Girls who end up in Hawai'i's juvenile justice system are more likely to have tried ice, or crystal methamphetamine, than their male counterparts, according to a new study by the state Department of the Attorney General.

The girls also were more likely to have a history of sexual victimization, depression, self injury and thoughts of suicide than boys in the system, the report found.

The study released yesterday is a comprehensive effort to identify pathways that lead Hawai'i youth into trouble and will allow authorities to identify and fund new programs to curb the dangerous behavior, officials said.

"It bears out what we see in Family Court every day, and it will help us enormously as we try to build programs and seek funding to help these kids," said Family Court Judge Karen Radius, who oversees a special Girls Court.

Forty-five percent of the girls aged 13 to 18 reported that they had tried crystal methamphetamine at some time in their lives. That compared with just 28 percent of the boys in the study, which looked at 271 youths who were either on probation, in detention or held at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility.

However, when it came to using marijuana, alcohol and other drugs, boys and girls in the study were relatively equal, said Lisa Pasko, the author who presented the study results to juvenile justice workers, mental health officials, teachers and others yesterday at the state Capitol.

Far and away the most common factor for boys and girls in the system was a previous failure in the Hawai'i school system, she said. More than three-quarters of both sexes had failed at least one semester of schooling at some point in their lives, she said.

Many of the offenders had experienced some of the pathway problems at home or while still in grade school. Those problems include an absent parent, a history of foster care, and parents with drug abuse problems, mental disease or involvement in the criminal justice system.

"By the time they reach middle school, all the trouble starts to come together and that's it," Pasko said.

While boys tend to be held in the system for crimes such as assault, theft and criminal property damage, at least 40 percent of the girls were identified as "status" offenders. Those include girls who are runaways, beyond parental control and curfew violators, Pasko said.

For those girls, being held in custody often does more harm than good, said Sharon Agnew, executive director of the state Office of Youth Services.

"Incarceration just doesn't fit the needs of most of these girls," Agnew said. "Talk about your negative peer group. You put them all together and they just learn how to manipulate the system."

A separate report released yesterday by the Department of the Attorney General also identified the factors most likely to result in boys and girls becoming identified as serious juvenile offenders. Those factors include failure at school, felony offenses, frequent ice use, risky sexual behavior and a lack of parental involvement.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.