The Forgotten Few: Girls in Juvenile Correctional Facilities

While trends show that overall rates of delinquency among youth have decreased nationwide, the rate of incarcerated girls has decreased at a much slower rate compared to boys. Once incarcerated, the disciplinary patterns found in four juvenile correctional facilities in a midwestern state show that girls are disciplined more often than boys as evidenced by rates of removal from classrooms. The authors discuss the relative increase of girls in the juvenile justice system and the harsh discipline experienced by girls once incarcerated as it relates to the evil women theory, which argues that girls who defy conventional criminal expectations are treated more harshly than boys.