Girl Trouble

About the Project

Girl Trouble is a film that takes a personal look at the reasons why teenage girls are entering the juvenile justice system in greater numbers and at younger ages, and why current corrections strategies are failing to stop the cycle of incarceration. Girl Trouble depicts several bold and articulate young women who must negotiate a system that at the same time seeks to punish and rehabilitate those who come into contact with it.

The girls of Girl Trouble are wrestling with poverty, domestic violence, drug addiction and homelessness in their lives. When we first see them in the film, they have already had contact with the juvenile justice system; dealing drugs, cutting school, assaulting others.

They come to the Center for Young Women’s Development. The center is the nation's first employment, leadership, and advocacy program run entirely by and for girls who have been locked up and are trying to change their lives. There, they meet Lateefah Simon, the 22-year old single mom, Executive Director of the Center. She mentors the girls as they try to transform their lives. But change isn’t going to happen overnight. Their lives take various twists and turns, 2 steps forward and 3 steps back. The film follows them out of the Center and into the courts and their personal lives.

In Girl Trouble, the girls tell their own stories. In entering their world, we begin to see through their eyes, and come to understand their solutions to the seemingly insurmountable challenges they face. Girl Trouble redefines success as the film traces the girls’ struggles to understand their lives, presenting hard-won insights rarely heard in public dialogue about girls in trouble.

The Fledgling Fund Impact

The Fledgling Fund has provided funding for the first phase of an outreach campaign run by Working Films in close collaboration with the filmmakers. Working Films is partnering with advocates and juvenile justice professionals, and with strong organizations such as the Community Justice Network for Youth, Girls Justice Initiative, Girls Incorporated, Citizens for Juvenile Justice, The Center for Families, Children and the Courts, Judicial Council of California, and the National Juvenile Justice Network.