Traumatic Childhood Juvenile Delinquency

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).

The Coalition for Juvenile Justice states that “70% of girls in the juvenile justice system have been exposed to trauma”(Kuhn). These traumas consist of high levels of rape, post traumatic stress, witness of murder and serious injury (Kuhn). Overall, girls have higher rates of mental disorders (80% compared to 67%) and are more likely to internalize their behaviors. Paula Schafer argues that the most prominent issue for girls is not their violence or aggression, but rather untreated trauma (Schaefer). To further this issue, many of the rehabilitation programs are created for boys, with very little attention paid to girls. It is possible that these programs can actually negatively impact the girls involved by triggering the stress from traumatic experiences (Kuhn). The abuse that girls experience create even more problems throughout the course of their interactions with authority such as police and correctional officers. These girls develop survival skills to cope with the abuse they have endured. Going into survival mode means putting up walls and becoming aggressive and defensive (Schaefer). The juvenile justice website mentions that many girls run away from home because of the trauma they are experiencing from their family. This observation alone helps criminologists understand why there are so many girls entering the system

Strain theory describes the idea that there are certain events and conditions in an individual’s life that are disliked and involve the inability to achieve goals, loss of positively valued stimuli, and presentation of negative stimuli (Brezina and Agnew). Child neglect and abuse can be described by this theory, and often is, because of its elements and the effect it has on children. Before the idea of child abuse and neglect causing juvenile delinquency can be argued, juvenile delinquency must be defined. Brezina and Agnew define juvenile delinquency as law violations committed by minors. One of the largest debated consequences of child abuse and neglect is it causes juvenile delinquency in victims. Juvenile offenders are view by the justice system as “‘immature’ in the sense that they are less capable of appreciating the consequences of their actions, less able to exercise self-control and more easily lead astray by others.” Supports of this claim say abuse causes delinquency because weak bonds, low self-control, and confrontation with negative stimuli.

The most frequent outcome for victims of childhood maltreatment is criminal behavior, particularly throughout adolescence and adulthood. The argument proposed is that individuals exposed to abusive or violent experiences — whether it be physical abuse, sexual abuse emotional abuse, or neglect — during childhood, directly or indirectly, are more likely to engage in criminal behavior than non-abused individuals. There is a clear and positive association between child maltreatment and adult criminality. This association predisposes the victims of childhood maltreatment to violent, criminal behavior later in life. With this, there is a positive correlation between the type of abuse suffered during childhood and the type of crimes that adult offenders commit. If an individual suffered from sexual abuse during childhood, they are more likely to commit sexual offenses during adulthood, such as rape or prostitution. If an individual suffered from physical abuse or neglect during childhood, they are more likely to commit violent offenses during adulthood, such as assault or manslaughter. The research and evidence presented shows the clear association between childhood maltreatment and engaging in criminal behavior during adulthood, arguing some of the factors that mediate this association.

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

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).

Researchers found that childhood maltreatment was a risk factor for officially recognized delinquency, violent self-reported delinquency and moderate self-reported delinquency.

Traditionally, there has been little research on or interest in the impact of female crime in modern society. In addition, juvenile crime rates are on the rise, which combine for a void of research or information on female juvenile offenders. In general, crime rates for women offenders have risen since the 1990's. Increasing numbers of young women are also offending at higher rates. In a 1996 U.S. Department of Justice Report, the number of arrests of young women had doubled between 1989 and 1993. Twenty percent of all juvenile arrests were committed by girls, an increase of 87 percent. However, according to The National Study of Delinquency Prevention in Schools, males are far more likely to admit to criminal involvement than are

The apparent similarities between victimization and delinquency are displayed by the types of victimization suffered and the number of criminal acts recognized. According to Cuevas, “41.7% of males have engaged in delinquent acts as opposed to 29.6% of females” (Cuevas, C. A., Finkelhor, D., Turner, H., Ormrod, R., 2007). As compared to children who were not victimized in any form, the victimized children tend to be more prevalent towards delinquent victims.

1. In the text Juvenile Delinquency Theory, Practice and Law by Larry J. Sigel and Brandon C. Welsh, chapter 7 talks about Gender and Delinquency. According to chapter 7, 3 facts about the connection between delinquency and abuse for girls are one that girls are more traumatized by child abuse. According to the text, studies have showed that girls who were victims of child abuse are at a high risk of participating in antisocial behaviors (258).

This theory discusses the victimizations girls go through connected with the experience and crimes that all are ignored quite a bit. There are four propositions given as to the causes of female delinquency which are that girls are the victims to physical and sexual abuse, their victimizers have the means to use social control to keep them at home, if the girl runs away they become an escaped convict making them have to commit more crimes to survive, and get involved in crimes that exploit their sexuality to live on the streets. It also was stated in the textbook that 60 percent of street prostitutes interviewed in a study were sexually abused earlier on in their lives and that 79 percent of females form another study were physically abused that left them injured. The overall theme of the feminist theory of delinquency is that abuse in any degree affects the female for the rest of her life, especially in her youth if she is still being subjected to being around the

Childhood is an exceptional and progressive time of physical, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional development (Cozolino, 2010). The brain and its biological stress system are genetically programmed and influenced by early experience. Trauma has developmental consequences on children. Developmental traumatology research is “systemic investigation of the psychiatric and psychobiological impact of the overwhelming and chronic interpersonal violence on the developing child” (De Bellis, 2001, p. 539). It combines frameworks from developmental psychopathology, developmental neuroscience, and stress and trauma research (De Bellis, 2001). Child maltreatment experiences can be defined as neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witnessing of domestic violence or community violence and these may be the most common causes of interpersonal traumas in children and adolescence (De Bellis, 2001).

Juvenile delinquency is the habitual committing of criminal acts or offenses by a young person, especially one below the age at which ordinary criminal prosecution is possible. Up until recently juvenile delinquency only accounted for males. However, girls are now the fastest growing segment of the juvenile justice system, even though the rates of juvenile offending are declining. Due to the increase of the female juvenile population, some female juveniles are being held in adult prisons. Because the rates of female offending has been on the rise, there has been an increase in the likelihood that a teen would be arrested while she is pregnant. There are approximately 24,000 pregnant teens arrested a year, which is 670 on a given day. The chances of a girl being arrested while she is pregnant is somewhat high due to the fact that about 85% of girls that are detained are sexually active and fewer than 50% of them use some form of protection. Because the amount of female juveniles being detained are increasing and the juvenile justice system was geared more towards the male population, there are several resources that are lacking especially for pregnant teens and teen mothers.

Childhood deliquesce has been around for many years, and has grown. The arrest rate of child delinquency change between 1988 and; arrests for violent crimes increased by 45 percent (United States. U.S. Department of Justice). Many times these children don’t just start causing trouble, but they have grown into role, most often young can see this at an early age, though language, temperamental characteristics, and be disconnected to the caregivers (United States. U.S. Department of Justice). These early signs can predict the child’s later actions in life. Also, signs of a delinquent are; aggressive behavior and impulse behavior. Today, there are many aids that prevent and help children from causing harm

There is still a large gap between girl delinquency than in boys, boys representing 71% of arrests while girls accounted for 29% of them in 2011 (Carney, Module 5, 2017). Where data finds girls delinquency concerning is that overtime while boys delinquency rates have decreased, girls have followed the opposite path (Slowikowski, 2010). The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) created a Girls Study group to address the issue of girls delinquency and attempt to find what works best to prevent it. What it found was that girl delinquency has not increased in violence and that they engage in less crime than boys, but the changes in juvenile justice policy increased the likeliness of girls being arrested than in the past (Slowikowski, 2010). One of the main findings was that girls are less likely to become delinquent when protective factors such as caring adult, school connectedness, school success and religiosity were present (Slowikowski, 2010). The study found that having a caring adult in their lives impacted the likeliness to committing status offences and reduced the rates of assault during young adulthood (Hawkins & al., 2009). Religiosity and school connectedness did not seem to have an impact on delinquency, while school success did. School success is related to less gang membership and a reduction in committing status offenses (Hawkins & al., 2009).