Youth Offending: Documentary Analysis

In the Documentary ,Girl Trouble, the lives of three girls are recorded over the course 3 years. During those three years the lives of the girls were evaluated while they were incarcerated in the San Francisco’s’ Juvenile Justice system. According to youth advocate Lateefah, and other delinquent advocates, the prison system is not adolescent friendly when it comes to girls. Lateefah insists that there is a worldwide misconception about bad girls, being that there is no meaningful way to rehabilitate, which results to the system throwing away children lives forever. In order to shy away from this misconception, Lateefah and other lobbyists for at risk youth gets girls like the three in the documentary, to attend rehabilitative centers such

A new and alarming trend that has been occurring in American society is the increase of violence committed by young women. The documentary Girlhood offers an insight on the emotional, psychological, and social reasoning behind the girl’s actions. Girlhood focuses on the life of two young juveniles, Shanae Owens and Megan Jensen both incarcerated for violent crimes. Shanae and Megan both experienced similar circumstances that yielded different outcomes. They were followed for a period of about three years which allowed viewers to really see what kind of role the justice system, family and peers have on the success of an at risk juvenile.

Two of the main characters that was presented in the documentary “Girlhood” were Shanae who was arrested for murder at the age of 12, after stabbing a friend to death. Megan (16) who also committed a violent crime her mother was a drug-addled prostitute megan mother was in and out jail so megan mother wasn't really around in her childhood she also lived in 12 different foster homes. Being as though both of her parents wasn't present in her live it. They was locked up at the Waxter Juvenile Facility in Baltimore,Maryland. During the time Shanae was locked up for the years she was there longer than any girl in the facility.

Most girls that are arrested and detained have committed non-violent offenses, and they are usually not able to get the help that they need. Parents are the primary reporters of female status offenders in contrast to male status offenders that are reported by school or law officials (Donley, 2007; Godsoe, 2014). This shows that the girls may not actually be criminal, but that the parents are unable to manage the child.

The United States criminal justice system, an outwardly fair organization of integrity and justice, is a perfect example of a seemingly equal situation, which turns out to be anything but for women. The policies imposed in the criminal justice system affect men and women in extremely dissimilar manners. I plan to examine how gender intersects with the understanding of crime and the criminal justice system. Gender plays a significant role in understanding who commits what types of crimes, why they do so, who is most often victimized, and how the criminal justice system responds to these victims and offenders. In order to understand the current state of women and the way in which gender relates to crime and criminal justice, it is first

Social fear can contribute to the marginalisation of young people and impede their ability to interact in public spaces, and when youth tries to create spaces of their own, they get told to move on marginalising them further (Copeland 2008). The media plays into this by constructing youth as dangerous and disruptive, which in turn can create policies that seek to reduce risk by excluding youth from public places (Copeland 2008; Wilson Rose & Colvin 2010). However, public spaces are important for youth because it helps them feel safe, allows them to develop their identity, to feel a sense of belonging, and provides instructions on how to behave in society (Evens 2006; Wilson Rose & Colvin 2010; Copeland 2008). Additionally, Copeland (2008)

With regards to female sentences, it can be seen on the one hand that the criminal justice system deals with female crimes more leniently than with male criminality, as referred to as the chivalry theory (Pollok, 1983). As many female offences are usually petty wrongdoings, such as shoplifting which makes up for nearly a half of all indictable convictions (Ministry of Justice, 2014), due to their gender, it is most likely that females are to be cautioned over receiving a prison sentence. However, this was not the case for Maxine Carr in 2003. A whirlwind of media interest surrounding Carr’s involvement, with the murders of two young girls from Soham, is argued to be the definitive reason as to why Carr received a prison sentence of three years, all for perverting the course of justice.

Throughout the first few weeks of working on the Mental Heath Unit at Victoria Hospital, I was exposed to many new and different situations in regards to patient care. One situation in particular that stuck out to me occurred during my first week when I was working with a patient who had schizophrenia and paranoia. During this time, I was required to give this gentleman his intramuscular (IM) depot injection of Invega Sustenna, which assists in managing the symptoms of schizophrenia. For confidentiality reasons, this patient will be referred to as Roger for the remainder of the reflection.

Criminality is still assumed to be a masculine characteristic and women lawbreakers are therefore observed to be either ‘not women’ or ‘not criminals’ (Worrall 1990, p. 31). Female offenders are hallmarked for tireless and inescapable coverage if they fit into the rewarding newsworthy categories of violent or sexual. It is always important to note the reason for overrepresentation of women criminals in the media. “Women who commit serious offences are judged to have transgressed two sets of laws: criminal laws and the laws of nature” (Jewkes 2011, p. 125). Such women are hence “doubly deviant and doubly damned” (Lloyd, 1995). When women commit very serious crimes, such as murder, they attract

There are many factors that inhibit women to commit violent crimes. Most women suffer from substance abuse, spouse abuse and mental issues. The most common risk is being previously being abused earlier in life. A survey conducted in 2002 reported that thirty six percent of all female

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

Youth crime is the crime committed by juvenile offenders. It is the common issue in Australia. The age group between 14-19 years old is the popular group of youth crime. (News 2013) Different age groups commit different types of crimes. (The youth court 2009) Also, there are many kinds of crime and crime method in the society, such as, drug offences, robbery, burglary, assault and violent offenses. The group of people who crime together that is called criminal group. It is a prevalence crime method and it is effective for crime. This question will focus on what is youth crime, the change of youth crime in recent year and the relationship between drug offences and the youth crime in Australia.

Since 1970, there has been an increasing and alarming rise 138 percent of violent crimes committed by women. Still, while the equivalent percentage compared to male violence is small 15 percent to 85 percent the fact that the numbers have elevated so drastically points to something changing in society.

The criminal activities done by youth who are under age of eighteen is called youth crime. There are many types of crime which are done by youth. Property crime, drug offences, violent crime, common assault, mischief, break and enter, sexual assault, robbery all are included in crimes that youth mostly do. Mostly youth commit crime by involving more than one person. In this paper, I will discuss different type of crime that youth do, how Parental status effect youth to commit a crime, how government and police handle the situation when youth commits the crime and how Good education can help to prevent a youth for committing the crimes. Youth had a double crime rate than older adults aged 25 and over.

Female Criminality consists of several outdated statistics regarding the rise of female offending. However, in viewing the current research on the subject, it appears that the overall theme of this dissertation's discussion is still relevant despite changes in the accompanying statistics as seen in viewing the following topics: the rise in female offending; the continual rise that females are committing more crimes than men; and the types of crimes that women are committing. In viewing Bruce Gross's 2009 article, "Battle of the Sexes: The Nature of Female Delinquency," as well as Elizabeth Cauffman's 2008 article, "Understanding the Female Offender," one can begin to see where current statistics regarding the female criminal lie.