Paint it pink: girls and the juvenile justice

Gender differences not only have an effect on crime patterns, but also may have a significant impact on the way children are treated by the juvenile justice system. Available data show that globally delinquency has strong gender associations. Girls actually commit lesser crimes and fewer violent crimes. Girls and boys come in to contact with the justice system for similar reasons. Research shows that both tend to share lower socio-economic, disrupted family backgrounds and other difficult situations. However, the pathways girls take into the justice system differ from those of their male counterparts in the prevalence and type of trauma, family loss, physical and sexual abuse and victims of incest. Delinquent girls also differ from delinquent boys as they tend to be more relationship oriented and internalize responses to trauma differently. Girls more than boys are disadvantaged if their behaviour is viewed as morally incorrect. Across the world, the juvenile justice system was originally designed to deal with the problems of boys and in doing so neglected the gender specific programming and treatment needs of girls. These differences require separate planning to meet the needs of girls enmeshed in a system designed to manage male population. It is in this backdrop that this paper while highlighting the features of girl delinquency attempts to voice a continuum of gender responsive programmes and practices to ensure that girls receive the attention and treatment they need.