Female Juvenile Delinquents

CAUSES OF FEMALE JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

The past several decades has seen an increase crime in America. Crime is becoming more and more prevalent, not just in society as a whole, but among juveniles as well. While this problem affects both males and females, most attention and study has been given to male juvenile offenders.

Compared to male offenders, female offenders have received little empirical attention. ...Female offenders constitute a relatively small proportion of criminal offenders. ...About 18% of adults and juveniles who were arrested in 1992 in the United States were females (U.S. Department of Justice, 1993). The statistics are similar for arrests in Canada. (Bonta, et al, 1993, p. 277)

According to one study, "the juvenile female offender is perhaps the most enigmatic, misunderstood, underserved student in the United States educational system" (Fejes-Mendoza, Miller, and Eppler, 1995, p. 309). The reason for this is as with most subjects that have to do with human behavior, and health, observers of juvenile delinquency have historically tended to base their observations on a male model of behavior. Females are emotionally, psychologically, as well as physiologically different from males which leads to different behaviors, and responses to social stimuli, and therefore different results, or consequences in many cases.

In spite of advances in the women's movements, biology rules. Underlying

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fenses such as thefts and assaults usually happen as a result of trying to survive on their own after leaving their families. Attacks occur when trying to escape from authorities. In desperation, and despair these girls also turn to prostitution, and drugs (Bonta, et al, 1995). In the words of county probation officer, Sharon Spiegel: We are not just raising kids who can deal with the stresses of living in this wild and crazy society. . .We are producing Teenage Mutant I-don't-know-what. . .We want inner-city kids to make the right choices, but we forget to show them there is a rainbow of choices out there. (Becklund, 1993, pp.E-2) CONSEQUENCES OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Studies done of female offenders have been limited thus far. The relative lack of evidence based on these studies makes predicting recidivism or reform difficult if we rely solely on these studies. Possibly the fact that overall, there are fewer female offenders makes studies of them less urgent (Becklund, 1993). A life sentence in Canada ranges from 10 to 25 years of incarceration. "Lifers" who are eligible for parole can be released after 10 years. They are supervised for the rest of their lives. The rate of recidivism for these women is, understanda

Category: Government - F