Juvenile justice and child welfare dual system involvement among females with and without histories of commercial sexual exploitation

Abstract

Commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) is related to both child welfare (CW) and juvenile justice (JJ) system involvement, yet research of CSE largely examines single system involvement. Using a sample of justice involved females with histories in out-of-home care, this study explores dual system contact for females with CSE experiences (n = 225) compared to a matched sample of females without a history of CSE (n = 237). Differences between the samples’ system experiences were compared using chi-square analyses or t-tests of group mean differences. Nearly all females had a history of at least one maltreatment allegation and between 69% and 76% of the samples were classified as dual system females as measured by the justice-involved youth also having a substantiated case of maltreatment. The CSE sample, compared to the no-CSE sample, had significantly more contact with the juvenile justice system including more arrests, petitions filed, bench warrants, and entrances to detention. Findings highlight the extent of dual system involvement among justice involved females with histories of CSE and out-of-home care, and the need for cross-systems collaboration to improve youth outcomes.