fourth of the girls in private facilities were status offenders, compared to only 7% of the boys. Boys twice as likely as girls to be “chronic offenders” Girls still more likely to be referred for shoplifting

The “New” Double Standard of Juvenile Justice This involves girls of color In LA courts, Latinas comprised the largest proportion of the population (45%), followed by white girls (34%), and African-American girls (23%). white girls more likely to be recommended for a treatment than minorities Resisting a negative label – resources is the key

The “New” Double Standard of Juvenile Justice Note the study by Mike Males of race and girls processing in San Francisco Blacks are around 12% of San Francisco’s total population of girls, but they represent about 61% of all girls arrested for felonies, two-thirds of those arrested for robbery and almost three-fourths (72%) of those arrested for drug felonies Note what Males has to say about the drug problem – it largely a problem of whites over 30!