Abstract
There is no shortage of policy, research, or practice recommendations for implementing gender-responsive programming. There is, however, substantial variation in the way in which gender-responsive has been defined and operationalized in practice. This exploratory study represents an examination of girls’ lived experiences in traditional and gender-responsive juvenile justice programs from an insider’s perspective. Participants’ narratives were overwhelmingly positive about gender-responsive programming; however, the findings in this study also suggest that it is critical to incorporate important gender-neutral skills into gender-responsive programming to enable girls to succeed economically and interdependently as they attempt to maintain themselves and their families once they are released from custody.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my partners at the Utah Juvenile Justice Services Division, my research assistants, and the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments. This project was supported by a grant awarded to the author by the University of Utah's Research Committee and the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice.