The national arrest rate for girls has steadily climbed from 21 percent in 1983 to 27 percent last year. More disturbing is that arrests for violent crimes such as aggravated and simple assault increased a total of 36 percent among girls between 1994 and 1998 compared with a negligible increase or decline in those violent crimes for boys, according to the most recent figures released by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) in Washington, D.C.

Gang activity is one of several risk factors for delinquency in girls, especially for more serious offenses. In California, where gang activity is high in urban areas, more girls than boys were arrested for murder, attempted murder, and carjacking in 1998, according to Hans Steiner, M.D., a professor of psychiatry in the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine.

He and a colleague presented the preliminary results of an ongoing study of juvenile offenders in the California Youth Authority at the October meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

To assess their treatment needs, the researchers surveyed about 3,600 incarcerated male and female juvenile offenders from June 1998 to January 1999. Girls made up about 8 percent of the sample, and they ranged in age from 9 to 17.

Steiner and his colleagues used the Achenbach Youth-Self Reporting instrument to measure the prevalence of disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression and behaviors such as physical and verbal aggression and delinquency.

"Girls scored high on both dimensions. Because girls experience more physical and sexual abuse, they tend to have more psychopathology than boys including PTSD, suicidal behavior, dissociative disorder, and borderline personality disorder," said Steiner.

Aggressive behaviors were four times more common in girls than boys, according to the results.

"This is a highly comorbid population who needs more services," said Steiner.

His findings are similar to results of national studies on young female offenders. They suggest that the path to juvenile delinquency for girls is complex and differs in many ways from that of boys.

The typical female juvenile offender is aged 14 to 16, from an ethnic minority, lives in a poor neighborhood with a high crime rate, and has experienced physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse, according to a 1998 OJJDP report, "Guiding Principles for Promising Female Programming: An Inventory of Best Practices."

Other characteristics are poor academic performance, substance abuse, and a lack of medical or mental health services, states the report.

Researchers have found that these factors are interrelated. For example, up to 70 percent of female delinquents have a history of sexual abuse, which can result in academic failure, teen pregnancy, low self-esteem, and other problems.

OJJDP Administrator Shay Bilchik told Psychiatric News, "Juvenile justice officials have recently begun to understand the multiple processes that impact the lives of teenage girls such as pregnancy and sexual abuse. The red flags for delinquency have been there, but the needs of girls have been largely ignored."

He attributed that in part to few community mental health resources and to the juvenile justice system’s handling girls differently from boys. "Because the majority of girls are arrested for misdemeanor offenses, judges usually try to divert their cases from the juvenile system into more informal settings rather than mandating treatment and accountability," said Bilchik.

Girls typically respond to a crisis with more self-destructive behavior than do boys, so girls may be perceived as less dangerous to society and thus receive less attention, according to the OJJDP report.

To jumpstart the development of gender-specific programs, the 1992 Reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act required states applying for federal formula grants to identify gaps in their services to female offenders. It also required states to develop a plan for providing gender-specific services aimed at prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency.

Congress also authorized new challenge grants for states to address specific issues including developing policies to prohibit gender bias in placement and treatment of juveniles. New programs should ensure that "female youth have access to the full range of health and mental health services, treatment for physical or sexual assault and abuse, self-defense training, and education in parenting and vocational services, " according to the 1998 OJJDP report "Juvenile Female Offenders: A Status of the States."

The OJJDP supported these legislative efforts by assisting states in improving their system for dealing with female offenders. Last year, the agency issued a guide to best practices based on 16 model programs that addressed the needs of female juvenile offenders or helped girls at risk for delinquency stay out of the juvenile system.

To be successful, a program should provide a cohesive environment and supportive staff that boost girls’ confidence and skills and encourage them to make positive changes. In addition, each girl needs an individual assessment and treatment plan, according to the OJJDP publication "Guiding Principles for Promising Female Programming: An Inventory of Best Practices."

That document is available on OJJDP’s Web site at <www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/pubs/principles/>. The status of the states report is available at <www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/pubs/gender/>.