Hawai’i Girls Court: Juveniles, Gender, and Justice

At the Hawai’i Girls Court, everyone is female. The presiding judge is female, the probation officers are female, the program coordinators are female and, of course, the clientele is female. The Court, a diversionary program for juvenile females in Hawai’i, is just one gender-responsive program in the juvenile justice system—interest in and availability of such programming is increasing. But even though gender-responsive programs are promoted and funded by federal and local governments and the private sector, legal scholars have yet to undertake any searching examination of the programs’