Girls Deliquency And The Issue Of Girl Delinquency

In beginning my research on females in the juvenile justice system, I was shocked to see how many of the new female juvenile statistics had increased and were gradually catching up on the juvenile male statistics. The numbers have been growing every year, and may soon surpass the numbers the boys have held for so many years. It makes me sit back and wonder what in the world is going on with our female youth in today’s society to cause such a slight, in some cases, to drastic increase depending on the offense. In this research paper, I want to examine the statistics for female youth over the last ten years to discuss what offenses are increasing over others, investigate the reasoning behind this increase in order to try and understand where these teens are “coming from”, and if there is a way for our society to be proactive in our female youths lives in order to prevent them from entering the juvenile justice system and one day adult prison.

There are approximately 7,700 girls in confinement, which is about 14.3 percent of the total youth population in residential placement. Fortunately, rates of confinement for boys and girls have decreased since 2001 (The Sentencing Project). Still, girls are more present in the juvenile justice system than they had been in the past, which is bringing more attention to girls’ behaviors, sentences, and treatments. The gender disparity faced in the adult criminal justice system carries over to the juvenile justice system. Similarly, the gap in arrests has narrowed within the past thirty years, with girls being arrested almost half as much as boys, up from about one quarter (Cauffman 5). This can be both positive and negative. The decline in violent

The characteristics of these offenders and the crimes they are committing are also changing over time. Demographically the juvenile female offender is most likely coming from a single parent home and may have been physically or sexually abused at some point in her life. She will also most likely be under the age of 15 and even more likely to be a woman of color, African-American young woman comprise almost 50 percent of all young women in secure detention, while Hispanics make up 13 percent (Bergsmann, 1994). In 1996, females represented 57 percent of the arrests for running away. In 1996, females represented 15 percent of juvenile arrests for violent crimes, while arrests of boys for violent offenses declined by 9 percent (Snyder, 1997). Aggravated assault, the most frequent of the violent offenses committed by juveniles, represented 20 percent of all arrests for juvenile females, while declining for boys by 10 percent (Snyder, 1997). In considering these changes it is still important to note that girls are still arrested more often for status offenses it is becoming more evident that girls are engaging in delinquent behaviors more often

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.

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

Juvenile delinquency is a social issue in the United States today. Juvenile delinquency, is when “a violation of the law is committed by a juvenile and is not punishable by death or life imprisonment” (Juvenile Delinquency). The juvenile system is different from the adult system in many way and most juvenile delinquents are from the age of ten to the age of seventeen (Juvenile Delinquent). Once the delinquent or anyone is at the age of eighteen, they are considered to be an adult. Therefore, in the justice system they are tried as an adult. There are many different reasons why a child would commit crime, such as mental and physical factors, peer influence, home conditions, neighborhood environment and school conditions. Teens are greatly influenced by the interactions and surroundings they are around. Their behaviors can result from the parent and/or their peer influences. Parents play a great role in the child’s life and a teen’s peers also play a strong role in how the teen behaves when the parents are not insight. This research will examine links between the social environment of teens and how it influences the teens actions and behavior which leads them to commit an offense.

Juvenile delinquent has different terms, but many may see it as groups of young boys and men standing on a street corner, wearing baggy outfits, and boasting defiant attitudes. Many will be surprised to learn that the juvenile delinquent is slowly changing. The boys are more responsible for the majority of the crimes overall, the number of juvenile females involved with the justice system has been steadily increasing over the past three decades (Gross 84). There has been a growth in the number of detention, arrest, cases processed, and subsequent long-term incarceration rates among females, but since research about female’s offenders are generally lacking, no one knows the clear understanding of the causes. In the juvenile system, girls have

In the United States, juvenile delinquency is becoming a major problem in the communities across the country. Because of the actions that these juveniles engage in on a regular basis, taxpayers across the country are having to shell out hundreds upon thousands of dollars to rehabilitate these children in order to help them make better choices. This leads citizens to wonder what factors actually cause juveniles to live a life of crime rather than success. In short, there are three main factors that often cause children to live a life of crime. These three factors are social influences, psychological characteristics, and academic potential.

The social control theory explains the possibilities on preventing delinquency behavior. If young people have strong and positive attachments towards parents, teachers and friends, it helps them experience a happier lifestyle (Siegel, 2015). Love, care and respect youth hold for parents are quite strong, therefore they don’t want to hurt or disappoint their loved ones. The commitment to education, careers and family is also important because they have too much to lose if they get involved in criminal behaviors. Being involved in productive activities such as participating in after school programs can limit their time to engage in bad

In the next study by Sander, Sharkey, Olivarri, Tanigawa, and Mauseth (2010) they looked at high risk juveniles compared to school experiences, with the help of juvenile offenders alongside with their parents. The research used qualitative data analysis in order to obtain their results. Participants were chosen from two juvenile centers in Texas and California, including their mothers. The adolescents were aged 13 to 17, with the mean being 15 years old. There were a total of 16 adolescents, with 4 of them being female. Out of the 16 participants, seven lived in California and the rest were in Texas. The group was diverse with half of the youths being white. Besides the adolescents being a part of the study, their mothers volunteered as well. Ranging from the ages 33 to 55, with the mean being 44 years old. The mothers were also asked what level of education they had received, 7 of the woman had some form of school after high school, 4 having a college dree or greater (Sander et al., 2010).

delinquency career as a whole, such a career actually consists of one or more specific

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.

Characteristically, juvenile delinquency follows a similar path just like normal adolescent development and children tend to follow delinquent and criminal behavior rather than engaging in it randomly. Research has shown that there are two types of delinquents, those in whom the onset of severe antisocial behavior begins in early childhood, and those in whom this onset coincides with entry into adolescence. With either type, these developmental paths give families, communities, and systems the opportunity to intervene and prevent the onset of antisocial behaviors and justice system involvement (APA, 2017).

Many children become familiar with the Juvenile Justice System without knowledge of why they continue to commit crimes. Many of them suffered years of being abuses, which caused socialization changes that pushed them to withdraw or act out. This research is important because it shows the long terms effects child abuse has on children that become juvenile delinquents. Statistics show increasing numbers of children who are the victims of child abuse and neglect, although they decrease in delinquency may reflect a greater nation focus on the issue and the use of more effective programs to attack the problem. This research is important to me because the Criminal Justice System doesn’t address the causes of deviant behavior in juvenile delinquents to its full potential. They rather just focus on policing and tough sanctions. Hopefully with this paper and many others child abuse can be prevented along with the long-term effects of child abuse and better programs can be invented to treat child abuse victims. The Office of Justice Programs came up with a “Safe Kids Safe Streets” Program, which acknowledge the correlation between child abuse and juvenile delinquency and is aimed at breaking the cycle of early childhood victimization and later delinquency (Safe

Deviance among adolescents in our society has many different causes and multiple theories throughout the history of criminal justice have been developed to attempt to explain, prevent and reduce incidents of status offenses and juvenile delinquency. There are theories varying from individual, to social and environmental. All of these theories have their merits and contribute in one way or another to the advancement of the understanding of juvenile delinquency and the treatment and prevention of delinquency within our society. Those that have proven to be successful we have applied in our justice system while those that are proven over time to be ineffective or defective we have discarded. There is no single theory that applies to all delinquent behavior in all situations. It is best to determine what theory may work best in each specific case based on the individual and the specific situation. Dodge’s information processing theory of social problem solving (Crick and Dodge 1994) was developed by Kenneth Dodge in an attempt to explain the interaction between the child’s cognitive development and their social environment. This theory combines elements of both the individual and the social environment and examines how these two variables interact with each other to present a model for juvenile delinquency. During my investigation of this topic I discovered that an adapted model of Dodge’s theory existed that seemed to be more encompassing of the causes of juvenile delinquency,