Gendered Injustice: Uncovering the Lived Experience of Detained Girls

Description

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. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Foreword Acknowledgments 1 Prologue: juvenile justice – promises made Philadelphia, PA 1838 Parens Patriae Rehabilitation: the goal What about the girls? Goal, reloaded Gendered justice: the promise Pathways Connections and disconnections (relationaltheory) Empowerment GSP guidelines The current study Research questions Findings and book organization Notes References 2 This study Study background Setting Sampling Participants Procedure and measures “Girls” and “young women” A note on going native Notes References Part I Deprivation as intervention 3 Disconnection as intervention Boredom and educational neglect They just leave us here Trapped miserable We want you to be miserable Condemned isolation Relational deprivation as intervention Notes References 4 Suppression as intervention Attacking privacy, personal space, and dignity Undercutting a sense of self Catch 22 Meal me out Taking away a sense of control Conclusion: no such place Notes References 5 Abuse as intervention The girl that won’t shut up The girls that shut up “Better people needed” Learned helplessness Notes References Part II Programming as if girls do not matter 6 We’re all hurting: blame-therapy as intervention I’m good, but I’m bad Needs, risks, and strengths assessment Let it go Notes References 7 She tells us who we are: empowerment, juvenile hall-style The program counselor: I have a friend in you Why do you deserve counseling? (In writing, please) Counseling topics Addiction Guys Self-esteem Aftercare support Counseling philosophy and style Empowerment: business as usual Notes References 8 Epilogue: promises broken Promise and delivery: minding the gap? Fitting in Whose fault is it? The invisibilization of detained girls Gendered justice overhaul In search of empowerment Note References Appendix A: list of participants Appendix B: subject #29 – Anastasia Appendix C: copy letter of detained girl Index