Public Safety
More services advocated for girls in juvenile justice system
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By ZHAO PENG
Capital News Service
LANSING — The arrest rate for girls age 18 and younger has decreased significantly from 13 percent in 2011 to 7 percent in 2014, according to the State Police. The number of girls arrested decreased from 8,835 in 2011 to 5,410 in 2013, then to 5,055 in 2014, according to Shanon Banner, public affairs manager at the State Police. But those numbers are still significant, and few projects and programs in the juvenile system are specifically for girls, according to the Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency (MCCD). “But there should be because it’s a big deal with a large population of young women in the justice system,” said Kristen Staley, the deputy director of the MCCD. Most of the MCCD’s is focused on young people of both genders in the juvenile system, but Staley said the council is working on bills that would benefit female juveniles.