Getting Into the System: Negotiating Power and Status in the Family

Abstract

Studies of families of girls in the juvenile justice system have generally used a functionalist perspective and neglected consideration of families as a site of navigation of power and status. However, understanding processes of negotiation of power and status in families is critical to understanding families as a whole, as well as the construction of identity of individual family members. Social and economic marginalization fractures family relationships by impacting the distribution of resources, power, and status within families. Conflicts occur within families at all social locations in the hierarchical structure; however, occupying a position at the bottom of the hierarchical structure poses added pressures that exacerbate potentials for conflict. One way that marginalization strains family relationships is that it weakens the foundation for parental authority. Parental authority as well as family solidarity relies on the unequal distribution of power and status in the parent–child relationship. Through examining the contexts of the girls’ offenses, family conflict over issues of parental authority emerged as a salient factor underlying the girls’ initial contact with the system and the construction of their recorded offenses. The findings in this chapter add to the body of literature noting the criminalization of girls’ attempts to navigate the pressures of multiple marginalization.