Female Crimes Are Not Biologically Capable Of Committing Crimes

Anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder in particular, also are prevalent among juvenile offenders, especially girls. Girls get put behind bars longer than boys because according to a document on Gale “Proportion Of Girls In Juvenile Justice System Is Going Up, Studies Find”, “what we can suppose is is that girls tend to be more likely to be the victims of sexual abuse or other domestic violence.” In the same document it also states that “so most girls come into the system for low-level offenses like running away from home, skipping school, smoking cigarettes on campus.” These bad habits could cause them to have problems later on in their life. Girls are likely to experience high rates of criminality, substance abuse, early pregnancy, and continued interpersonal violence. Because violence plays such a central role in the lives of so many girls in the juvenile justice system, in order to reduce the percentage of girls mental health is to require early identification and intervention to prevent the development of future problem

Facilities and workers in the juvenile justice system are not designed or trained to address these gender-specific problems. Not only does the juvenile justice system not address the root causes of the delinquent behavior, but many girls often feel re-traumatized from the status offender system, especially runaway girls (Godsoe, 2014).

Males, especially working class males, are responsible for more crime than females, and are disproportionately over represented in crime statistics (“Intersectionalities II”, February 22, 2017). However, when girls are involved in crime this normalization of boys involved in crime creates the notion that “boys will be boys and girls will be good”, therefore authorities and society view girls who deviate as having something wrong with them, usually offered treatment as a probational order by judges (“Intersectionalities II”, February 22, 2017). The offences girls are most likely to be arrested for are, more notably, prostitution, running away from home, and curfew violations (Chesney-Lind and Sheldon, 2004), by girls are also are sentenced much more harshly than boys for these

(Cauffman 5). Research shows that the person-offense case rates for girls have increased thirteen percent while boys’ fell eleven percent between a twelve year span (1995-2007) (Stevens et al. 2). Understanding the increase of girls’ presence in violent crime is an important step in explaining the gender disparity in the system as a whole. These statistics suggest that girls are simply becoming more violent, very quickly, while boys are becoming less violent. Criminologists and sociologists are not convinced that this is the case. The first section of this paper will discuss alternative explanations as to why there is such an increase of girls in the juvenile justice system.

Over the past decade there has been an increase of teenage female offender’s joining the juvenile justice system. The number continues to the rise throughout both violent and non-violent offenses. This is a huge change from the population only a decade ago, the change in gender roles through society is partly the reason for this change however, there are several other reasons that contribute the growing population. In female juvenile offenders there tends to be high occurrence of emotional and mental illness that relate to aggressive and antisocial behavior. There is also a theme of poverty, single parent’s or abuse in early childhood of offenders. The combination of these issue contribute to problem behavior syndrome, making these girls more susceptible to a risky lifestyle. Additionally the risk of criminal involvement increase the earlier a girl start’s to display antisocial or deviant behavior.

People try to believe that there is very little things different between men and women. But, when we are talking about crimes, they can be very different. A study from 1980-2008 was taken to see the differences in crimes committed by men and women. One astonishing homicide statistic was the following: male offender/male victim was 67.8%, male offender/female victim was 21.0%, female offender/male victim was 9.0%, and female offender/female victim was 2.2% (Cooper).

According to Burnette and Newman (2005), female offenders that have severed antisocial behavior in childhood are more likely to exhibit these symptoms into adulthood. Some female offenders are still less cumulative than male offenders (Salisbury & Voorhis, 2009). In addition, recidivism in female offenders will be discussed three pathways. Moreover, the recidivism measure what usually not seen are males, greater incidence with females rather than males, and seen equally with separate personal and social results. Also, some female offenders ma have went through a great amount of abuse and trauma in their lives. Cauffman (2008) state some female offenders have mental illness issues, and treatment

Women have been commonly stereotyped as loving, nurturing and compassionate people. Female offenses, over the past century, have been on the rise (Wormer, 2010). The battle for gender equality might play an important role in this phenomenon. Female offenders started to increase in numbers during the 1980s, as reported by the Uniformed Crime Report (UCR). However, the majority of offenses committed by females are not violent offenses (Wormer, 2010). As shown in the UCR, the percentage of females imprisoned for violent offenses have been declining over the past two decades (United States Department of Justice, 2010). When looking at crimes committed by women, compared to those committed by men, they are obviously smaller in numbers. The

Today in the United States, citizens under the age of 18 are considered minors. In our criminal justice system, about 1 million juveniles under the age of 18 are arrested each year. While violent crimes by juveniles are decreasing, the female juvenile population has grown tremendously. Both girls and boys who are in the juvenile system usually have problems at home and school that have put them at risk for delinquency. This includes maltreatment, poverty or both, and these factors may have a negative impact on their adjustment to adulthood.

Female youth account for just one out of every five people who are accused by the police in the Criminal Code offenses in Canada (Kong, 2008). This has been a reality for some time now. This low crime rate among females resulted in little being known about female offenders and their motives. The low rate also means women and girls who commit crimes face a Canadian criminal justice system that is primarily designed to deal with male offenders (Kong, 2008). “It is precisely the relatively small number of women and girls who commit crimes that creates a need to regularly monitor trends in offending patterns among females, trends that become masked by the larger male population if not examined separately” (Kong, 2008).

Starting at an adolescent age in females life events greatly impact future behaviors. The "purpose of relationships" i.e. family, friends, and intimate relationships play big roles in shaping ones character. In being either a victim and or witness to situations that include domestic violence relate to future criminal activity. Emotional disorders also arise if physical or sexual abuse occurs. Female offenders may go on having abusive relationships and committing crimes based on their adolescence (McAleavy, T. 2009). Myths and misconception of juvenile female offenders would be risk factors. Risk factors may affect both females and males. Females are impacted at a much higher level. Between females and males, females commit crimes more so in the lower level of crimes but criminal behavior has increased over the years. Mental illness in juvenile female offenders are elevated compared to juvenile male offenders. In conclusion female offending has and does play a role in our society. Statically over the past years, numbers seem to show decreases in certain areas of law-breaking. But in today's age there has been an increased growth in criminal activities overall for males and females. Gaining the proper knowledge about this specific subject will allow experts to find solutions in reducing criminal

Although there are similar risk factors that apply in male and female delinquency, there are underlying biological functions, psychological traits and social interpretations that result in varying forms of delinquency and therefore, programming for female juvenile males and females must differ. The females need these programs for emotional, physical and mental support.

“Gender violence is one of the world’s most common human rights abuses. Women worldwide ages 15 through 44 are more likely to die or be maimed because of male violence than because of cancer, malaria, war, and traffic accidents combined… people can perceive violence against women as evil and tolerate it at the same time” (Belknap, page 288). This quote helps illustrate the many obstacles that women face globally and within the criminal justice (CJ) system. Candace Kruttschnitt explores the study of female victimization, male and female offending, neutrality of theories, and how the media plays into the gendering of crime. Kruttschnitt points out the question of gender disparities: are they are handled in a more neutral manner or do they need

Female sex offending is an understudied phenomenon; consequently, there are scarcity amounts of studies within the last decade on female sexual offenders in the educational system (Martin, 2015; Blokland & Lussier, 2015; Kingston, 2014; McLeod, 2014; Ratliff & Watson, 2013; Austin, Plumm, Terrace, & Terrell, 2013; Solis & Benedek, 2012; Bexson, 2011; Knoll, 2010; Morgenbesser, 2010; and Wijkman, Bijleveld, and Hendricks, 2010). Previous studies have reported the behavior and characteristics of female sexual offenders to establish the profile for females who perpetrate abuse against children (for example, Ferguson & Meehan, 2005; Grayston & DeLuca 1999; and Faller, 1995). There is a consensus among social scientists that the factors thought

Despite the general consensus that the number of females involved in crime is continuing to rise, males are still the dominant gender committing crimes, especially for violent offences. This may be why there is a continued lack of research on female offenders using a gender specific approach that accounts for gender differences. Historically, female offenders have been primarily studied using a gender-neutral model comprising mainly male offenders. Although there is support that a gender-neutral model can effectively apply to both male and female offenders (van der Knaap et al. 2012), there has been an ongoing debate on whether the pathways and processes that lead to female offending can be successfully explained and ultimately applied to interventions and preventions by using theories originally created to explain male crime (Steffensmeier & Allan, 1996).