Making a difference: when it comes to teens in trouble, girls need a place of their own.

• Author: Teigen, Anne
• Position: JUVENILE JUSTICE

The good news about juvenile crime is that the overall rate has declined in recent years. The bad news is that girls now are the fastest growing segment of the juvenile justice system.

Some states have seen an alarming increase. California's Alameda County, for example, had a 44.5 percent increase in the number of young women entering its juvenile justice system between 1998 and 2007, and a 49 percent increase in the number of girls who were in the system for nonviolent offenses, such as theft and truancy.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Of the 1.5 million young people under age 18 arrested in 1998, 27 percent were girls. By 2007, they were 29 percent of the 1.2 million arrested. Girls now represent 15 percent of those held in juvenile facilities and as much as 34 percent in some states.

Girls Are Different

More so than boys, girls in trouble have a disturbing history of emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Estimates are that, of incarcerated girls, more than 78 percent have been abused, up to 70 percent have a mental health disorder, and many are pregnant or will become pregnant. Girls, more often than not, enter the juvenile justice system because they are running away from violence or abuse.

"Girls are [arrested] for lesser offenses than boys, are often younger than boys and are three times more likely to have been a victim of sexual abuse," Leslie Acoca, executive director of the National Girls' Health and Justice Institute. Most female juvenile offenders get in trouble between 14 and 16 years of age.

Acoca's research found less at-risk behavior and delinquency in girls who were in good health. In fact, her National Girls Health Screen project discovered girls who received health care in the juvenile justice system were 72 percent less likely to reoffend. And those who received mental health services were 40 percent less likely to reoffend.

Lawmakers Look at Changes

Girls traditionally have been placed in facilities and programs designed for boys, where the emphasis is on security over prevention and treatment. Girls tend to have more serious issues and are held longer in detention than boys.

About 93,000 young people are in juvenile justice facilities across the country, according to the Justice Policy Institute. Seventy percent of them are in state-funded residential facilities. With an average cost per child of $241 a day, states collectively spend about $5.7 billion a year on imprisoning juveniles.

Several states are trying to move away...