GIRLS
IN
JUSTICE
QUICK FACTS:
The female incarcerated population is over 7x higher than in was in 1980.
The placement rate for all girls aged 17 or younger is 11 per 100,000 girls, yet there are disproportionate impacts on different populations, with Black and Native girls much more likely to be incarcerated compared to their peers: Native girls have the highest incarceration rate, over 4x the rate of their white peers; and Black girls are also incarcerated at over 3x the rate of their white peers.
(Via: The Sentencing Project)
With appallingly high rates of abuse in their histories, exploitation around every corner, and a very different set of needs once ‘inside,’ girls are brought into the juvenile system by a unique set of social forces and experience incarceration much differently than boys.
Girls-In-Justice, the follow up to Juvenile-In-Justice, turns our focus specifically to girls in the system, and not a moment too soon. While the number of youth in the juvenile justice system has steadily declined, girls are a growing share of youth arrested, detained and committed.
A rare, multidimensional look at these girls’ vulnerable lives, Girls-In-Justice speaks to the unique issues they face with both hard-hitting words and images. Essays from some of the top girls’ criminology scholars and advocates in the U.S. give readers a picture of their work with young women in the system as well as cold, hard facts about the issue.
“THEY TOOK ME FROM SCHOOL TO JUVENILE-HALL.”
Been here two months for a violation. I ran away from placement. It was a group home with 65 kids. Sometimes they would give you home passes, but I went AWOL about 15 times. I’m in 10th grade. They have me charged with battery and assault. The first time I went to placement, I was 11 for battery of a kid at school. I was in 6th grade. The police came to school and arrested me at school. The other girl had a black eye and a busted lip. They took me from school to Juvenile Hall. I called home, but I had to spend the night there. They said that I needed to realize what I did. And then they put me in placement the next day. God thinks I can do better with my life, and He knows I will.
Below is a digital preview, the full book in print is available at our store.
