When She Was Bad She Was Horrid (From ... And When She Was Bad? Working With Young Women in Juvenile Justice and Related Areas, P 25-32, 1996, Christine Alder and Margaret Baines, eds. - - See NCJ-165370)

• NCJ Number: 165373
• Author(s): M Baines; C Adler
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 8 pages
• Sale Source: National Clearinghouse for Youth Studies
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

Nine male and 10 female workers in juvenile justice and related programs in Victoria (Australia) were asked how they felt about working with young men and women, whether they felt there were differences in working with different genders, and how these differences could be explained.

Abstract

Overall, workers stated that their work with young women was more complex and emotionally draining than their work with young men. A significant proportion of the respondents had a particularly negative view of their work with young women and preferred to have male clients. Others, who expressed enjoyment and satisfaction in their working relationships with young women, acknowledged that there were difficult challenges in meeting their female clients' needs. Some of the workers' complaints about working with young women were their personalized verbal aggression against the worker, complex emotional needs compared to the practical needs of boys, the sexual abuse often experienced by girls, and the lack of services tailored to the particular needs of female clients. Negative worker attitudes toward female clients does not bode well for the quality of service available to marginalized young women, whose contact with a sympathetic and understanding worker may be crucial to positive change. Current treatment options for women and the training of juvenile case workers must be examined if services for young women are to improve. 8 references