This week The Conversation is spending time looking at Hawaiʻi's Judiciary. HPR recently talked with retired Family Court Judge Karen Radius. She is a founding judge of Hawaiʻi Girls Court. Back in 2004, it was still a pilot project.
Girls Court became a permanent program in 2017. Its success in reducing the number of incarcerated juvenile girls was featured in a Mother Jones article last month.
Radius started off by recalling that in the 1970s, it was rare to see a girl in juvenile court, but then something changed, and the numbers soared, exceeding the national average.
“We started to look at statistics, and at that point, 43% of the juvenile arrests in Honolulu were girls, compared to a national statistic of about 21% of the juvenile arrests were girls,” Radius said.
“They could get help through the Department of Health, sometimes through the Department of Education, but there wasn't a concentrated, specific look at them as the factors that brought them to the juvenile system.”
Radius said that many of the young women who end up in the juvenile system are arrested for minor charges, such as running away or truancy.
Presiding Judge Dyan Medeiros told HPR that the program is successful because it tries to meet each youth where they are and assess their issues.
“That's what we try to figure out, what's driving the behavior, and then how can we address the behavior?” Mederios said.
The Girls Court program provides mentorships, social activities, and other opportunities for the young women.
While the girls' needs have evolved over time, many have gone off to attend college, earn degrees, overcome substance abuse, and are often the first in their families to break a cycle involved in the court systems.
Valerie Lazo, who has worked with Girls Court for 13 years as a probation officer and as program coordinator, added that the program tries to build community partnerships for the girls.
“The goal is not for it to be long-term, so it's really looking at building a community for them that can be safe, that they can grow with, and learn from in their own neighborhoods or on their own as they move into adulthood and continue their lives,” she said.
Girls Court hopes to continue growing by introducing positive male role models to the program and launching a separate Boys Court.
This story aired on The Conversation on Sept. 16, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this story for the web.
