Girls and Delinquency:
Using Research to
Develop Good Practice
Session Overview
• Introduction to the Girls Study Group
• Major findings from the Girls Study Group
• Where do we go from here? New
activities at OJJDP related to Girls
The increase in the juvenile Violent Crime Index arrest rate in
the late 80s and early 1990s has since dropped dramatically.
Arrests per 100,000 juveniles ages 10-17, 1980-2007
600
Violent Crime Index
500
400
300
200
100
0
1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007
Year
Internet Citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available:
http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ojstatbb/crime/JAR_Display.asp?ID=qa05201. October 24, 2008.
But . . . the female proportion of juvenile arrests has increased
since the early 1980s.
Female Proportion of Juvenile Arrests, 1980-2007
50%
45%
Larceny-theft
40%
Other assault
35%
30%
Aggravated assault
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007
Year
In the late 90s and early 2000s,
the JJ field was . . .
• Seeking to understand why girls arrests and court
referrals were increasing (or not dropping)
• Requesting training and technical assistance
regarding programming and strategies related to
girls delinquency prevention, intervention and
treatment
• Wanting to establish programs that work for girls
The Study Group Concept
• OJJDP sponsored 2 earlier Study Groups in the 1990s:
– Study Group on Serious, Violent Juvenile Offenders
– Study Group on Very Young Offenders
• Multi-disciplinary group of researchers and practitioners
• Designed to develop a comprehensive research foundation for
understanding and responding to offending, causes, correlates,
and interventions
• Both efforts enhanced understanding and helped to focus
prevention and intervention efforts
OJJDP Girls
Study Group
Understanding and Responding to Girls’ Delinquency
Key Questions
•
•
•
•
•
Which girls become delinquent?
What factors protect girls from delinquency?
What factors put them at risk?
What pathways lead to girls’ delinquency?
What programs can prevent girls from
becoming delinquent?
• How should the justice system respond to
girls’ delinquency?
Turn over to Stephanie
What’s Next for Girls
OJJDP Initiatives Related to Girls Delinquency
OJJDP’s National Girls Institute
• Provide training, technical assistance, resources
to state, tribal & community organizations serving
at-risk and delinquent girls
• Advance understanding and application of
culturally- and gender-sensitive promising and
evidence-based services, treatment and strategies
• National Council on Crime and Delinquency’s
Center for Girls and Young Women
Evaluations of Girls Delinquency Programs
• Three new evaluations funded in 2010
• Purpose: to build the evidence base
regarding girls delinquency programming
• Programs to be evaluated include:
– Young Women Leader’s Program (UVA)
– Voices (Univ of CT Health Center)
– Girls Circle (DSG)
GSG bulletins available on website:
www.ojjdp.gov
Get more details at OJJDP’s girls’ delinquency page
http://www.ojjdp.gov/programs/girlsdelinquency.html
Feel free to contact me:
Catherine Pierce
Senior Advisor
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Catherine.Pierce@usdoj.gov
(202) 307-6785