Gendered Injustice Uncovering the Lived Experience of Detained Girls Routledge Critical Studies in Crime, Diversity and Criminal Justice Series

Without strong proof, policy advocates along with some scholars have causally linked declines in juvenile offending and incarceration with evidence-based and rehabilitation-oriented policy reform. Such studies have called for a shift back to rehabilitative ideals augmented by innovative strategies that emphasize cultures of care, and in the cases of system-involved girls, ?gender-responsive? programs, anchored in feminist literature. These programs have also caught the attention of feminist scholars who cast doubt on both their design and implementation. Gendered Injustice offers a unique contribution to the latter line of scholarship, and critically examines claims of innovation, empowerment, and gender-responsivity in youth correction that currently dominate the field.

Drawing on rich ethnographic data, this book uncovers the reality of, and gives voice to, the experiences and continued mistreatment of marginalized girls housed in locked institutions in the US State of California. By providing detailed insight into the detention experiences and the pathways of several young women, this book draws stark comparisons between the lived experience of young women in detention with the official rhetoric of empowerment that dominates public discourse. This book reveals the ways in which institutional policies and practices are designed to neglect and, in many instances, re-victimize inmates.

This is essential reading for those engaged in corrections, juvenile justice, gender and crime, and feminist criminology.

Foreword

Acknowledgments

1. Prologue: Juvenile Justice – Promises Made

2. This Study

Part I: Deprivation as Intervention

3. Disconnection as Intervention

4. Suppression as Intervention

5. Abuse as Intervention

Part II: Programming as if Girls Do Not Matter

6. We’re all hurting: Blame-Therapy as Intervention

7. She tells us who we are: Empowerment, Juvenile Hall-Style

8. Epilogue: Promises Broken

Appendix A: A List of Participants

Appendix B: Subject #29 – Anastasia

Appendix C: Copy Letter of Detained Girl

Index

Anastasia Tosouni is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies at Sonoma State University. Dr. Tosouni earned her Ph.D. in Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California at Irvine, and a Law Degree (LLB) from the University of Athens, Greece. She has experience counseling and advocating for victims of family violence. Her areas of academic specialization include law and inequality; race and gender; juvenile delinquency; restorative justice and social justice.