Implementing a Gender-based Arts Program for Juvenile Offenders

Studies have shown that arts-based programming in juvenile detention settings can be an effective tool in rehabilitating and reintegrating youth who have come into contact with the juvenile justice system. Implementing a Gender-Based Arts Program for Juvenile Offenders focuses on a 2012-2013 program in Flint, Michigan and demonstrates that visual arts and poetry can be used effectively with young people in detention centers to improve self-image, increase confidence, and improve writing skills. Describing the program in detail, including the subjects addressed, the unforeseen pitfalls, and how individual lessons evolved over time, Implementing a Gender-Based Arts Program for Juvenile Offenders combines practical advice with a discussion of current literature on the use of integrating arts in juvenile correctional settings, as well as the literature identifying the need for gender-based programs, to provide guidance to juvenile justice and corrections professionals in their efforts to rehabilitate young people.

About the Real-World Criminology Series More than just textbooks, the short books in the Real-World Criminology series are designed to be of interest to particular fields within criminology. They can be policy primers, spurring innovations in policing and corrections, theoretical works dealing with policy implications, or program evaluations incorporating theoretical foundations. Each book covers something that is happening –or should be happening―in the world of criminal justice.

Jill Leslie Rosenbaum is a Professor of Criminal Justice at California State University, Fullerton. She received her Ph.D in 1983 from SUNY-Albany. Since that time she has published more than 30 articles and book chapters on a variety of aspects of female delinquency. In addition, she has conducted numerous program evaluations throughout California, and was the Principal Investigator on the statewide “Transition to Outcomes Based Evaluation: Victims of Crime” for Battered Women, Child Abuse, and Rape Crisis Programs. Dr. Rosenbaum has also worked extensively with the Center for Collaboration, has served on the Orange County Juvenile Justice Commission, and is a Past President of the Western Society of Criminology. She received the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award from the ASC Division of Women and Crime.

Shelley Spivack is an Attorney/Referee with the Genesee County Family Court and a Lecturer in the Criminal Justice and Women and Gender Programs at UM- Flint. She received her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and M.A.from UM-Flint. She is the Director of the Buckham/GVRC Share Arts Project and is the President of the Referees Association of Michigan.