Teaching them a lesson.

• Author: Pariente, Barbara J.
• Position: "Breakfast and Books" female juvenile criminal rehabilitation program - Florida

Note: In September 2002, Florida Supreme Court Justices Barbara J. Pariente and Peggy A. Quince along with Annette Boyd Pitts, executive director of the Florida Law Related Education Association, Inc., visited the Florida Institute for Girls (FIG) in West Palm Beach. The visit, arranged in conjunction with the Supreme Court justices' annual Constitution Week program, was scheduled because Justices Pariente and Quince had been concerned about the issue of the increasing number of girls entering the juvenile justice system in Florida. In April 2003, Justice Pariente returned to FIG to follow up on the girls she had seen in September and to view the success of the "Breakfast and Books" program. These visits to FIG generated a renewed commitment by the authors to explore the increase in female juvenile crime. This article represents an expression of the lessons we learned and a call for lawyers and judges not only to recognize the predictors unique to female delinquent behavior, but to become actively involved in prevention and intervention efforts.

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We knew from the start that this would be no ordinary classroom. And we knew that this visit would be different from the many classroom visits we had previously made. The gate slammed shut and locked behind us. We were asked to remove our jewelry and leave our purses and briefcases in the car. We were not allowed to take pictures. Staples had to be removed from our handouts because, we were told, they could be used as weapons. Pencils had to be collected before we left. Although we cannot tell you the names or show you the faces of the students we worked with that day, those students had a profound impact on us.

As they filed into the classroom, the students counted off: "One ma'am, two ma'am, and three ma'am...." They looked like ordinary teenagers, but their lives were far from ordinary. There were no t-shirts or blue jeans; instead these teenagers wore blue scrubs. Activities that most 13 to 18 year olds take for granted were not part of their daily routines. These girls were not talking on cell phones or planning their next trip to the mall. They were not listening to their favorite music or checking out the latest movies. Their rooms were concrete cells with a mattress for sleeping and no television or radios.

These students were teenage girls in Florida's first maximum-risk facility for serious female juvenile offenders, the Florida Institute for Girls (FIG) in West Palm Beach. Many of the crimes they committed were violent, ranging from armed robbery and aggravated assault to carjacking and manslaughter. We came to teach them a lesson on the courts and the constitution. The lessons they taught us, however, were even more valuable.

Recognizing the great strides women have made in the field of law, it is equally important to recognize the enormous numbers of women who have also found their way into our jails and prisons--and into our juvenile justice system. The girls at FIG awakened our interest in the risk factors and life circumstances that contribute to female juvenile crime and what we can do to help prevent today's juvenile girl from becoming tomorrow's adult offender.

The visit to FIG was part of the Constitution Week program sponsored by the Florida Law Related Education Association, Inc., in cooperation with the justices of the Florida Supreme Court. The justices visit classrooms across Florida to teach about the role of the courts in our democracy and their unique role in protecting rights granted by the U.S. Constitution. The experiences are always rewarding and this visit was certainly no exception. The genesis of the visit was a conversation with Linda Fagan, a teacher from the FIG facility who participated in the Palm Beach County Justice Teaching Institute in February 2002. (1) After learning more about the facility, we planned our visit and invited local attorneys to participate, including members of the Palm Beach County Florida Association of Women Lawyers (FAWL) under the leadership of its president, Michele Suskauer. The goal was to provide positive female role models for the girls and to learn more about the paths that led to their confinement in FIG. Members of FAWL agreed to remain involved beyond the visit in a long-term mentoring relationship.

The students at FIG are among the most serious female juvenile offenders in Florida. Depending on the crimes they committed and their progress at FIG, the girls may stay at this highly secure, gender-specific facility from 15 to 60 months, according to Dr. Jackie Layne, FIG director. The students participate in a specially designed academic and cultural education curriculum with an emphasis on vocational training, social skills, self-sufficiency, and mental health. These girls will be reentering society and will be back in our communities. What happens during their stay at FIG may be their last chance to gain the skills to succeed in life.

The visit was intended to share a human side to justice, to let the students experience the judicial decision-making process, and to present an exercise in critical thinking and the U.S. Constitution. The case we presented was Florida v. J.L., 529 U.S. 266 (2000). We have used this case countless times in schools to "teach" students about the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the role of the court system in protecting rights. Even though this time we knew that we had a captive audience, we expected either a lack of interest or outright hostility. What we found instead was a group of 18 girls from diverse ethnic and racial and social backgrounds who were bright, articulate, and eager to learn and question. They all knew the three branches of government (a fact that many adults do not know).

In addition to excelling at this constitutional activity, the girls also taught us some valuable lessons. They shared their life experiences with us and each girl told a personal story. Although each girl's life was unique, many of the stories were similar. The girls told of victimization and abusive childhoods, drug and alcohol use, failure in school, and many other issues. Some had parents who also had been incarcerated. They told of their experiences with the juvenile justice system and specifically the courts--and of the judges who had sentenced them to this facility. Some felt their judges "really cared" and "took an interest" in them. (2) It seemed as if the judges, in some cases, provided the discipline and structure missing from the girls' lives.

Other girls, however, perceived that they were treated harsher because of their gender. Indeed, Dr. Layne related that many times the juvenile girls see the judge as "the man." She expressed that there was a need for judges to receive more education about the causes of delinquent behavior in juvenile girls and the type of girl who could benefit from this high-end program.

These stories increased our interest to learn more about the unique issues of girls in our juvenile justice system, an issue that has gained much attention recently, both nationally and...