Good Girls: Gender-Specific Interventions in Juvenile Court

Fanna Gamal wrote for the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law about the messages and values we promote while targeting girls.

In the juvenile legal system, many jurisdictions are adopting interventions that target girls for specialized treatment. The proliferation of so-called Girls Courts—or specialty courts designed to address the specific challenges faced by system-involved girls—is one such intervention. Girls Court rejects gender-blindness in the juvenile justice system in order to address the unique needs of system-involved girls. This Article enlists Critical Race Feminism to argue that, although well intentioned, these gender-specific juvenile courts enlist harmful gender stereotypes to guide girls towards an antiquated and hegemonic form of femininity. By examining the underlying assumptions that drive Girls Court, this Article assesses the line between gender-consciousness and gender stereotyping and critiques the role of law in entrenching harmful notions about what “good girls” ought to be.