29 Apr EdSource: Steady Declines in Number of Girls in Juvenile Justice System, Report Says

(Photo by Rajesh Rajput on Unsplash)

By Betty Márquez Rosales
EdSource

Arrests, detentions, and placements of girls in California’s juvenile justice system are “steadily declining” to numbers “low enough to put ending incarceration well within reach for the state,” according to a new report.

The report, “Freedom and Justice: Ending the Incarceration of Girls and Gender-Expansive Youth in California,” was compiled by Vera Institute of Justice, a national nonprofit criminal justice policy advocacy organization, and Young Women’s Freedom Center, a statewide organization that supports youth impacted by the justice system.

The remaining number of arrests, detentions and placements of girls and gender-expansive youth currently are largely a result of low-level charges, according to the report. “The challenges that most commonly drive the incarceration of girls and gender-expansive youth — such as sexual abuse, commercial sexual exploitation, family conflict, and housing instability — are more effectively addressed through gender-responsive programs that are lacking in many communities in California,” the report’s authors wrote.

The report refers to “gender-expansive youth” as a term that includes youth of all genders and identities who are classified as girls within the juvenile justice system.

The information compiled in the report included 50 interviews with girls and gender-expansive youth who had been involved in the state’s juvenile justice system. From those interviews, plus data analysis on the topic, report authors concluded: “Lack of social support, such as affordable and safe housing and educational spaces, intersected and overlapped with getting pulled into and stuck in criminal systems.”