Female Juvenile: A Special Group of Individuals
Female youth are a special group of individuals with special needs. The author of “Private Pain and Public Behavior“, Robin A. Robinson, proposes that a closer look into how a female delinquent defines their action will reveal a different type trauma that should be addressed. She proposes the current juvenile justice system functions under the mentality that juvenile offenders need to be controlled and reformed while females warrant a different response, especially by the court. Robinson (2000) argues that “girls had gained the offender label based on unlawful actions, effectively relegating to lesser important other experiences and moments” (p.79). During her research, Robison found their behavior to be a dominant theme of the effects of physical and sexual abuse. Many were abused by close family members of whom they trusted. “Girls faced with such personal and family characteristics may act in ways that hurt mostly themselves, such as sexually acting out, drug and alcohol use and other potential self-destructive actions including suicide attempts, running away, truancy and law breaking (p.78). This special group of females require services aimed at building them up in opposed to policy that further labels the youth causing them to feel helpless and alone as if no one cares.
The majority of girls from Robinsons’ study were not comfortable with telling people about the abuse. They felt a sense of guilt and shame, often blaming themselves for the actions of others. Robinson associates this with a struggle of one of two kinds of powerlessness, true powerlessness and intermediate powerlessness. “True powerlessness, including behavioral manifestations over which the girl has no control or ability to change and intermediate powerlessness which exist in temporary situations that the girl can change once she escapes the abusive situation or makes a decision to act in some way that makes sense to her given her life circumstances” (p.82). With limited choices, the only action that gave them a sense of relief were those that were no appropriate for female minors. Once caught in the system, they are further labeled in a way that places the blame solely on the individual, therefore becoming a losing situation.
When addressing female delinquency, I think it is in the best interest of the juvenile to try to better understand what causes female youth to engage in deviant behavior. Robinson (2000), suggest “the secrecy of abuse feeds the effects of the abuse, encouraging self-stigmatization” (p.91). Such experiences that cause trauma early on warrants access to a specialist trained in the area of female sexual abuse or, at the least female delinquency as it is such a unique phenomenon that requires special attention.
Reference
Robinson, R. “Private Pain and Public Behaviors: Sexual Abuse and Delinquent Girls”. Juvenile Delinquency: A Justice Perspective, 4th Ed, 2000, pp. 77-94.