RT Article T1 The elasticity of the law. Treating girls in distress in Israel through the shadow of the law JF The British journal of criminology VO 35 IS 2 SP 236 OP 247 A1 Ajzenstadt, Mimi 1956- A1 Steinberg, Odeda LA English YR 1995 UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1639656766 AB The article examines the use of the shadow of the law' by a welfare agency in Israel, as a quasi-legal therapeutic technique in the treatment of adolescent girls defined as at risk'. The method employs the threat of invoking the Youth Act, which empowers a judge to force minors to undergo treatment, if the girls fail to co-operate with Unit workers. Treatment in the shadow of the law' is supported and legitimized by a mixture of diagnostic, psychological, and pragmatic considerations, combined with normative principles relating to the appropriate' behaviour of adolescent girls. Through the operation of this control mechanism, the Unit workers monitor the girls' conduct, imposing upon them patterns of gendered behaviour that replicate dominant meanings of femininity and reinforce gender stereotypes K1 Gefährdung K1 Mädchen K1 Wohlfahrtssystem K1 Interventionstechniken K1 Israel