Juvenile Court Pathways of Girls: A Qualitative Examination of Staff Perceptions

• In Event: Examining Responses to Girls in the Juvenile Justice System: Needs, Programming, and Gender-Responsive Approaches

Abstract

There has been an increasing proportion of girls in the juvenile justice system. Given this increase, it is critical to understand girls' pathways in the juvenile system. One way to do this is to investigate the perceptions and experiences of court staff as they serve an important role and make decisions about girls' placement, treatment, and programming. The purpose of this study is to examine juvenile practitioners' perceptions of girls' juvenile court pathways. This study used qualitative interview data with stuff from a Midwestern juvenile court (n = 39). Modified analytic induction was used to develop assertions and examine the various causal pathways present in the narratives of court staff. A second set of interview data with juvenile probation officers (n = 24) involving reviews of specific girls' case files were used to triangulate the data to confirm pathways and identify negative cases. The findings from this study have implications for theory, practice, and policy for juvenile practitioners working with court-involved girls.

Authors

• Laura Rubino, University of Cincinnati

• Valerie Anderson, University of Cincinnati