Bellow Scholars Program Report on Projects: Jyoti Nanda, Southwestern Law School (with Maritza Salazar) - The Pathways of Girls/Gender Expansive Youth into and within the Youth Carceral System

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Session Type: Bellow Scholars

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: N/A

Room: Waterview A

Floor: Lobby Level

This project aims to unpack the myriads of pathways of girls in the youth carceral system by coding and analyzing data from approximately 150-200 unredacted closed case files of detained pregnant girls who were held in custody by Los Angeles County Probation between 2018-2023. The goals of the project are trifold: 1) to identify the mechanisms and pathways by which girls enter the carceral system, 2) to map how and if pregnancy or parenting status impacts which girls are most likely to stay within the system and which are most likely to receive services, and 3) to identify which systems and system actors intervene and which are complicit in pregnant girls’ detainment. The project entails reviewing and coding random case file samples to identify the girls’ demographic characteristics and background, their pathways into the carceral system, and the services received. The project will contextualize the case data about all probation youth in the Los Angeles County probation system with metadata. This project is part of a larger project in collaboration with the African American Policy Forum to give voice to the lived experiences of girls in the system as part of a campaign to end the incarceration of all girls.