Girls' Crime and Woman's Place: Toward a Feminist Model of Female Delinquency

Abstract

This article argues that existing delinquency theories are fundamentally inadequate to the task of explaining female delinquency and official reactions to girls' deviance. To establish this, the article first reviews the degree of the androcentric bias in the major theories of delinquent behavior. Then the need for a feminist model of female delinquency is explored by reviewing the available evidence on girls' offending. This review shows that the extensive focus on disadvantaged males in public settings has meant that girls' victimization and the relationship between that experience and girls' crime has been systematically ignored. Also missed has been the central role played by the juvenile justice system in the sexualization of female delinquency and the criminalization of girls' survival strategies. Finally, it will be suggested that the official actions of the juvenile justice system should be understood as major forces in women's oppression as they have historically served to reinforce the obedience of all young women to the demands of patriarchal authority no matter how abusive and arbitrary.

Adolescent Female Offenders’ Subjective Experiences of How Peers Influence Norm-Breaking Behavior

“…Self-report studies have shown that youths who commit crimes are more likely to be victims of crime committed against them (Wikstrom & Butterworth, 2006), which is in line with our results. Although it is well established that female victimization and peer pressure are two important risk factors for understanding female delinquent behavior (Chesney-Lind, 1989;Giordano, Longmore & Manning, 2006), portraying adolescent female offenders as sole victims of deviant peers and romantic partners, or describing their delinquent behavior as a direct cause of their victimization, is to oversimplify a more complicated process.…”

The relation of psychopathy to concurrent aggression and antisocial behavior in high‐risk adolescent girls and boys

“…For girls in particular, there is reason to believe that unique factors are associated with violence and delinquency (e.g. sexual abuse and victimization in the home, Chesney-Lind, 1989attachment and social bonds, Gilligan & Wiggins, 1988), introducing the possibility that variables other than those assessed under the rubric of psychopathy serve as more effective markers of risk in girls. Studies that assess the relative power of these variables versus psychopathic features over time in predicting violence are required to determine whether these factors contribute independently or interactively to outcomes, or whether one plays a more stable and central role.…”

Gestión de las sexualidades en los sistemas penales: las adolescentes mujeres

“…Estudios en el tema (Carlen & Worrall, 2004;Chesney-Lind, 1989;Larrauri, 1994) indican que las mujeres que transgreden la ley viven un doble castigo. Por un lado por la transgresión a las normas penales y por otro por transgredir las normas de género y los roles sociales asumidos y asignados (Carlen, & Worrall, 2004).…”