Up to 80 percent of girls in the juvenile justice system are victims of abuse

As many as 80 percent of girls in some states' juvenile justice systems have a history of being sexually or physically abused, according to a new study reported in The New York Times. Deemed "a crisis of national proportions" by the report's authors, the results show that 93 percent of girls in Oregon's juvenile justice system had been physically or sexually abused, with 76 percent having been sexually abused before they turned 13. In California's juvenile justice system, 81 percent of girls had been abused, with 40 percent having been raped at least once and 45 percent having been burned or beaten.

The report suggests that girls in the juvenile justice system receive less public attention due to the fact that there are far fewer girls in detention centers, and also because girls tend not to commit violent, or headline-worthy, crimes. However, many states allow girls to be arrested on prostitution charges when they are as young as 13 — even if they are actually victims of sex trafficking.

In response, the report recommends that girls who have been sex trafficked should no longer be arrested on prostitution charges. It also calls for the expansion of mental health and trauma services for girls in the juvenile justice system, which currently does not have the resources needed to address the crisis.

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