Hanging out past curfew could get you a one-way ticket
to the Big House, according to an American Bar Association
(ABA) study. While juvenile crimes dropped among boys,
the arrest rate for girls has jumped 83 percent in
20 years! Girls are more likely than boys to return
to detention centers after release, and girls are
arrested more often for running away than boys. 
Worse,
the juvenile justice system isn't set up to handle
troubled girls. "People need to take a fresh
look at the differences between girls and boys,"
says ABA's Mary Ann Scali. She says up to 90 percent
of delinquent girls have been sexually or physically
abused, but that these issues are rarely addressed.
Rigid rule setting rehabilitates in a way that promotes
distance between staff and teens. "Girls need
to talk things out," says Nikki Daniels, executive
director of an all-girls program. "They need
to think it through, process it and have somebody
to talk with."
Recommended books on this topic:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
Teens: The Ultimate Teenage Success Guide
by Sean Covey
This is a step-by-step guide to help teens improve
self-image, build friendships, resist peer pressure,
achieve their goals, get along with their parents,
and much more.
