Is Juvenile Justice made for all youth? A literature review from a gender perspective

Abstract

Criminology is a theme that has been explored by several areas of study and it occurs due to its complexity as a phenomena, enabling different perspectives for researchers. When it comes to juvenile offenses, the situation becomes even more compounded, since it involves individuals that society must prioritize protection and guarantee their rights. Through a critical perspective, as in many other social dimensions, adolescents from minorities face hard times in the juvenile justice system, and specialized literature points out how the system was built to reach the white male youth, leading to neglect of others. This study aimed to analyze what researchers have been finding in the Juvenile Justice Systems regarding gender specificities for female juvenile offenders in different countries and using a systematic literature review approach through the Scopus database. The results reached a total of 19 articles between 2017-2021. Our findings support the idea of a justice made to suit boys, and suggest that gender-related discrimination are present either in the systems structure, in the courts deliberations and alternative programs for girls for example, as in the staff conduct, who often act in sexist ways towards them, and frequently the studies showed that the girls needs are not being met at the juvenile justice. Only one study had divergent results from the literature, while all others pointed in the same direction. There is a lack of studies that prioritize girls' views of their own experiences, therefore this remains as a suggestion for future research.