Jonathan Green
Miyuki
Juvenile Justice System
February 12, 2017
Discussion Questions #1
1.) Throughout the course of history, girls have been treated differently than boys and social
norms have paved the way for those treatments. When a boy runs away from home it
seems almost as if he is being rebellious. In some way, the boy is not a victim and that
reflects on how much police officers pay attention to these kids when they are found or
reported. But on the other hand if a girl was walking down the street at a late hour with
no one else, the truth is that police officers are more likely to stop and talk to her, maybe
possibly even take her into the station, and definitely see her through to safety. This is
due to a menessing history of social norms and treatments that go along with them. Girls
are painted to be victims and weaker because of the dominant male counterpart and the
stereotype of how men are perceived (Which usually classifies men as predators or for
younger boys, rebellious children).
During the class discussion on “Gender and Juvenile Justice” there were some
facts that were brought to light regarding the difference in how the world is perceived to
males and females. Girls seem to become a victim more often than boys because they
develop their personal identity based on relationship which is where conflicts often root
from, while boys develop themselves based on a relationship with the world around them,
causing their conflicts to sprout from the rules within the world. With this being the case,
girls are often viewed as broken when they run off because it is an indicator that a
relationship has gone sour and is causing them distress. Officers have implicit bias that
causes them to unintentionally think this way and act accordingly. All of this treatment
comes from the longtime phrase “boys will be boys” which implies that boys will break
the rules and have conflict with their world because, well, they are boys and according to
the social norm, these actions are acceptable. In contrast, girls do not get this kind of
treatment, they are expected to by the cookie cutter “good girls” and when they run off it
is thought that “there must be a better reason, girls would not just run away”.
As far as treatment goes on a social attention spectrum, boys often get less
sympathy because of the history of males. They are expected to be men and fend for
themselves, there is no need for the authorities to get involved, or so this is thought. The
reality is that boys are victims too and should receive the same amount of help as girls
