Identify and discuss gender and racial/ethnic differences among institutionalized youth

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• Minority youths are incarcerated at a rate two to four times that of European American youths.
• Minority youths accused of delinquent acts are less likely than European American youths to be diverted from the court system into informal sanctions and are more likely to receive sentences involving incarceration.
• Across all races and ethnicities, mental health needs are particularly acute among institutionalized juveniles.
• Institutions for girls are generally more restrictive than those for boys, and they have fewer educational and vocational programs and fewer services.
• Institutions for girls also do a less-than-adequate job of rehabilitation. It has been suggested that this double standard operates because of a male-dominated justice system that seeks to "protect" young girls from their own sexuality.
• Females tend to be incarcerated for longer terms than males.
• In addition, institutional programs for girls tend to be oriented toward reinforcing traditional roles for women.
• Most of these programs also fail to take account of the different needs of African American and European American females, as in the case of coping with past abuse.
• Female juvenile offenders also have higher rates of mental health problems than their male counterparts.
• Although there are more coed institutions for juveniles than in the past, most girls remain incarcerated in single-sex institutions that are isolated in rural areas and rarely offer adequate rehabilitative services.