...How does gender affect delinquency? There are a lot of theories that explain how gender plays a major role in delinquency. Early theories have stated that females were victims of genetic disorders and males were more aggressive. The earlier theories also stated that any female showing are aggressive, they are more likely than boys to hide their behavior from adults; girls who “bully “others are less likely than boys to admit their behavior. Male like to have power, freedom and hang with their friends and females are more verbally proficient, a skill that may help them deal with conflict without resorting to violence. When children internalize gender-specific behaviors cognitive and personality differences are magnified. Females have more self-control over emotions then men, a factor that can cause someone to commit a crime out emotions in steading thinking clearly. What are some current explanations for gender differences? The Socialization difference states that differences in the way females and males are socialized affect their development. Males are taught to be on their own and females are taught to value relationships. This method of teaching makes females susceptible to feeling alienated because of the failure to achieve relational success. As for boys they may feel a chronic sense of alienation. The cognitive differences between males and females start early in childhood. Males are very good at manipulating visual images, while females have great long term memory...
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...Historical Explanations for Female Juvenile Delinquency Introduction: The study of female juvenile delinquency is a relatively new area that has only just started to receive the proper attention. Even though men and women are different in many ways, it was only within the last century that there have been serious efforts to create a justice system and corrective programs that take sex differences into account. This paper will give a general overview of female juvenile delinquency, then it will describe the different historical explanations of female delinquency, and will conclude with some ideas for how to best deal with and prevent female juvenile delinquency. Background Information about Female Juvenile Delinquency: Official statistics and self-report data indicate that girls are less likely than boys to commit serious delinquent acts and this has been consistent across different time periods and cultures (Hoge et al., 2008). FBI arrest data reveals that no matter which jurisdictions were reporting in any given year, from 1970 - 2006, girls accounted from anywhere between 20 - 30 % of all juvenile arrests. For example, in 2006, there were 1,156,871 arrests of juvenile males and 469,652 arrests of female juveniles (Shoemaker, 2009). Although females have lower reported rates of criminal activity, this doesn't mean that the distribution of offenses is the same for boys and girls. For example, running away accounts for 4-7% of boys’ arrests opposed to 11-28% of girls’...
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...their gender or can it not getting the attention they need. People wander if the gender between the boys and girls has anything to do with the delinquency. Girls become delinquent for a vary of different reasons than boys. A girl can become delinquent based on the biological, social, and cultural differences between the girls and boys. The hormones onset and brain development, to the child's up bringing in the home, to the way a girl is expected to act in public opposed to how the boys are. Boys are taught to take care of themselves, to be more aggressive towards their goals and to act out more angry and retributive fashion than girls do. Boys are expected to mature faster than girls and are mainly raised by parents that they are to take care of the home. Does families have anything to do with delinquency? Researchers shows that family structures plays a huge part in the characteristics of juvenile delinquencies. In a family, the parents are separated there are less supervision on the children when growing up. Only one parent is present, that parent is doing all the work to provide the household with the income that is needed to take care of the home. The parents usually doesn't know where the children are and what they are doing. The fact of low income housing, where crimes are high, have some to do with the juvenile delinquencies because the juveniles are out with the gangs and drugs. Wright (1993) explains that children that are rejected by their parents, grow up in homes...
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...their children whereas men seem to be increasing the time they spend with their children. More children are also living with only one parent rather than two. Siegel & Welsh (2005) states that “as many as 40 percent of White children and 75 percent of African-American children will experience parental separation or divorce before they reach age sixteen…” (p. 157). Changes or disruption in the family unit has the potential to have a lasting effect on children. Primarily, children learn values and attitudes which guide their actions from their family unit. Many experts believe that a broken home can determine a child’s law abiding behavior. Several studies show that children who have been through family breakups are more prone to delinquency and hyperactivity. Blended families, or step-parent families, are occurring more often yet are less stable than biological families. Sociologist Sara McLanahan found that children who live with both biological parents do better than children who are raised without their biological father. These children are less likely to find and keep a job, finish high school and at a higher risk of becoming teen parents. McLanahan also found that boys who lack their father’s presence are more prone to delinquent behavior. Studies have also found that children who grow up in families experiencing dysfunction and have witnessed violence later show emotional and behavior problems. Many incarcerated juveniles have reported dysfunction in their...
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...understand that criminal behavior will not be tolerated, to encourage them to behave in a socially acceptable manner, to teach parents how to cope with juveniles who deal with difficult situations, to encourage victims that something is being done to prevent any further crimes by the juvenile and to prevent the youth from testing the system with further criminal behavior” (San Diego County Grand Jury, 2003). There are several juvenile diversions programs within San Diego County created by several police agencies. San Diego County Breaking Cycles (SDBC) This program is designed to deter youth from becoming delinquent. It focuses on three main goals; 1) To reduce the amount of at-risk youth by getting them involved in a prevention program; 2) “improving the juvenile justice system through implementation of a system of graduated sanctions with emphasis on community-based treatment and 3) Breaking the cycle of substance abuse and family problems” (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, n.d.). The SDBC targets juveniles who are in danger of entering the justice system based on their risky behavior that shows a precursor of juvenile delinquency. Facts show that juveniles involved in violent behavior as youth are more likely to become chronic violent offender’s later in life; this program assists these juveniles who have this type of behavior (San Diego...
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...Candice Deel ADJ 100 Book Title: The Female Offender: Girls, Women, and Crime (3rd Edition) Authors: Meda Chesney-Lind, Lisa Pasko Introduction: The topic I have chosen to read and do a report on is about the female offender and observations and discussions of female delinquency, from juveniles to adults. In this book the authors discuss gender and cultural factors in women’s lives that often lead to criminal behavior. From this book I am going to discuss several main topics I read about. The following topics are what will be discussed: girls’ troubles and female delinquency; girls, gangs, and violence; the juvenile justice system and girls; trends in women crime; sentencing women to prison: Conclusion: In conclusion, I have included in this report facts about the following topics: girls’ troubles and female delinquency; girls, gangs, violence; the juvenile justice system and girls; trends in women’s crime; sentencing women to prison: equality without justice; and the female offenders, community supervision, and evidence based practices. I have learned a lot from this book as it has discussed female circumstances in incarceration; the roles of race and gender; and females pathways to crime. This book does a great job of exploring all aspects of the female offender: girls, women, and crime. This book’s focus is not only on female juvenile delinquency but it does a great job portraying information on the juvenile justice system and girls. Works Cited Chesney-Lind...
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...Running head: CHILD MALTREATMENT & JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 1 The Correlation Between Child Maltreatment & Juvenile Delinquency April 6, 2014 CHILD MALTREATMENT & JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 2 Abstract Research suggests that there is a correlation between child maltreatment and juvenile delinquency. The findings indicate that children, who have experienced abuse or neglect during childhood, are at increased risk of committing crimes in adolescence. A substantial number of children enter the juvenile justice system with a history of abuse, with approximately one third of these adolescence are actively associated with a child welfare agency at the time of their initial arrest. This paper attempts to establish a clear definition of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, as well as, neglect, while also reviewing a pattern of subsequent delinquency. The effects of racial, ethnic and gender differences in criminal behavior will be explored. A collaborated effort among youth serving agencies is discussed as a method of prevention of child maltreatment and future delinquency. CHILD MALTREATMENT & JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 3 Juvenile delinquency is a serious public health concern. Throughout literature, child and adolescent maltreatment are consistently identified as powerful predictors of juvenile and adult crime. In 2009, law enforcement agencies arrested approximately 1.9 million persons under the age of 18 “ (Ryan, Williams, & Courtney, 2013, p.454)...
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...Scholarly Journal Criminology Theory October 16, 2012 Scholarly Journal The growing figures of women implicated in the criminal-justice system and the shortage of programs and assistance that are equipped toward their necessities has encouraged criminal justice experts to investigate their sanctioning and oversight procedures in terms of gender. However, there is additionally comprehensive information concerning the attributes of women in prisons and jails, there are considerably fewer facts on female delinquents in community correctional environments. The failure of mature females in criminal-justice investigation has been substantiated on the grounds that they report for only a short fraction of apprehensions and move fewer delinquencies than males. This explanation disregards the fact that, adult females who do register in the justice system, while fewer other and less vicious than their male counterparts, generally come to be extensive users of the system. In concentrating on the devastating quantity of males in the criminal and juvenile justice organizations programs, procedures and services usually fall through to produce a mixture of options for conducting with the gender and culturally specific complications of female offenders implicated in the system. For Gottfredson and Hirschi, transgression can generally be diminished to “acts of force or fraud undertaken in pursuit of self-interest,” which is speculative of both cross-cultural and reforming authentic interpretations...
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...Gender and Family CJS/240 June 30, 2013 Sandra Dillard Nowadays in today’s civilization there are a lot more youths that are committing delinquent crimes. The juvenile justice system’s officials are continuously trying to find resources as to what causes an youth to turn out to be delinquent and fall down hill into a bad lifestyle. It is very expected that adolescents will become juvenile delinquents if there’s not enough structure given to them from their families or their inner feelings or pride of their specific gender. There are so many different variables that are concentrated on the important of adolescents into delinquency like family function, disorders, two parent households and different genders. Inheritance plays a big role mostly because of all the environmental sources. Family can affect delinquency mainly if the economics influence for low-income housing and where the residences reside in a poorly appealing neighborhood where there is high crime. Family makeup affects delinquency because when there’s a big family it has a larger attraction of the low-income is coming in the household. The families behavior also plays a role because if you decide to sell drugs to make a escape from not having enough to cover bills or from reality or family members trying to find a easy way out from the obligation through the bad activities rather than focusing for the kids receiving the proper education to be able to get...
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...Juvenile Justice System Ruben Lopez, University of Phoenix CJA/204 – INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE ON13BCJ05 Judge Michael Sachs July 28, 2013 Juvenile Justice System In the middle ages, children were treated as adults and received the same punishment as adults, whether it be public shaming, corporal punishment or confinement. In our country, the early American Puritans changed the way children were viewed because they believed that children could not reason the same as adults, so they did not want to hold them to the same standards ("CJi Interactive", 2011). With the Puritans view of children and not holding them to the same standards as adults, it started the juvenile justice system in our country. This was the first step that lead to what the system is today. Delinquency and Status Offenses According to Schmalleger (2011), he defines delinquency as, “juvenile actions or conduct in violation of criminal law, juvenile status offenses, and other juvenile misbehavior.” and defines status offense as “An act or conduct that is declared by statute to be an offense, but only when committed by or engaged in by a juvenile, and that can be adjudicated only by a juvenile court.” (p. 543 and 547). The difference between children who are delinquents and those who are status offenders is the laws that are being violated. Delinquent children violate laws that are criminal and if they were adults, they would be labeled as criminals. Status offenders are children who...
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...Social Work: Juvenile Delinquency In the last twenty years, juvenile crime is at its lowest point. It has decreased 36% since 1996 (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention). With this change in crime rate, it can be assumed that the prevention of juvenile delinquency has been a great asset to our country, and leads into the profession of social workers role in juvenile delinquency. An overview of this field requires a social worker to be knowledgeable with criminal law, principles and education that can be gained from experience, familiarity with laws and practices, and awareness of environmental contributors. The social worker must be prepared to work in a variety of settings, and with other professions that contribute to cases. Overview of Social Problem The Social Work Dictionary states that juvenile delinquency is seen as a person under the age of 18 (some jurisdictions go by 21) that have been involved in criminal activity (juvenile delinquency, 2003). In 2002, juvenile delinquency was at its lowest point in the last two decades. Despite the statistics, most people believe that juvenile crime continues to rise. The media plays a great part in this problem because when a violent crime involves young offenders, the media has excessive coverage on situation. The average age of delinquents continue to be younger and younger. Even though juvenile crime has decreased, but serious violent crime rate for boys and girls are excessively high (McWhirter et al, 2007)...
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...Gender and Family Axia College University of Phoenix Juvenile delinquency is of great concern in the United States. In 2007 over 2 million arrests were juveniles. There are two types of juvenile delinquency. The first type of offense is a behavior that would be a criminal violation for an adult. The other offense is called a “status” offense. Status offenses are delinquent actions that do not apply to adults, like running away and truancy. This paper will discuss the impact of gender and family on delinquency and the treatment by gender in the juvenile justice system. Juvenile delinquent behavior is believed to be under-represented due to the limited methods of collecting juvenile crime data. Juvenile arrests accounted for 16 percent of all violent crime arrests (i.e. murder, rape, assault) and 26 percent of all property crime arrests (i.e. burglary, theft, arson) (Puzzanchera, 2009). Other crimes for which juveniles are arrested include simple assault, vandalism, gambling, disorderly conduct, weapons possession, illicit drug/liquor violation (including DUI) and prostitution. It is important to note that a number of misdemeanor crimes go unreported while serious crimes involving injury and/or large economic loss are reported more often. A 1998 U.S. longitudinal study tracking over 6,400 boys for over 20 years found that children who grew up without their biological father in the home were roughly three times more likely to commit a crime that led to incarceration...
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...Introduction The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) is the principal federal program through which the federal government sets standards for juvenile justice systems at the state and local levels. It provides direct funding for states, research, training, and technical assistance, and evaluation. The JJDPA was originally enacted in 1974 and even though the JJDPA has been revised several times over the past 30 years, its basic composition has remained the same. Since the act was passed in 1974, the JJDPA focused solitary on preventing juvenile delinquency and on rehabilitating juvenile offenders. Since the original enactment of the JJDPA in 1974, the periodic reauthorizations have been controversial, as the Act's opponents have sought to weaken its protections for youth, reduce prevention resources, and encourage the transfer of youth to the adult criminal justice system. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act follow a series of federal protections, known as the "core protections," on the care and treatment of youth in the justice system. The four "core protections" of the act are, the Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders (DSO), Sight and Sound separation, Jail Removal, and Disproportionate Minority Confinement (DMC). The "DSO" and "Sight and Sound" protections were part of the original law in 1974. The "Jail Removal" provision was added in 1980 in response to finding youth incarcerated in adult facilities resulted in "a high suicide...
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...statistics, from the Juvenile Justice Bulletin show a growing trend, in that juvenile crime actually appears to be declining according to the Juvenile Arrests 2001 Report. Even though there is a decline in juvenile offenses but the juvenile drugs and juvenile aggravated assault has increased. About 50% of the juvenile crimes be committed by female juveniles. Also I will be covering Minority and female juveniles and the tracking the juvenile crimes. Juvenile Arrests Juvenile crime has been an issue throughout the 1800s. Dealing with juvenile crime committed and examine the juvenile arrests, and criminal activity, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention a study of juvenile arrest statistics (FindLaw, 2011). In Juvenile Justice Bulletin there was a decrease in arrest in juveniles. According, to the Juvenile Justice Bulletin it shows that it was the lowest since 1988 of juvenile arrests being arrested (Flores, 2003). In 1994 juveniles peaked over and also in 1995 and around 2001 juveniles being arrested dropped. In Juvenile Justice Bulletin it breaks down the juvenile crimes committed from aggravated assaults committed by juveniles. It was lower 2001 and down in 1991 but aggravated assaults were lower in 2001 than any other year from 1991. Juveniles that committed murders were low from 1984. Robberies were committed by juveniles were low too since 1970’s (Flores, 2003). According to, the Office of Juvenile Justice statistics it appears that it’s...
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...actions identify an individual’s participation or involvement with an illegal act considered to be an infringement of implemented federal, state, or municipal law. An individual under the-age-of 18 who commits an illegal act represents the categorical identification group classified under the term “Juvenile offender”. Juvenile delinquency has increased within the past 50 years. As a result of the extensive increase statistical information supporting juvenile delinquent offenses are assembled to display extensive increases and declines pertaining to delinquency within America. The overall decrease in juvenile arrests, increase in juvenile narcotics offenses, and simple assaults will be identified, divided, and examined. The implications for juvenile female and minorities will also be thoroughly examined along with an assessment highlighting the tracking of juvenile arrests as a method of measuring the amount of, and trends within juvenile offenses. The overall decrease in juvenile detainment for violent juvenile offenses within 2008 decreased in comparison to the statistical information projecting violent juvenile actions within the 1990s. Juvenile delinquency supporting violent offenses extensively increased throughout the 1990s within Northern America most likely as a result of the increase in gang membership, extensive narcotics trade, and the introduction of crack cocaine within the late 1980s. In 2008 “Juveniles accounted for 16% of all violent crime arrests and 26% of all property...
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