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February 2013Vol. 14, No. 1Service Needs Girls Involved With the Justice System

A new publication from the National Girls Institute (NGI) examines the current training, technical assistance, and informational needs of State, Tribal, and local entities serving girls and their families. For the study, NGI representatives conducted 64 "listening sessions" across the country with groups of at-risk girls or girls involved with the justice system, their parents or caregivers, and key professional and community stakeholders.

Open-ended questions were used to solicit data about the following key areas of concern:

  • Needs for priority training and technical assistance to improve the response to girls involved with the justice system
  • The resource and information needs of girls, parents, and key stakeholders
  • The supports, practices, policies that are currently working for girls, parents, and key stakeholders
  • Practices, policies, systems, structures, services, and programs that are ineffective and/or harmful

The report describes the information collected from the listening sessions, provides recommendations for policy and practice improvements, and offers suggestions for further research.

The National Girls Institute is a federally funded partnership between the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The project was funded by a grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

Voices From the Field is available on the National Girls Institute website:

http://www.nationalgirlsinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/NGI-Listening-Sessions-report.pdf (3 MB)