Gendered Pathways in Juvenile Justice: Barriers and Coping Strategies

• In Event: Gender, Victimization, and Justice: Exploring Impacts and Intervention Strategies

Abstract

The juvenile justice system increasingly relies on punitive measures to manage youth delinquency, disproportionately impacting girls whose behaviors often reflect responses to trauma rather than violent criminality. Although extensive research exists on adult women’s coping mechanisms in incarceration, little is known about how girls navigate juvenile detention, particularly in contexts shaped by gendered and racialized institutional practices. This qualitative study addresses this gap by examining the coping mechanisms and strategies girls employ within juvenile confinement. Drawing from semi-structured interviews with formerly detained women and youth justice professionals, as well as observations at reentry and advocacy programs, this research investigates how institutional environments influence detained girls’ coping strategies. Specifically, it explores how institutional narratives mischaracterize girls’ adaptive behaviors, complicating their confinement experiences and reintegration. The study seeks to center girls’ voices, emphasizing their agency, adaptive responses, and systemic barriers faced in confinement. Results and implications for gender-responsive interventions, institutional practices, and juvenile justice reform will be discussed.

Author

• Mady Kienstra, University of Colorado Boulder