Delinquent Girls

Traditionally, delinquent girls were considered an anomaly, a rare phenomenon attracting little scholarly notice. Today, more than one in four youth offenders is female, and researchers and practitioners alike are quickly turning their attention and resources to address this challenging situation. Delinquent Girls: Contexts, Relationships, and Adaptation synthesizes what is known about girls involved in delinquent behavior and their experiences at different points in the juvenile justice system.

This breakthrough volume adds to the understanding of this population by offering empirical analysis not only of how these behaviors develop but also about what is being done to intervene. Employing multiple theoretical models, qualitative and quantitative data sources, law enforcement records, and insights across disciplines, leading scholars review causes and correlates; the roles of family and peers; psychological and legal issues; policy changes resulting in more arrests of young women; and evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies.

Each chapter covers its subject in depth, providing theory, findings, and future directions. Important topics addressed include:

• Narrowing the gender gap - trends in girls' delinquency.
• Girls at the intersection of juvenile justice, criminal justice, and child welfare.
• Trauma exposure, mental health issues, and girls' delinquency.
• Beyond the stereotypes: girls in gangs.
• Intervention programs for at-risk and court-involved girls.
• Implications for practice and policy.

With its broad scope and solution-oriented focus, Delinquent Girls: Contexts, Relationships, and Adaptation is a must-have volume for researchers, professionals, graduate students, and social policy experts in clinical child and school psychology, social work, juvenile justice, criminology, developmental psychology, and sociology.

Dr. Shari Miller received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Virginia in 1991. She is a research psychologist in RTI's Crime, Violence, and Justice Program. Dr. Miller's primary focus is on youth violence and delinquency. Specific activities include basic research, prevention and intervention, and program evaluation. Her major research interests include design, implementation, and evaluation of delinquency and youth violence interventions; adolescent problem behaviors (including substance use, teen pregnancy, and high-risk sexual behaviors); service delivery systems related to the mental health needs of juvenile justice youth; pathways and risk processes leading to adolescent problem behaviors; the intersection of maltreatment and delinquency; and violence and delinquency among girls. She received a Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Mental Health to study the development, processes, and mechanisms of girls' antisocial behavior.

Dr. Leslie Leve received her doctorate in Developmental Psychology from the University of Oregon in 1995. She is a Senior Scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center and at the Center for Research to Practice in Eugene, OR. Dr. Leve's work has focused on the development of effective treatment models for youth in foster care and youth in the juvenile justice system. She has served as an investigator on 12 research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health, including longitudinal studies of normative developmental processes and randomized preventive intervention trials with at risk populations. She currently directs a randomized intervention trial designed to prevent the onset of delinquency among girls in foster care as they enter middle school. Dr. Leve has published numerous articles and chapters in the areas of child development and Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care.

Dr. Patricia Kerig received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989. Currently, she is a Professor and the Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah. Her research focuses on developmental psychopathology in the context of the family, and she is the author of a number of books, chapters, and empirical articles concerning risk and resilience in children and adolescents exposed to family violence, interparental conflict, child maltreatment, and trauma. Her most recent research projects concern understanding the underlying mechanisms that link trauma, PTSD, and juvenile delinquency, as well as developing empirically-supported strategies for integrated trauma-informed and family systems approaches for diverting traumatized youth from a delinquent pathway.