Youth detention facilities were originally intended for the temporary care and custody of minors awaiting court adjudications. They have become instead settings for punishing juvenile probationers who misbehave. While this article examines several of the determinants of detention outcomes for juvenile probation violators, it focuses on the relationship between gender and detention length. Data were derived from case files of youths ordered into detention by an Illinois juvenile court for technical probation infractions. Statistical results indicate that females were incarcerated longer than males for disobeying probation rules. This gender-based disparity in sentencing may be a consequence of the scarcity of community help for adolescent females who are doing poorly at school, have self-image problems, become pregnant, or run from intolerable family settings. Although young women commit crimes that are generally less serious than those committed by males, females are subject to harsher treatment within the juvenile justice system because of inadequate resources to help them. Table, note, references