The Crime Of Child Abuse

Male and female offenders alike are incarcerated every day for various reasons. Some commit violent crimes while others are arrested for drug use or public-order offenses. The difference between the two are the rates at which they are incarcerated, the length or harshness of their sentences, for the same or similar crimes committed, patterns of drug use, and previous correctional history. While men still lead in violent crime rates, 54.3 percent male verse 36.6 percent female, women are more likely than men to serve sentences due to drug-related offenses and other nonviolent property crimes (American Corrections, 2016).

* Yes, female juvenile offenders are treated differently than male offenders. They are less likely than males to get arrested and charged for a crime. However, once charged, females typically receive a harsher punishment.

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

Research and theories often have an undertone, if not blatantly describing the male offender. However, there is another gender, that also participates in criminal behavior. Although the violent female offender is not as prevalent as violent male offender, reason being women and men have different triggers that create the outward violent behavior. The violent behavior shown by male offenders some time is motivated by money, sexual desires, and possibly power. Women, however have other way of obtaining money or satisfying sexual desires that don’t include violent behavior and sometimes not even criminal behavior. Women by nature are nurturing and in general don’t pursue power in the way that the male offender does. Women typically commit violent

Perception is not reality. The common assumption that the court system often treats female sex offenders differently than male sex offenders, the punishments of female sex offenders are more lenient than men who commit the same types of crimes, and the differences between male and female victims are all perception and not reality. Objective considerations to additional factors make the perceptions baseless. These additional factors solidify the factual differences between male and female sex offenders.

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.

A sexual abuse victim for example, may later become involved in prostitution or substance abuse (Karmen, 2013, p. 234). Prostitution and substance abuse are usually nonviolent crimes that would not specifically fit into cycle of violence theory. However, an abuse victim that later becomes a criminal of the nonviolent variety can still be viewed as an example of intergenerational cycle of criminality. The victim is still more likely than the average person to become a problem for law enforcement, even if the problem is nonviolent in nature. In this sense, physical abuse victims cannot be given a vast amount of attention and resources, while victims of the other forms of child abuse are simply ignored just because they are not as likely to become violent

There are typologies specific to female sex offenders, because they are less likely to sexually reoffend in comparison with male offenders. Nevertheless, male offenders are less likely to commit sexual assaults with the co-offender or even a group (Williams & Bierie, 2015). Females taking an active role in the abuse are frequently engaged in direct sexual contact with the victim. The passive participation of women does not end with the direct sexual contact, but in this case, they observe the abuse without intervening (Mancini, 2014). The major difference between the female and male offenders’ typologies is in the presence of a co-offender, the motivation of the offense, and the age of the

When surveying both men and women, it was found that abuse was an important risk factor relative to future offending habits. The author states that although evidence says otherwise, males are more likely to underreport incidents of sexual abuse than females. Kruttschnitt reminds us that it is “important to bracket the emphasis being placed on the role of child abuse as a ‘gendered experience’ in the pathway to offending” (Kruttschnitt, page 6) and compares this to the cycle of violence. Kruttschnitt briefly mentions the general strain theory, studied by Lisa Broidy and Robert Agnew. She points out that when strain is measured, for example trauma during adolescence, it is directly related to delinquency regardless if they are male or female. Upon looking at a more complex model, it was found that “the responses to strain to vary by emotions and behaviors, we find significant differences by gender” (Kruttschnitt, page 6). The General Strain Theory, in theory, is a great example of a study that sufficiently measures why one may commit a crime regardless of his or her

To begin, there are numerous differences that can be cited between female offending and male offending. Generally, studies show that women tend to engage in crime less often than their male counterparts. It is shown that men are more predisposed to committing a crime than women (Coid, Petruckevitch,

The relationship between offending and victimization is one in the same according to the feminist pathways theory. When researchers compared the status offenses of girls and boys, girls where more likely to receive more stringent punishment for offenses such as; running away, truancy, and being out of control. In the past, girls and young women were treated like criminals and disregarded as victims due to sexual double standards.

Further research suggests that a majority of female offender victims are in their adolescence and are in between the ages of 11 to 17 years old. Females statistically are more likely to know their victim and are even more likely to be biologically related to their victim that male sexual offenders. When examining reported crimes of sexual abuse carried out by female perpetrators, it was found that females are more likely to victimize other females (Johansson-love & Fremouw,

Research on female sex offenders is not as researched as male sex offenders. According to Daalder & Essers, 2003;Elliott, 1993; Finkelhor, Gelles, Hotaling, & Straus, 1983; Hunter, Becker, & Lexier, 2006; Marshall, Laws, & Barbaree, (1990), most of the research involves male sex offenders, however recently more females sex offenders are being looked at for research. Adult female sex offenders’ make up of about 24% of sexual offences committed (Cortoni & Hanson, 2005). Studies on female adolescent sex offenders are under-reported (Langstom, 2001) noted that adolescent sex offenders’ are underestimated. Lowell (2002) indicated this was due to lack of defining deviant sexual behaviors’ among young people. The problem is that past literature

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

What role does gender play at the various stages of the juvenile justice system? Gender plays an enormous role in the juvenile justice system; both boys and girls have their fair share of run-ins with the Juvenile Justice System, but now more so than ever, females crime rates have increased. In some instances within the juvenile justice system, it may appear that boys and girls are comparable; however there are differences, even though they are subtle. As opposed to their male counterpart, female offenders have dissimilar needs, mainly due to unequal victimization that includes physical and or sexual abuse as well as mental health complications (U.S. Department of Justice, 1998). Criminal behavior by females has been commonly seen as a less important problem than male criminal behavior, as women were historically less likely to commit criminal offenses, and statistically made up of a small number of percentages. However, the rising rates have allowed for new development into the growing numbers (National Criminal Justice Reference Service).