WUNRN
GIRL TROUBLE - FILM - GIRLS IN THE
USA JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM
& CHALLENGES OF BREAKING THE
CYCLE OF INCARCERATION
VIDEO SEGMENT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfivvF4kxbQ&feature=channel_page
Shot
over a period of four years, Girl Trouble documents the compelling personal
stories of three teenage girls entangled in San Francisco's failing juvenile
justice system.
Stephanie
is pregnant and has a warrant for running away from a group home. Shangra is
torn between taking care of her mother, who is homeless and struggling with
drug addiction, and taking care of herself. Sheila, whose father and siblings
have been in and out of jail, risks arrest and jail time by selling and using
drugs. GIRL TROUBLE is an intimate look at the compelling
personal stories of three teenagers entangled in San Francisco's juvenile
justice system. These girls, and many like them, aren't just at-risk - they are
in deep trouble. Trying to change their lives, the girls work part-time at the
innovative Center for Young Women's Development, an organization run by young
women who have faced similar challenges. As the girls confront seemingly
impossible problems and pivotal decisions, the Center's 22-year-old executive
director, Lateefah Simon, is often their only support and mentor. Bay Area
filmmakers Lexi Leban and Lidia Szajko document the girls' remarkable successes
and heartbreaking setbacks over a four-year period - their daily struggles with
poverty, violence, public defenders and homelessness - and expose a system that
fails to end the cycle of incarceration.
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American Civil Liberties Union
There are currently more than 14,000 girls incarcerated in the United States, a number that has been rapidly increasing in recent decades. Most of these girls are arrested for minor, nonviolent offenses and probation violations. Locked up under the guise of rehabilitation, girls nationwide – the vast majority of whom have been sexually and/or physically abused – are subjected to punitive solitary confinement, routine strip searches, and other forms of abuse. Meanwhile, they are denied the mental health care, education, and social services they need. Far from helping girls cope with the trauma they have suffered, youth prisons re-traumatize them and further impede their rehabilitation.
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