Continuity and Change in Justice for Girls

Abstract

This book has addressed female juvenile offending and the justice system's response to girls in Canada and the United States. It has examined the social and legal developments in the two countries to find out whether there were shared or different histories and whether the comparative approach helped in unraveling the puzzles of girl crime and justice. The more wholehearted recent legislative efforts in Canada have had at least twice the impact of their American parallels in reducing girls' incarceration rates. This concluding chapter discusses similarities between Canada and the United States with respect to the treatment of girls, focusing on the historical development of juvenile justice. It also discusses reforms after 1970 designed to chip away at status offenses, gaps between perceived and actual trends in criminality by girls, and status offenses as a justice policy problem for girls and young women. The United States and Canada differ in the treatment of delinquent girls in terms of levels of government responsible for juvenile justice, policy changes and stabilities that influenced juvenile and criminal justice, and net impact of reforms on girls in the two countries.