Rosemary C. Sarri

The Impact of Sexual Abuse in the Lives of Young Women Involved or At Risk of Involvement With the Juvenile Justice System

Girls in the juvenile justice system have high rates of past sexual abuse. To better understand the relationship between sexual abuse and justice system involvement, we analyzed survey interviews with 169 young women involved or at risk of involvement with juvenile justice, comparing girls who experienced sexual abuse with those who did not. Girls experiencing sexual abuse had more negative mental health, school, substance use, risky sexual behavior, and delinquency outcomes. These findings highlight a need for interventions to assist girls who have experienced abuse and efforts to prevent abuse and improve child welfare and social service systems.

Women's health status and gender inequality in China

This paper examines the health status of women in China by reviewing levels and trends of female mortality at several phases of a womans life cycle focusing on infancy girlhood, childbearing and old age. The mortality rates of Chinese women and men are compared for the period 1950-1990 as are comparisons with women in selected countries. The cause-specific death rate, expressed as a percentage of all deaths, and the burden of disease, measured in terms of the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), are used to reflect the changing patterns of female diseases and causes of deaths. Significant improvement in the health status of Chinese women since 1950 is widely acknowledged as a major achievement for a developing country with the largest population in the world, but the differentials in womens health by region and urban/rural areas are considerable. The Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) indicates that the overall level of physical well-being of Chinese women has increased in recent decades, but disparity in health between men and women still exists. The Gender-Related Development Index (GDI) further reveals that China has achieved significant progress in womens health during the past four decades, but far less has been achieved with respect to gender equality overall. The final sections of the paper focus on the discussion of some health problems faced by the female population during the process of economic reform since the 1980 s. In order to promote gender equality between women and men, concerns on womens health care needs are highlighted.

Goal displacement and dependency in South Korean-United States intercountry adoption

Abstract Intercountry adoption is growing throughout the world in response to wars, poverty, natural disasters and other forms of societal and familial disruptions. This paper illustrates with reference to South Korea what can occur without careful social planning, when intercountry adoption is begun as a response to war, and then becomes an important component in social policy for orphaned, relinquished and abandoned children for nearly forty years. Prior to the 1950s, formal adoption was almost unheard of in South Korea. The present intercountry adoption program was begun in response to a growing problem of unwanted, mixed racial children of U.S. military servicemen in the 1950s, but continued longer after that problem no longer existed. The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs has made repeated overtures to phase out the intercountry adoption program, however, the government has not implemented specific policies necessary to accomplish that goal. Given the lack of development of alternatives for parentless or abandoned children under the present Korean Child Welfare Policy and the resources that adoption placements are for private agencies, the practice has continued for forty years, and is likely to continue indefinitely. In contrast to the 1950s, South Korea now has the political and economic resources to provide its own comprehensive and effective system of child welfare services. The paper gives special attention to the history of United States-South Korean programs because the former is the largest recipient of Korean adopted children. Recommendations for greater government regulation conclude the article and implications are outlined for intercountry adoption arrangements with other countries where the practice is now growing rapidly.

Gender Issues in Juvenile Justice

The federal JJDP legislation has had a differential impact on the pattern of admission of females and males to detention facilities and training schools, and also on the rate of admission relative to the total available youth population. These findings suggest a differential societal response, and also variable incidence of delinquency among females and males. Data from a self-report survey of high school youth corroborate the latter assumption and also findings that have been noted by others. Attachment to parents and normative institutions is an important constraint on delinquent behavior, but this bonding interacts differently for females and males. Thus, both explanatory and intervention theories of delinquency need to consider gender as a critical variable.

Gender and race differences in criminal justice processing

Abstract The importance of gender and race as critical variables in criminal justice system processing is highlighted in this article. These processes influence women and minority racial groups as victims and as offenders. The article addresses the situation in the United States between 1970 and 1985 primarily, but the focus on gender and race has application to many other countries. Following a brief historical assessment of the processing of black and white females, characteristics of female offenders are examined. Analysis of court processing highlights sex differences in pleas, bargaining, and sentencing. The experience of sentencing reform in one state is examined, followed by a report of the commitment and incarceration of women in one state over a ten-year interval. These findings support the conclusion that gender and race must be analysed as critical independent and intervening variables in studies of arrest, court processing, sentencing, and incarceration.

Participatory action research in two communities in Bolivia and the United States

Despite statements of significant global economic and social progress, the divisions between the world’s haves and have-nots grow. According to the Overseas Development Council, nearly 1 billion men, women and children live in conditions of unmitigated poverty, fighting a daily battle against malnutrition, disease, illiteracy and infant mortality (Buvinic and Yudelman, 1989). Although these problems are most serious in developing countries, they are aslo

Child welfare policy and practice: Rethinking the history of our certainties

This paper presents a critical retrospective examination of the policies and practices in child welfare as these relate to the declining well-being of children today. There are four key structures around which child welfare is organized: family, state, market and charity. The development of child welfare practices over time follows a cyclical process modulated by the power relations among these key structures that has favored systemic maintenance over transformational change. It is suggested that child welfare policy and practice is informed by three “certainties” or accepted truths that are embedded in broader cultural understandings and that come to be seen as constants rather than as variables. The certainties we address here are: the dichotomy of public and private; the primacy of autonomous individualism and the capacity of corrective intervention. Acting on these certainties not only limits the scope of problem solving in child welfare, but more fundamentally, it constrains the formulation of critical questions about the nature of child welfare policy and practice. The future of practice must explore a new set of critical questions that challenge these certainties if truly empowering models of child welfare practice are to be developed.

Juvenile Aid Panels: An Alternative to Juvenile Court Processing in South Australia

Diversion and other alternatives to juvenile court processing are being used increasingly in many countries. Juvenile aid panels were developed and implemented in South Australia as a part of the 1971 revised Juvenile Courts Act. Findings from the study of a five-year cohort of youths pro cessed through the juvenile aid panels and the juvenile court are presented and analyzed. The findings indicate that the rate of reappearance of youths processed through the panels was essentially similar to that of youths processed through the court. Thus, as far as the criterion of re cidivism is concerned, this more benign and less stigmatizing mechanism is at least as effective as court processing. Panels were not successful in removing all minor and status offenders from processing in the court, nor were the numbers of cases processed by the court reduced as a result of the panels. Quite the opposite—the entire juvenile justice system grew rapidly during this five-year period, largely because of increased numbers pro cessed by the panels.

Intergenerational Incarceration: Risk Factors and Social Exclusion

This study analyzes the intergenerational transmission of incarceration in a sample of youth from a Michigan study of youth sentenced to juvenile facilities and adult prisons. The social exclusion framework from Murray (2007)was used to examine the correlates of parental incarceration for youth who themselves are incarcerated. Cluster analysis identified 10 factors that showed significant differences among low, medium, and high rates of parental incarceration. These factors were associated with negative life events, parental substance abuse, experience with public assistance and/or foster care, neighborhood quality and instability, stigma, and negative youth outcomes.

Group Treatment Strategies in Juvenile Correctional Programs

Direct and indirect approaches to group intervention recently utilized by juvenile correctional agencies, including closed in stitutions, minimum security or work camps, courts, and de tached worker and street-gang programs in open community agencies, are examined to identify their distinguishing features and to assess their usefulness.