Journal article
Incarcerated Girls, Credibility, and Sexual Misconduct in Juvenile Detention Facilities
Violence against women, Vol.31(12-13), pp.3137-3157
10/2025
DOI: 10.1177/10778012251352864
PMID: 40605663
Abstract
How do correctional authorities and advocates frame girls' sexual victimization during incarceration? Drawing from 34 interviews with Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) personnel, youth advocates for incarcerated girls, and technical assistance providers, I argue that correctional institutions serve as sites where advocates actively construct and contest incarcerated girls' credibility as victims of youth-on-youth and staff-on-youth sexual misconduct. While carceral institutions broadly deem incarcerated girls as legible victims of some sexual abuse, the "victim" label often fails to secure protection from institutional gender-based violence. Together, interviews reveal how girlhood, carcerality, and sexuality shape incarcerated girls' vulnerability to sexual violence throughout confinement.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Incarcerated Girls, Credibility, and Sexual Misconduct in Juvenile Detention Facilities
- Creators
- Amber Joy Powell - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Violence against women, Vol.31(12-13), pp.3137-3157
- DOI
- 10.1177/10778012251352864
- PMID
- 40605663
- NLM abbreviation
- Violence Against Women
- ISSN
- 1552-8448
- eISSN
- 1552-8448
- Publisher
- Sage
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 07/03/2025
- Date published
- 10/2025
- Academic Unit
- Sociology and Criminology; Center for Social Science Innovation
- Record Identifier
- 9984843587202771
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