Juvenile Running Away: Gender Stereotypes

Minority mentally ill juveniles are discriminated in the detention facility.In the juvenile justice system have discriminated minority juvenile compear to Caucasian juveniles. In where most of the time Caucasian juveniles are sent to a mental institution while minority juveniles that have a mentally ill problem do not have the same treatment. Minority juveniles that have a mentally ill problem are sent to a detention facility. However, “Youth of color are less likely than whites to receive mental health treatment before entering the juvenile justice system(Simone S. Hicks,2011).” In this quote, the reader should understand that juveniles that are not white are treated as second class citizens. For Example; mentally ill juvenile that is Latino

On 05/13/2018 at about 0033 hours, I was dispatched to 22 Warm Glen Avenue in reference to a runaway juvenile.

Juvenile status offenses are minor offenses that only apply to those under the age of 18 such as skipping school or running away from home. Other examples include curfew violations, possession and consumption of alcohol, and possession and use of tobacco. Theories such as the labeling theory and Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory attempt to explain why females commit juvenile status offenses. Additional theories attempt to explain their treatment in the juvenile justice system such as the Chivalry Hypothesis. Based on the rising rates of status offenses for girls and the unique factors that contribute to this issue, better prevention and

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.

On the other hand, others argue that disproportionality in arrest decisions is commensurate with the racial distributions in offending rather than residential distribution in the population (D’Alessio & Stolzenberg, 2003; Sampson & Lauritsen, 1997). Putting it differently, proponents of this group hold that differential involvement in crime commission leads to higher arrest rates. For this reason, employing frequency of crime involvement as a baseline measure would yield different findings as opposed to relying only population as a baseline measure (Golub et al., 2007).

A significant difference in the means for sentence length exists between men and women for the offenses rape, child sexual assault, and forcible sodomy. In each of these offense categories, men are, on average, sentenced to longer, or harsher, prison terms. It is interesting to note here, too, that the offense that had the most even ratio of men to women and the largest number of offenders, sexual assault, showed no significant differences in sentence length between men and women…Rape, as it typically manifests itself in a violent manner, would demonstrate the most egregious break in gender roles. However, the data suggest men receive harsher penalties, evidenced by a higher mean sentence length. In addition,

There have been many studies conducted that examine ways in which the juvenile justice system responds to female offenders. Historically juvenile female offenders have been treated under status offense jurisdiction (Zahn et al., 2010, p. 10). United States Courts would exercise the principle of “parens patriae” to place the female in detention as a form of punishment for misbehavior (Sherman, 2012, pp. 1589-1590). This principle also remains prevalent as it pertains to how the juvenile justice system currently responds to juvenile female offenders.

When one thinks of the juvenile corrections system, they tend to gender this institution, focusing mainly on young boys. Due to this, one often neglects the thought there are also young girls that are in the system. This may be due to the fact that when compared to young boys within the juvenile corrections system, in previous years the girls consisted of a small portion within in this space. However, according to recent studies, girls in the juvenile system has been rapidly increasing over the last 20 years (Levintova, 2015). This is an issue which needs to be acknowledge due to the fact that young women are caught in this system for starkly contrasting reasons when compared to young males. These reasonings are described in the book Girls in Trouble with the Law by Laurie Schaffner which we will further explore.

The population rate in prisons have increased substantially over the past few decades but the most surprising aspect of this statistic is that there are more women that are incarcerated than ever before. Crimes that were mostly committed by the male gender have taken a surprising turn on it. It seems that rate of females prisoners have risen significantly over just the past decade.

Females are said to be very emotional and if they were troublemakers at a young age they are said to possess “masculine traits and characteristics” (Siegal & Walsh, 2015). Males tend to commit crimes like robbery, assault and burglary. This has changed in the last decade. The rate of offending has decreased for males by 27 percent and females about 15 percent. “Girls have increased their

There are many stereotypes that come along with being a younger child, whether positive or negative. There are exceptions to the stereotypes, but there are still some points that I could identify with. Having a good work ethic serves as a nice motivation for myself in school or activities. I can motivate myself to do assignments on time, and trust myself to do them well. Being hard working creates a positive reputation, thus I am seen as a reliable person. I would not consider myself to be outspoken, but I would say that I can be humorous. Younger children are manipulative and charming is another theory on birth orders. This helps with my need to be in control throughout life, whether it is with parents, or older siblings.

Gender stereotypes affect children substantially. From the baby boy in blue with trucks and action figures to the baby girl in pink with dolls and princesses, these roles and generalizations affect children’s personalities while they are still developing. Those guiltiest of stereotyping in children’s media are Disney, Nintendo and other video-game companies, and reality television. These influences are expansive, and they reach past elementary-age kids to teenagers. Stereotypes negatively impact children of all ages through these forms of media, and parents need to be aware of this.

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

son. (Introduction to Criminology, Lecture 3, September 23, 2013, Professor Jan Stanners.) So another factor about females being less aggressive is the fact that they are protected more and almost restricted from certain things because more people worry about girls then boys. Studies are also showing that women’s crime rates are increasing quite noticeably while males are slowly dropping. I think this is because since the 1950-80’s women’s

In viewing the information contained in the aforementioned articles, one can immediately understand the underlying reasons that women are committing more crimes than men. Through the mid-1990s, the arrest rates of both genders has increased steadily, with the male rate far exceeding that of females (Gross, 2009, pp. 84). However, in recent years, a shift has been seen, with the numbers of female offenders rising significantly, especially at the juvenile level, which significantly raises the likelihood of re-offending later in life. As such, an understanding of the differences between the sexes in terms of the reasoning behind their offenses has long been researched.