The independent and joint effects of race,crime, and social location on the dispositional decisions of juvenile girls

The nexus of race, gender, and social location remain a habitual line of inquiry for many criminologists. However, quantitative studies of intersectionality are rare and especially rare as it relates to those studying serious and violent girls sentenced in the juvenile court. Particularly, this study seeks to explore how racialized gender expectations and forms of double/multiplicative jeopardy influence the back-end outcomes for serious and violent girls. Findings reveal the black girls, compared to their white counterparts, were sentenced with less leniency, and instead, punished in a more punitive matter. Importantly, these findings vary across the gamut of legal and extralegal variables. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed, as well as the limitations of the present study.     

Trafficking of Ethiopian women to Europe – making choices,taking risks,and implications

ABSTRACT

This piece focuses on the Ethiopian women victims of trafficking – the agency of these women in the whole trafficking process, and issues of choice – ‘trying a chance’, or just taking a risk to get out of poverty or difficult social circumstances, considering that they are lured, tricked, coerced, or even forced into the hands of traffickers by a wide range of circumstances and people, including family and friends. Traffickers target girls with economic, social, and family problems. Most of the trafficking of women and girls from Ethiopia is carried out through the use of service ‘agencies’ and human smugglers who facilitate the process of migration through a number of routes. Many of those who use the ‘desert route’ often begin from Sudan to North Africa from where they cross to Europe. The data for this contribution were generated in a study – ‘Captured in Flight: Experiences of violence among African women in Sweden’ – funded by the Swedish crime prevention agency (Brottsoffermyndgheten). The research for the project has been carried out in Sweden, but the women whose case studies are presented here have been in the Middle East, Turkey, Italy, Finland, and Greece before coming to Sweden.     

We Are Not Quite There Yet …

Abstract

This article explores the authors' critical reflections that arose while engaging in research with girls recovering from an eating disorder. The authors address issues related to media, consumerism, and identity construction. They emphasize that while there are no clear solutions to dilemmas facing girls in North American culture, researchers and practitioners can co-create space with girls where gendered issues are made explicit. Their holistic framework for working with girls does not imply a neutral approach; rather, they aim to honor the complexity of gendered narratives and critically reflect on their implications for practice.     

嫖宿幼女罪模式新探

近年,社会公众对嫖宿幼女罪争论很大。由于对象的特殊性,立法者将嫖客纳入刑法,嫖宿的本质并非是否存在金钱,而是奸淫。区分嫖宿幼女罪与奸淫幼女犯罪的关键在于行为模式,即是否存在有三方关系的商品交易模式。我国司法解释对本罪的主观要件采用主客观相统一标准,英美的严格责任更能体现对幼女的保护。刑事法律不同于民事,侧重点不同,民法侧重关系,刑法侧重对行为的处罚。社会公众对本罪的质疑折射的是对司法的不信任。     

“She's Way Too Good to Lose”: An Evaluation of Honolulu's Girls Court

This research evaluates the efficacy of a gender-specific, problem-solving court for girl offenders. Official statistics, interview data, and focus group data are utilized to determine whether the court is achieving its stated goals of reducing recidivism, risky behaviors, and confinement for the girls who attend this court program. The present research demonstrates that the program does seem to be effective in terms of reducing both recidivism and risky behavior as well as increasing the development of prosocial and healthy relationships. The article concludes with some lessons learned from the implementation of this court program as well as ideas for future research.     

Prison Birthday: "It's All Good"

Due to an overreliance on arrests in the late 1990s, the incarceration of young women in the United States increased dramatically. On any given day in 2010, over 9000 girls were held in residential placement. Largely hidden from public view, little is known about the health requirements of female adolescent offenders in US secure custody. Less is known about how those needs are met while in detention. Curiously, while most theories regarding female juvenile delinquency draw upon non-criminogenic health-related factors – sexual abuse, family violence, and low self-esteem – their specific legal troubles are rarely, if ever, framed in public health terms. Drawing on original interviews with 100 court-involved girls, detainees’ perceptions of their medical, psychological, sexual, and social health concerns are highlighted. The data link court-involved girls’ prior health issues to their coming to the attention of juvenile authorities as well as demonstrating possible non-compliance with domestic and international standards for the health rights of juveniles deprived of their liberty.     

FROM SINGING GIRL TO REVOLUTIONARY ARTIST: FEMALE ENTERTAINERS REMEMBERING CHINA’S SOCIALIST PAST (1949–THE PRESENT)

Abstract

This article explores a unique aspect of gendered socialism by examining the competing narratives of the state and individuals’ oral accounts, particularly the stories of former singing girls and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres. During the socialist transformation of the 1950s, singing girls-turned-revolutionary artists, as popular performers and new socialist women, found mutual interests with the CCP: political propaganda for the Party, making profit for the troupe, and self-transformation for the girls. This article argues that the Party and former singing girls enacted a uniquely gendered socialism by continuously deploying the singing girls’ cultural and financial influence colored with their erotic image. In addition, this essay treats oral history as a process of identity and history construction rather than as “fact.”     

TENUOUS BORDERS: GIRLS TRANSFERRED TO ADULT COURT*

There are tremendous gaps in our theories and knowledge about girls who have committed crimes deemed so serious as to justify adult sentencing. This study is guided by a feminist approach to “give voice” to 22 girls incarcerated in a women's prison in the Midwest. Through in‐depth interviews, the girls describe their lives before prison and their perceptions of being tried and convicted as adults. Consistent with other research on female offenders, these girls reported lives fraught with violence and victimization, sexism, racism, and economic marginalization. This study calls for a more careful and complex look at issues of victimization, agency, and responsibility among female offenders, particularly those proclaimed “adults” by the legal system.     

对网上追逃产生的异地羁押的侦查监督

网上追逃作为一种高效的侦查手段,被公安机关广泛应用。但由于缺乏法律依据,网上追逃也存在诸多争议,异地羁押期间应否计入刑事拘留期间便是其中之一。应当将网上追逃这种高效的侦查手段写入刑事诉讼法,而且要细化网上追逃的执法程序,明确立案地、抓获地公安机关的职责,使公安机关的侦查权力在法律规定的范围内有据、有序地行使,也为检察机关顺利实现法律监督职能提供坚实的法律依据。     

嫖宿幼女罪的困境及其突围

嫖宿幼女罪立法存在用词不当,刑罚失衡;因罪名不能承载社会谴责,忽视被害人权益,立法过于理想,忽视司法现实等价值偏失。其问题根源在于我国刑事立法存在合法性危机。要从根本上解决嫖宿幼女罪所存在的问题,必须从技术与价值两方面对其予以完善。