Treating Girls Like Boys: The Juvenile Court and the Burden of Gender Neutral Programming

Abstract

Abstract Just as delinquency case rates skyrocketed more for girls than boys in the 80s and 90s, recent declines show, yet again, that advances in youth intervention favor boys over girls. Given that boys continue to outnumber girls involved with the system, it is perhaps not surprising that juvenile courts tend to rely on gender-neutral programming; in effect treating girls like boys. Drawing a sample of youths (N = 3,901) processed by a Midwestern juvenile court filed between 2012 and 2016, the present study shows that gender neutral diversion programs yield lower recidivism rates for boys, but not for girls.