More than two years ago, on the heels of allegations of abuse and neglect at a girls’ group home, the Connecticut legislature instructed a group of experts to study services available for girls involved with the juvenile justice system. 

Now, recent data from the state Judicial Branch has renewed questions about the availability and effectiveness of programs designed to meet the unique challenges young women face in incarceration. 

According to a presentation given to the state’s Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee in October, the number of juveniles in detention has declined — but the number of boys dropped faster than the number of girls over the last five years. In 2025, the number of boys in detention was almost 20% lower than it was in 2019. For girls, the decline was 9.8%.

The overall number of boys in detention remains significantly higher than girls — 450 boys compared to 101 girls as of October 2025. But the slower rate of decline in female juvenile detention has drawn the attention of people in the field. Those who’ve worked with girls in the justice system said they believe the reason lies in a combination of the unique challenges girls and young women face and a lack of services to address those specific needs.

Connecticut has long been a leader in gender-responsive strategies in juvenile justice — that is, methods for working with people that take into account the specialized needs of men and women. The state began to incorporate these strategies into the juvenile justice system about 25 years ago. Over that time, multiple laws were passed limiting detention for certain offenses, and new programs were established geared specifically toward girls, including a specialized probation model, according to a presentation at the May 2024 meeting of the state’s Gender Responsiveness Workgroup. 

Catherine Foley Geib, director of juvenile clinical, education and residential services for the Judicial Branch, said the number of teenagers in detention has dropped significantly over the last quarter-century, thanks to changes in state law. In the mid-2000s, the state changed its laws so teenagers would no longer be detained for things like running away or chronic absence from school. Another law change in 2016 limited the conditions under which a teen could be held in detention.

The result, Foley Geib said, was that the young people who did end up in juvenile detention were often the ones with the greatest needs. 

“If you don’t get at the root cause of what’s driving that behavior, we start to see the repeat behavior, the chronic offenses and that inability to exit the system,” said Tasha Hunt, the agency’s director of juvenile probation services. 

Hunt said that many girls come in with a history of trauma and victimization. That trauma, she said, can present itself in delinquent behaviors, like low-level assaults or charges for breach of peace. Hunt said more community-based services are needed for girls, particularly intensive, in-home services that address mental health challenges, substance abuse and trauma. 

“We know we don’t have enough,” she said. 

Erika Nowakowski, executive director of the Tow Youth Justice Institute at the University of New Haven and a leader of the working group, said she believes it’s time for Connecticut to revisit the research on gender responsiveness and see if some of its recommendations should change. 

“ It’s been some time and that’s why we’re doing this research now to see what are the newer interventions and what shift that they do to address the needs of women or females in the justice system,” she said. 

Trauma and poverty

In 2023, the state legislature passed a law creating the working group within the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee. The group was tasked with finding improved ways to help young women who had lived through sexual abuse or human trafficking. 

The experience of trauma and abuse, particularly sexual abuse, is one of the most common attributes among women who have been involved with the criminal justice system. Data from Roca, a nonprofit that works with high-risk young women between the ages of 16 and 24 in Hartford and parts of Massachusetts, shows that more than 85% of the women they serve have lived through domestic violence, and a significant number have been victims of human trafficking.

Sunindiya Bhalla, an executive vice president with Roca, said young women — more so than young men — struggle to trust. All of the women Roca works with have been victimized in some way, she said, which makes them vulnerable and leaves them feeling scared. 

“They do perceive people that they don’t know and they don’t trust as a threat both physically and emotionally,” said Bhalla. 

Roper, the director of Roca Hartford, said the organization has seen an increase in young women committing violent crimes in recent years. “It seems with all of those factors coming up in their lives or within their lives, that they are now picking up weapons, fighting. I think it’s survival, to be honest,” she said. 

Bhalla and Roper said poverty is also a common factor among young women involved in the justice system. Many of the people Roca works with are struggling to find food and housing. And the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to financial insecurity for many women.

Advocates also expressed concerns about state-run juvenile residential facilities, known as STTAR homes. Some girls who are placed in STTAR homes end up running away or getting into trouble.

“That’s the irony. They go to a place that’s supposed to keep them safe and then they end up getting arrested at the STTAR homes for additional charges,” Martha Stone, an attorney and founder of the Center for Children’s Advocacy, said. 

Frank Gregory,  administrator of behavioral health community services for the state Department of Children and Families, which runs the STTAR homes, said young women have complex needs and running away can be a coping mechanism. He said it’s crucial for programs at STTAR homes to connect with young people and earn their trust, and he said DCF is investing in new programs to address that.

Ken Mysogland, a spokesperson for DCF, said, “These are some of our most vulnerable youth, and there is no other way to say that.”

“We recognize they require some very specialized programming,” Mysogland said. 

Reintegration

Experts point to the importance of robust programming for young women who are returning home after periods of incarceration. Mentorship, mental health care, employment opportunities and counseling — as much of it within the communities where they live — are part of the range of support services needed for reentry. 

A 2023 task force also recommended that state agencies coordinate to make sure young people leaving the juvenile justice system are connected back into their school system, are given help with job or career readiness programs and have access to transportation and stable housing. 

Hunt, of the Judicial Branch, said juvenile probation officers stay in regular contact with schools. They’ll attend meetings for a child’s special education needs and work with “juvenile justice liaisons” in larger school districts to help young people transition back to school after being in a residential program. She said they assess young people for mental health needs, survey their housing needs and work to connect them to community organizations that can help. They also work with cities and towns to find job opportunities, Hunt said. 

Foley Geib said that young people in residential facilities are provided with “reintegration mentors” who work with them for up to a year after they are released, and help connect them to services in the community.    

“I think we sometimes overlook, when we’re thinking of deep-end care, what someone needs to feel a part of their community and not stigmatized in their community,” said Erica King, a senior manager at the Center for Effective Public Policy.

“Do they have a place they can go to the gym and take a shower and work out? Do they have a favorite smoothie spot where the person knows them at the counter?” King said. “Just helping them to map their communities of where their safe anchors are, and how to help them build those.”