Characteristics of adolescent females in juvenile detention

Abstract

1. IntroductionThe increase in female adolescent arrest and incarceration is a social problem of enormousmagnitude. In the United States, for example, arrest rates for girls have increased a dramatic 35%from 1980 to 2000 compared to an 11% decrease among boys over that same time period (Snyder,2002). In the year 2000, females comprised 28% of all juvenile arrests, including 23% of aggravatedassaults and 31% of other assaults. Female adolescents had huge increases in drug abuse violations(220%), curfew and loitering (111%), and simple (78%) and aggravated assaults (44%; Snyder,2002). In Canada, as well, there is evidence to suggest that girls are increasingly involved in thejuvenile justice system (Reitsma-Street, 1999), especially in violent offending (Leschied, Cummings,Van Brunschot, Cunningham, & Saunders, 2001). The long-term consequences for arrested andincarcerated girls are daunting. When these girls grow up, they are at high risk for drug addiction,psychiatric problems, HIV infection, overall poor physical health, domestic and other forms ofviolence, delivering substance exposed newborns, losing custody rights of their children, incarcer-ation, and increased mortality (Battle, Zlotnick, Najavits, & Gutierrez, 2003; Bardone et al., 1998;Blumenthal, 1998; Bianco & Wallace, 1991; Haller, Knisely, Dawson, & Schnoll, 1993; Lewis,Yeager, Cobham-Portorreal, & Klein, 1991; Pajer, 1998; Tardiff, 1997; Teplin, Abram, McClelland,Dulcan, & Mericle, 2002; Widom & White, 1997). There can be no doubt, then, that femaleadolescent delinquency constitutes an extremely serious public health, child welfare, and juvenilejustice problem.Although delinquent males as well as females have considerable family, social, and psychologicalproblems, a distinctive portrait of delinquent girls is emerging (Chesney-Lind & Sheldon, 1992; Dembo,Schmeidler, Sue, Borden, & Manning, 1995). An increasing body of research points to six particularly