Girls constitute the largest growing segment of the juvenile justice system and now account for nearly one-third of all juvenile arrests in the United States. Disturbingly, girls in the juvenile justice system are treated differently than similarly situated boys, and girls of color are treated much differently than white girls.
The raw statistics that are beginning to emerge come as little surprise to those of us who have witnessed the disparate treatment of girls in general and girls of color in particular. The data mirror what we have suspected anecdotally and witnessed empirically for some time. Still, the facts are jarring, even for those of us “in the know:”
