In 1899, the nation's first juvenile court for youth under the age of 16 was established in Chicago to provide rehabilitation rather than punishment. By 1925, following the Chicago model, all but two states had juvenile courts whose goals were to transform youth into productive citizens using treatments that included warnings, probation, and school confinement (Cox et al. 2014, p.2 ). The treatment lasted until the child "recovered" or until he turned 21. Even though judges spoke to the guilty children and decided the punishment, the lack of established rules and poor rehabilitation led to unfair treatment. In 1967, “the U.S. Supreme Court case In re Gault established that juveniles were entitled to the same constitutional due process rights as adults, beginning a national reform in juvenile justice, and the system was repaired to provide children with many of the same rights that adults have in court” (Cox et al. 2014, p.4). Additionally, state legislatures have passed laws to crack down on juvenile crime, as states have recently attempted to find balance in their approach to juvenile justice systems as research suggests that locking youths in large, secure juvenile facilities is an ineffective treatment against different genders where it does not provide adequate rehabilitation. Although girls have historically made up a small percentage of the juvenile justice population, crimes committed by girls are on the rise. Girls represent the fastest growing segment despite the overall decline in juvenile crime. Over the past two decades we have seen an exponential increase in the number of girls in detention facilities, jails and prisons; Similarly, arrest rates for girls in nearly all crime categories exceeded those for boys over the same period for… half of the paper… sociation (2003). Mental Health and Adolescent Girls in the Justice System Retrieve form http://www.nmha.org/children/justjuv/girlsjj.cfm.American Bar Association. National Bar Association (2001). Justice by gender: the lack of adequate prevention, diversion and treatment alternatives for girls in the justice system: a report. Retrieved from the Association's website: http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publishing/criminal_justice_section_newsletter/crimjust_juvjus_justicebygenderweb.authcheckdam.pdfCauffman, E., Grisso, T., & Sickmund, M. Future of Children . (2009) Understanding the Female Offender, 18, 5. Retrieved May 7, 2014, from www.futureofchildren.orgCox, S. M., Allen, J. M., Hanser, R. D., & Conrad, J. J. (2014). Juvenile Justice A Guide to Theory, Policy, and Practice (8th ed.). Sage Publications Inc.