Sexual Minority Youth And Juvenile Justice System

Abstract: SMY (sexual minority youth, which refers within this paper to youth who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer) are at risk for trauma in particularly high numbers. When SMY become homeless, their risk for exposure to trauma becomes even higher, presenting the helping professions with a population that faces unique problems in clinical settings that may seek to treat homelessness without considering minority stress and repeated exposure to trauma. We reviewed literature concerned with trauma, homelessness and SMY issues to determine which EBPs (evidence-based practices) have been deemed most helpful for this population and found very few. Our investigation into local resources available to homeless SMY was similarly discouraging. Since previous trauma and marginalized sexual orientation are the primary factors for continued risk, we can suggest that Trauma Informed Care and Gay Affirmative Cognitive Behavioral Therapy are currently our best choices. This paper will seek to explore why.

Minority children are exposed to the juvenile justice system at a higher percentage than their white peers. Minority children are over represented at every level of the judicial process. Minority children are more likely to be charged, detained, and confined. The proportion of minorities increases as each level becomes more restrictive. Research also indicates that minority children receive harsher treatment than Caucasian children do. Minority children are more likely to be sentenced and confined for longer durations of time and less likely to be diverted to community based services, alternative sentences, or probation. As a criminal justice professional, entering into a juvenile correctional facility you cannot help but notice that the majority of the cellblocks consist of African American Males. Several questions come to mind. Are black males more prone to criminal behavior or does society have a negative cognitive schema when it pertains to minority youth, especially African American males?

These results are meant to spark an interest in their audience and give way to even more in-depth study of the experiences of LGBTQ youth. The information is not just for those in education but it very important for them. There must be methods of intervention and procedures to prevent negative outcomes when a child does decide to confine in his parents about his/her sexuality. There have been studies done in order to identify the adolscents who idenfiy as LGBTQ. One example of a specific study conducted was by Casey Field Office Mental Health (CFOMH). This organization set out with a few questions for a group of foster youth. The study interviewed 188 adolescents ages 14 to 17 who were receiving foster care services from Casey Family Programs in 2006. About 10 children of the group of 188 youths identified as LGBQ. This study includes both the experiences of the LGBTQ youth groups as well as their non-LGBTQ counterparts. The results of this study concluded that out of the 10 students who identify as LGBTQ all felt as though they were not being given the help they needed. They felt marginalized. Another more recent study, the Los Angeles Foster Youth Study (LAFYS), was also conducted by the Los Angeles

Case Study 14.1: David’s coming Out Process 1. What are the developmental challenges for sexual minority youth, as articulated in David’s story? David’s story points out the complicated lives that LGBTQ youth experience, youth who identify as transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide, and studies show that that higher risk stems from their experiences of discrimination and victimization. David’s journey as a gay teen reveals the challenges some young people face just for being who they are.

When it comes to discussing the criminal justice system and juveniles, there have been many landmark cases that have made a significant impact on the juvenile justice system. The cases arise from dealing with certain aspects that comes from handling juveniles entering the system. Since juveniles are very different from adults they have to deal with them a certain way and a case by case basis. The court cases concerning juveniles and the decisions that have come from them is what has made what the juvenile justice system is today. Juveniles are not treated the same as adults since juveniles are not ad developed as adults common sense wise. They don’t always know what is right from wrong and sometimes they do not have guidance or good influences around them helping them in the right direction. In class we have learned that instead of punishing them, the goal of the juvenile justice system is based on rehabilitation. For instance, juveniles cannot be sentenced to death if under the age of 18 and also can not be given the sentences of life without parole because they consider these punishments cruel and unusual for juveniles. If the system is able to rehabilitate them and give them the tools they need, they have a second chance at changing their lives for the better and getting away from all of the crimes. They rather try to send them to programs or to complete community service to better themselves instead of giving them hard time. The court cases that I will discuss is what

Studies have conducted that those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) are wrongly treated in juvenile justice systems. In this article, written by Kristi Holsinger and Jessica P. Hodge, these two authors go into great detail on the ways the LGBT community is wrongly treated within the juvenile justice system and analyze an interview that examines the challenges for the staff and for the women, as well as how to support those who are members of the LGBT community.

The first three sets of theory incorporated the levels, shifting levels of identities shaped by outside agencies for LGBT youth. Another social factor that impending on young sexual minorities are the threats of poverty. These threats cause LGBT youth to experience vulnerability and detriment to their identities. Corliss et al. research validates that statement. In their article, “High Burden of Homelessness Among Sexual-Minority Adolescents: Findings From a Representative, Massachusetts High School, Sample,” they review the prevalence of homelessness in LGBT and heterosexual adolescents (Corliss et al. 1683). Their findings include: 40% LGBT student in the Massachusetts

An approximated 6 % to 10 % of street youth report being gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or transgender (GLBT) (Oliveira & Burke, 2009, p. 155). In 2009 there was an estimated 1.7 million homeless youth in the United States (Oliveira & Burke, 2009), and of those, thousands were reported to have been “throwaway, castaway, or pushed out” due to parental figures driving the point that their sexual orientation was no longer welcome in the home (p.155). These children have been abandoned or deserted, leaving them at risk to later be victimized in the street culture, while leaving many scars on their

The Lesbian, Gay, Bi, and Transgendered (LGBT) youth population is one of the most vulnerable groups in our community. Being gay does not lead to risky behaviors or bad decision making, rather, societal stigma and discrimination can lead LGBT youth to seek emotional outlets. Today’s society has improved immensely towards the LGBT community, although it has not always been this way. Society can affect a person in shocking ways, influencing one’s unhealthy and unsafe physical and mental behaviors. This current vulnerable population deserves a voice and the simplicity of someone listening to them in order for both sides, accepting and non-accepting, to find a common ground and settle the violence.

The LGBTQ population is comprised of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered individuals, and queer or questioning individuals. In addition to having higher rates of substance abuse and seeking substance abuse treatment (McCabe, West, Hughes, & Boyd, 2013; Silvestre, Beatty, & Friedman, 2013; Senreich, 2009), LGBTQ individuals and their families have unique issues in family and treatment settings. In family settings, youths who either identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning or youths who have parents who identify as LGBTQ

The research question for this article would be how is the justice system equipped to deal with sexual minority girls and their issues of trauma? Trauma happens to be a big risk factor for delinquency and other emotional and physical problems. This article reviews the very little amount of empirical research done to look at the trauma in the interpersonal form of the lesbian and bisexual girls in the juvenile justice system. Lesbians and bisexual girls may have an increased risk of harmful behavior and traumatic experiences due to parental rejection, school bullying, and violence. When a member of LGBTQ youth enter the justice system, there is a lack of programs and services that tend to their treatment needs. Another issue with having LGBTQ

LGB adolescents that are homeless are 70% more likely to engage in survival sex than there homeless counterparts, which can lead to a host of problems including exploitation and victimization (Walls & Bell, 2011). Durso and Gates (2014) found that 4 out of 10 LGBT youth reported being sexually assaulted, while Whitbeck et al. (2004) found that sexual victimization is doubled for LGB homeless youth in comparison with homeless heterosexual youth even when controlling for other factors. A Qualitative study found that LGB youth endorsed higher rates of sexual victimization, were more likely to use sex as a barter tool to meet their needs, and endorsed higher rates of prostitution than non-LGB homeless youth even after controlling for other factors (Tyler, 2008). Just as sexual exploitation and victimization are higher among LGB homeless youth so are instances of physical victimization (Cochran et al., 2002). Whitbeck et al. (2004) indicated that overall lesbians have higher negative outcomes and victimization, as do the majority of transgender youth, in comparison with other groups within the LGBT homeless youth

In 2013, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, BJS, published a special report entitled “Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2012”. It was the result of surveys of 8,707 youth in facilities owned or operated by a state juvenile correctional authority and adjudicated youth held under state contract in locally or privately- operated juvenile facilities. The data collected reaffirms the need for a structured response to sexual assault upon juveniles in these facilities. Specifically, BJS reported the following (estimated through weighted sampling): 9.5% of

Nearly 26 per cent of GLBT youth are forced to leave their homes due to disputes concerning sexual orientation. This leaves the youth feeling isolated and unaccepted by the family. Often, teens believe running away is the only option. It makes teens feel like they have some control of their situation (Quinn, 2002). If GLBT teens seek refuge in a shelter will they meet the same discrimination and rejection they initially were trying to escape? Counselors at shelters need to be prepared to protect, and not perpetuate, these GLBT teens from further victimization.

The sexual orientation identity development is a theoretical model that conceptualized the resolution of internal conflict related to the formation of individual sexual identity. For sexual minority people, it is commonly known as the coming-out process (Bilodeau & Renn 2005). There have been many different models elaborated to explain such process. All of them share similar stages: awareness, crisis, and acceptance (Loiacano 1989). When individuals become aware of their queer feelings and attraction, they try to block these homosexual feelings by constantly denying and minimizing them. This mechanism of defense leaves negative sequelae in their overall psychosocial well-being (Bilodeau & Renn 2005). Individuals tend to pass by a