Chesney-Lind, Meda : University of Hawaii at Manoa
Shelden, Randall G. : University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Summary
This award-winning text was the first book devoted solely to the topic of female delinquency and the treatment
of young girls by the juvenile justice system. It sheds new light on the special problems of delinquent girls by
taking into account what it is like to grow up female in a patriarchal society. Based on extensive and original
research, the text provides compelling firsthand accounts as well as solid research and theory.
Benefits:
NEW! New and updated statistics on arrest trends, victimization trends, self-report studies, juvenile court
data and correctional populations.
Ethnographic examples provide readers with compelling and enlightening personal stories.
To address the special problems that girls encounter in the American prison system, this text evaluates the
relative success of alternative programs to incarceration.
NEW! New section in chapter 3 (The Nature of Female Delinquency) on girls and violence.
NEW! Significantly revised Chapter 4 (Girls and Gangs) including new information of media portrayals of girl
gangs, the types of girl gangs, discussions of class and race, drug use in girl gangs (including Miller's research.)
NEW! New theoretical coverage in Chapter 5 (Theories of Female Delinquency), including social disorganization,
new information on strain theory, and discussion of cultural differences.
NEW! New section in Chapter 10 (In Their Own Words) on interviews with girls in Hawaii.
NEW! Completely revised and updated Chapter 11 (Programs for Girls in Trouble), with new information on programming
for girls.
NEW! This text can be packaged with any Wadsworth textbook at a significant discount. Please contact your local
Thomson/Wadsworth sales representative for more details.
Explores the relevance of classic theories of delinquency to female juveniles.
The authors present an impressive amount of historical data and contemporary studies.
Table of Contents
1. Why a Book on Girls and Juvenile Justice?
2. The Extent of Female Delinquency.
3. The Nature of Female Delinquency.
4. Girls and Gangs.
5. Theories of Female Delinquency and Crime.
6. Girls' Lives and Girls' Delinquency.
7. Girls and the Juvenile Justice System: A Historical Overview.
8. The Contemporary Juvenile Justice System and Girls, Part I: Police and Juvenile Court Processing.
9. The Contemporary Juvenile Justice System and Girls, Part II: Girls in Institutions.
10. In Their Own Words: Interviews with Girls in the Juvenile Justice System.
11. Programs for Girls in Trouble.
12. Conclusions.
Bibliography.
Name Index.
Subject Index.