Gender-Specific Programming and Trauma-Informed Approaches
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52935/21.4518129.09Abstract
Yoga has been making its way into juvenile detention centers, but little research has looked at the possible effects of yoga on this special population of individuals. The purpose of this paper is to review the relevant literature available on the effects of yoga on youth involved with the justice system and its po-tential for rehabilitation. Notably, the objective here is to highlight the need for gender-specific program-ming, specifically those designed with women and girls in mind. This paper takes a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach when discussing literature on alternative rehabilitation and, importantly, identifies the gaps in previous research while offering ways of improvement. The findings in this review highlight the need for trauma-informed care and gender-specific programming. Importantly, this review identifies the need for race-sensitive programming while addressing cultural, historical, and gender-based issues within the field of criminology and criminal justice. Overall, we find that gender-specific programs are useful but lack in implementation and program evaluation. With that said, more research is needed in this area of study.
References
Acoca, L., & Dedel, K. (1998). Identifying the needs of young women in the juvenile justice system. Journal of the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, 6(1), 4-8.
Acoca, L. (1999). Investing in girls: A 21st century strategy. Juvenile Justice, 6, 2-21.
Anda, R. F., Butchart, A., Felitti, V. J., & Brown, D. W. (2010). Building a framework for global surveillance of the public health implications of adverse childhood experiences. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 39(1), 93-98.
Auty, K. M., Cope, A., & Liebling, A. (2017). A systemtic review and meta-analysis of yoga and mindfulness meditation in prison: Effects of psychological well-being and be-havioral functioning. International Journal of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology, 61, 689-710.
Baglivio, M. T., Wolff, K. T., Piquero, A. R., & Epps, N. (2015). The relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and juvenile offending trajectories in a juvenile offender sample. Journal of Criminal Justice, 43(3), 229-241.
Ballard-Green, D. K. (2016). The use of meditation and yoga as a treatment tool for juvenile offenders in Residential Treatment Centers for relapse prevention.
Barrett, C. J. (2017). Mindfulness and rehabilitation: Teach-ing yoga and meditation to young men in an alternative to incarceration program. International Journal of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology, 61(15), 1719-1738.
Belenko, S., Knight, D., Wasserman, G. A., Dennis, M. L., Wiley, T., Taxman, F. S., ... & Sales, J. (2017). The Juvenile Justice Behavioral Health Services Cascade: A new framework for measuring unmet substance use treatment services needs among adolescent offenders. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 74, 80-91.
Belknap, J., & Holsinger, K. (2006). The gendered nature of risk factors for delinquency. Feminist Criminology, 1(1), 48-71.
Bilchik, S. (1998). Mental health disorders and substance abuse problems among juveniles. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Black, P. J., Woodworth, M., Tremblay, M., & Carpenter, T. (2012). A review of trauma-informed treatment for adolescents. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 53(3), 192.
Bloom, B., Owen, B., Deschenes, E. P., & Rosenbaum, J. (2002) Moving towards justice for female juvenile offenders in the new millennium: Modeling gender-specific policies and programs. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 18(1), 37-56
Bonta, J., & Andrews, D. (2010). Viewing offender assessment and rehabilitation through the lens of the risk-need-responsivity model. Offender Supervision: New Directions in Theory, Research & Practice, 19-40.
Borduin, C. M., & Ronis, S. T. (2012). Research note: Indi-vidual, family, peer, and academic characteristics of female serious juvenile offenders. Youth Violence & Juvenile Justice, 10(4), 386-400.
Bowen, S., Witkiewitz, K., Dillworth, T. M., Chawla, N., Simpson, T. L., Ostafin, B. D., Ostafin, B. D., Larimer, M, E., Blume, A. W., Parks, G. A., & Marlatt, G. A. (2006) Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 20, 343-347
Buffington, K., Dierkhising, C. B., & Marsh, S. C. (2010). Ten things every juvenile court judge should know about trauma and delinquency. Juvenile & Family Court Journal, 61(3), 13-23.
Carr, N. T., Hudson, K., Hanks, R. S., & Hunt, A. N. (2008). Gender effects along the juvenile justice system: Evidence of a gendered organization. Feminist Criminology, 3(1), 25-43.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC. (2013). Prevention and control of seasonal influenza with vaccines. Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices--United States, 2013-2014. MMWR. Recommendations & Reports: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Recommendations & Reports, 62(RR-07), 1.
Chesney-Lind, M. (1989). Girls' crime and woman's place: Toward a feminist model of female delinquency. Crime & Delinquency, 35(1), 5-29.
Chesney-Lind, M., & Sheldon, R. G. (2004). Girls, delinquency, and juvenile justice Belmont. Wadsworth.
Chesney-Lind, M., & Okamoto, S. K. (2001). Gender matters: Patterns in girls' delinquency and gender responsive programming. Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, 1(3), 1-30.
Chesney-Lind, M., Morash, M., & Stevens, T. (2008). Girls troubles, girls' delinquency, and gender responsive programming: A review. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 41(1), 162-189.
Crenshaw, K., Ocen, P., Nanda, J. (2015). Black girls matter: Pushed out, overpoliced and underprotected. African American Policy Forum, Center for Intersectionality & So-cial Policy Studies.
Craig, J. M. (2019). The potential mediating impact of future orientation on the ACE–crime relationship. Youth Vio-lence & Juvenile Justice, 17(2), 111-128.
Crosby, S. D. (2016). Trauma‐informed approaches to juvenile justice: A critical race perspective. Juvenile & Family Court Journal, 67(1), 5-18.
Day, J. C., Zahn, M. A., & Tichavsky, L. P. (2015). What works for whom? The effects of gender responsive programming on girls and boys in secure detention. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 52(1), 93-129.
DeHart, D. D. (2008). Pathways to prison: Impact of victimization in the lives of incarcerated women. Violence Against Women, 14 (12), 1362-1381.
DeHart, D., & Lynch, S. M. (2021). Women's and girls' pathways through the criminal legal system: Addressing trauma, mental health, and marginalization. Cognella Academic Publishing.
De La Rue, L., & Espelage, D. L. (2014). Family and abuse characteristics of gang-involved, pressured-to-join, and non–gang-involved girls. Psychology of Violence, 4(3), 253.
Deitz, R., & Rajan, S. (2017). Access and barriers to implementing yoga-based interventions for at-risk adolescent youth. International Journal of Health Promotion & Education, 55(1), 30-41.
Derlic, D. (2020). A systematic review of literature: Alternative offender rehabilitation—prison yoga, mindfulness, and meditation. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 26(4), 361-375.
Desai, R. A., Goulet, J. L., Robbins, J., Chapman, J. F., Migdole, S. J., & Hoge, M. A. (2006). Mental health care in juvenile detention facilities: A review. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry & the Law Online, 34(2), 204–214.
Derezotes, D. (2000). Evaluation of yoga and meditation trainings with adolescent sex offenders. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 17(2), 97-113.
Dierkhising, C. B., Ko, S. J., Woods-Jaeger, B., Briggs, E. C., Lee, R., & Pynoos, R. S. (2013). Trauma histories among justice-involved youth: Findings from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 4(1), 20274.
Duncombe, E., Komorosky, D., Wong-Kim, E., & Turner, W. (2005). Free inside: A program to help inmates cope with life in prison at Maui community correctional center. Cali-fornia Journal of Health Promotion, 3(4), 48-58.
Epstein, R., & González, T. (2017). Gender & trauma—Somatic interventions for girls in juvenile justice: Implications for policy and practice. The Center on Poverty & Inequality, The Art of Yoga Project.
Ernst, M., Nelson, E., Jazbec, S., McClure, E., Monk, C., Leibenluft, E., Blair, J., & Pine, D. (2005). Amygdala and nucleus accumbens in response to receipt and omission of gains in adults and adolescents. NeuroImage 25, 1279–91.
Evans-Chase, M. (2013). Internet-based mindfulness meditation and self-regulation: A randomized trial with juvenile justice involved youth. Journal of Juvenile Justice, 3(1), 63-79.
Feierman, J., & Ford, J. D. (2016). Trauma-informed juvenile justice systems and approaches.
Feld, B. (2009). Violent girls or relabeled status offenders? An alternative interpretation of the data. Crime & Delinquency 55, 241-265.
Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., & Marks, J. S. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245-258.
Fine, M. (1992). Disruptive voices: The possibilities of fem-inist research. University of Michigan.
Fishbein, D., Miller, S., Herman-Stahl, M., Williams, J., Lavery, B., Markovitz, L., ... & Johnson, M. (2016). Behavioral and psychophysiological effects of a yoga intervention on high-risk adolescents: A randomized control trial. Jour-nal of Child & Family Studies, 25(2), 518-529.
Flocks, J., Calvin, E., Chriss, S., & Prado-Steiman, M. (2016). The case for trauma-informed, gender-specific prevention/early intervention programming in reducing female juvenile delinquency in Florida. Northwestern Journal of Law & Society. Policy, 12, 1.
Foley, A. (2008). The current state of gender-specific delinquency programming. Journal of Criminal Justice, 36(3), 262-269.
Ford, J. D., & Blaustein, M. E. (2013). Systemic self-regulation: A framework for trauma-informed services in residential juvenile justice programs. Journal of Family Vio-lence, 28(7), 665-677.
Francati, V., Vermetten, E., & Bremner, J. D. (2007). Functional neuroimaging studies in posttraumatic stress disorder: Review of current methods and findings. Depression & Anxiety, 24(3), 202-218.
Garcia, C. A., & Lane, J. (2010). Looking in the rearview mirror: What incarcerated women think girls need from the system. Feminist Criminology, 5(3), 227–243.
Gillespie, S. M., Mitchell, I. J., Fisher, D., & Beech, A. R. (2012). Treating disturbed emotional regulation in sexual offenders: The potential applications of mindful self-regula-tion and controlled breathing techniques. Aggression & Violent Behavior, 17(4), 333-343.
Goldstein, N., Olubadewo, O., Redding, R. E., & Lexcen, F. (2005). Mental health disorders: The neglected risk factor in juvenile delinquency. Juvenile Delinquency: Prevention, Assessment, & Intervention, 85-110.
Goodkind, S. (2005). Gender-specific services in the juvenile justice system: A critical examination. Affilia, 20(1), 52-70.
Grande, T. L., Hallman, J. M., Underwood, L. A., Warren, K. M., & Rehfuss, M. (2012). Treating detained juveniles: Measuring mental health traits and gender differences. Re-view of European Studies, 4, 14.
Griera, M., & Clot-Garrell, A. (2015). Doing yoga behind bars: A sociological study of the growth of holistic spirituality in penitentiary institutions. Religious Diversity in Eu-ropean Prisons: Challenges & Implications for Rehabilitation 141-157
Haggerty, M. K. (2013). An evaluation of a yoga and creative arts program for incarcerated female youth. Saint Mary's College of California.
Harris, D. A., & Fitton, M. L. (2010). The art of yoga pro-ject: A gender-responsive yoga and creative arts curriculum for girls in the California juvenile justice system. International Journal of Yoga Therapy, 20(1), 110-118.
Hennessey, M., Ford, J. D., Mahoney, K., Ko, S. J., & Siegfried, C. B. (2004). Trauma among girls in the juvenile jus-tice system. Los Angeles, CA: National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
Himelstein, S., Hastings, A., Shapiro, S., & Heery, M. (2012). Mindfulness training for self-regulation and stress with incarcerated youth: A pilot study. Probation Journal, 59(2), 151-165.
Hodge, J. P., Holsinger, K., & Maziarka, K. (2015). Assessing the status of gender-specific programs through the lens of juvenile justice staff. Women & Criminal Justice, 25(3), 184-200.
Houser, M. E. (2015). A mixed methods evaluation of the effectiveness of a group yoga intervention as an adjunctive trauma therapy for adolescent girls.
Irvine, A. & Canfield, A. (2017). Reflections on new national data on LGBQ/GNCT youth in the justice system. LGBTQ Policy Journal 7.
Johnson, J. E., Esposito-Smythers, C., Miranda Jr, R., Rizzo, C. J., Justus, A. N., & Clum, G. (2011). Gender, social support, and depression in criminal justice–involved adolescents. International Journal of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology, 55(7), 1096-1109.
Justice, L., Brems, C., & Ehlers, K. (2018). Bridging body and mind: Considerations for trauma-informed yoga. Inter-national Journal of Yoga Therapy, 28(1), 39-50.
Kahneman, D. (2013). Thinking Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Kretschmar, J. M., Butcher, F., Kanary, P. J., & Devens, R. (2015). Responding to the mental health and substance abuse needs of youth in the juvenile justice system: Ohio’s Behavioral Health/Juvenile Justice Initiative. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 85(6), 515.
Kumm, S., Maggin, D., Brown, C., & Talbott, E. (2019). A meta-analytic review of mental health interventions target-ing youth with internalizing disorders in juvenile justice fa-cilities. Residential Treatment for Children & Youth, 36(3), 235-256.
Lewis, D. O., Yeager, C. A., Lovely, R., Stein, A., & Cob-ham-Portorreal, C. S. (1994). A clinical follow-up of delinquent males: ignored vulnerabilities, unmet needs, and the perpetuation of violence. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 33(4), 518-528.
Mallicoat, S. L. (Ed.). (2019). Women, Gender, and Crime: A Text/reader. SAGE Publications,.
McCabe, K. M., Lansing, A. E., Garland, A. N. N., & Hough, R. (2002). Gender differences in psychopathology, functional impairment, and familial risk factors among ad-judicated delinquents. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 41(7), 860-867.
McKenna, N. C., Golladay, K. A., & Holtfreter, K. (2020). Integrating general strain theory and trauma-informed prin-ciples into the study of older adult victimization. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 21(2), 187-200.
Meiser-Stedman, R., Dalgleish, T., Glucksman, E., Yule, W., & Smith, P. (2009). Maladaptive cognitive appraisals mediate the evolution of posttraumatic stress reactions: A 6-month follow-up of child and adolescent assault and motor vehicle accident survivors. Journal of Abnormal Psychol-ogy, 118(4), 778.
Miazad, O. (2002). The gender gap: Treatment of girls in the US juvenile justice system. Human Rights Brief, 10(1), 3.
Middleton, L., Harris, D. A., & Ackerman, A. R. (2019). A mixed-methods process evaluation of the Art of Yoga Pro-ject for girls in custody. The Prison Journal, 99(4), 38S-60S.
Moffitt, T. E. Caspi, A., Rutter, M. & Silva, PA (2001). Sex differences in antisocial behaviour: Conduct disorder, delin-quency, and violence in the Dunedin Longitudinal Study. Psychological Medicine, 32(8), 1475-1476.
Morris, M. C., & Rao, U. (2013). Psychobiology of PTSD in the acute aftermath of trauma: Integrating research on coping, HPA function and sympathetic nervous system ac-tivity. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 6(1), 3-21.
Morris, M. W. (2013). Education and the caged bird: Black girls, school pushout and the juvenile court school. Poverty & Race, 22(6), 5-7
Muirhead, J., & Fortune, C. A. (2016). Yoga in prisons: A review of the literature. Aggression & Violent Behavior, 28, 57-63.
Palidofsky, M., & Stolbach, B. C. (2012). Dramatic healing: The evolution of a trauma-informed musical theatre pro-gram for incarcerated girls. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 5(3), 239-256.
Pasko, L., & Lopez, V. (2018). The Latina penalty: Juvenile correctional attitudes toward the Latina juvenile offender. Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, 16(4), 272-291.
Prescott, L. (1997). Adolescent girls with co-occurring dis-orders in the juvenile justice system. Delmar, NY: GAINS Center.
Roberts-Lewis, A. C., Welch-Brewer, C. L., Jackson, M. S., Kirk, R., & Pharr, O. M. (2010). Assessing change in psy-chosocial functioning of incarcerated girls with a substance use disorder: gender sensitive substance abuse intervention. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 49(7), 479-494.
Salisbury, E., & Van Voorhis, P. (2009). Gendered path-ways: An empirical investigation of women probationers’ paths to recidivism. Criminal Justice & Behavior, 36, 541-66.
Saar, M. S., Epstein, R., Rosenthal, L., & Vafa, Y. (2015). The sexual abuse to prison pipeline: The girls' story.
Scott, C. K., & Dennis, M. L. (2015). Juvenile Justice Na-tional Survey preliminary findings and juvenile justice com-munity supervision agency report: Feedback for participat-ing agencies. Chicago, IL: Chestnut Health Systems.
Shufelt, J. L., & Cocozza, J. J. (2006). Youth with mental health disorders in the juvenile justice system: Results from a multi-state prevalence study (pp. 1-6). Delmar, NY: Na-tional Center for Mental Health & Juvenile Justice.
Shonin, E., Van Gordon, W., Slade, K., & Griffiths, M. D. (2013). Mindfulness and other Buddhist-derived interven-tions in correctional settings: A systematic review. Aggres-sion & Violent Behavior, 18(3), 365-372.
Shufelt, J. L., and J. J. Cocozza. (2010) Youth with mental health disorders in the juvenile justice system: results from the multi-state prevalence study. Research & Program Brief.
Sickmund, M., & Puzzanchera, C. (2014). Juvenile offend-ers and victims: 2014 national report. Pittsburgh, PA: Na-tional Center for Juvenile Justice.
Silva, J. (2017). Yoga as an adjunctive treatment for youth who have experienced complex trauma. University of Hart-ford
Simkins, S. B., Hirsh, A. E., Horvat, E. M., & Moss, M. B. (2004). The school to prison pipeline for girls: The role of physical and sexual abuse. Children Legal Rights. Journal, 24, 56.
Simpson, S., Mercer, S., Simpson, R., Lawrence, M., & Wyke, S. (2018). Mindfulness-based interventions for young offenders: A scoping review. Mindfulness, 9(5), 1330-1343.
Steffensmeier, D., Schwartz, J., Zhong, H., & Ackerman, J. (2005). An assessment of recent trends in girls’ violence us-ing diverse longitudinal source: Is the gender gap closing? Criminology, 43(2), 355-406.
Strom, K. J., Warner, T. D., Tichavsky, L., & Zahn, M. A. (2014). Policing juveniles: Domestic violence arrest poli-cies, gender, and police response to child–parent violence. Crime & Delinquency, 60(3), 427-450.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administra-tion (2014) SAMHSA’s concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach. HHS Publication.
Tille, J. E., & Rose, J. C. (2007). Emotional and behavioral problems of 13-to-18-year-old incarcerated female first-time offenders and recidivists. Youth Violence & Juvenile Justice, 5(4), 426-435.
Teplin, L. A., Abram, K. M., & McClelland, G. M. (1996). Prevalence of psychiatric disorders among incarcerated women: I. Pretrial jail detainees. Archives of General Psy-chiatry, 53(6), 505-512.
Vanassche, S., Sodermans, A. K., Matthijs, K., & Swice-good, G. (2014). The effects of family type, family relation-ships and parental role models on delinquency and alcohol use among Flemish adolescents. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 23(1), 128-143.
Van der Kolk, B. A. (2015). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Penguin Books.
Van der Put, C. E., Creemers, H. E., & Hoeve, M. (2014). Differences between juvenile offenders with and without substance use problems in the prevalence and impact of risk and protective factors for criminal recidivism. Drug & Al-cohol Dependence, 134, 267-274.
Wolpow, R., Johnson, M. M., Hertel, R., & Kincaid, S. O. (2009). The heart of learning and teaching: Compassion, re-siliency, and academic success.
Yoga Teacher Training for Incarcerated People. (n.d.). Re-trieved from https://yogabehindbars.org/programs/
Zahn, M. A., Day, J. C., Mihalic, S. F., & Tichavsky, L. (2009). Determining what works for girls in the juvenile jus-tice system. A summary of evaluation evidence. Crime & Delinquency, 55, 266-293.
Zettler, H. R., Wolff, K., Baglivio, M., Craig, J. M., & Epps, N. (2018). The racial and gender differences in the impact of adverse childhood experiences on juvenile residential placement. Youth Violence & Juvenile Justice, 16(3), 319-337.
Zosuls, K. M., Miller, C. F., Ruble, D. N., Martin, C. L., & Fabes, R. A. (2011). Gender development research in sex roles: Historical trends and future directions. Sex Roles, 64(11-12), 826-842
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of Applied Juvenile Justice Services
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
