In 2005, the Annie E. Casey Foundation published Detention Reform and Girls: Challenges and Solutions, the thirteenth installment in its “Pathways to Detention Reform” publication series. The report showed that while girls comprise a minority of youth who appear in juvenile courts on delinquency charges, they often present vastly different challenges than boys. The special needs of girls manifest throughout the juvenile justice process, the report found, but particularly at the detention phase. Serving girls effectively often requires targeted gender-responsive strategies.
