Girls, Delinquency, and Juvenile Justice

In the last two decades data on girls’ detention and incarceration reveals a remarkable shift in their treatment, resulting in increased arrest and detention. It is now the case that girls coming into the criminal justice system are much more likely to be jailed. In light of girls′ increased arrests for delinquency, this book—the only textbook to focus exclusively on girls and crime—is both timely and highly relevant. The new edition of Girls, Delinquency, and Juvenile Justice combines cutting–edge research and expanded coverage of girls’ violence to include data showing that, despite media hype, girls are not becoming more violent. It also covers girls in gangs and the emerging literature on the sexual trafficking of girls, adding some complexity to the sometimes over–hyped discussion of this issue. The overall approach is global in context.

Meda Chesney–Lind is Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Nationally recognized for her work on women and crime, her books include The Female Offender: Girls, Women and Crime (3rd edition, 2013), Girls, Delinquency, and Juvenile Justice (3rd edition, 2004), Female Gangs in America (1999), Invisible Punishment (2002), Beyond Bad Girls: Gender, Violence and Hype (2008), and Feminist Theories of Crime (2011).  Randall G. Shelden is Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas. He is the author or co–author of 15 books. Besides three previous editions of Girls, Delinquency, and Juvenile Justice (with Meda Chesney–Lind), his books include Youth Gangs in American Society (4th edition, 2013), Delinquency and Juvenile Justice in American Society (2nd edition, 2012), Our Punitive Society (2010), and Controlling the Dangerous Classes (2nd edition, 2008). He is co–editor of the online Justice Policy Journal .