Essays 13-14 (Unit 6) in essay & summary format, explaining the nature and extent of female juvenile delinquency, as well as the involvement of girls in gangs.
ESSAY 13: IDENTIFY & DISCUSS CRITICALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT TENDENCIES WITH REGARD TO THE
EXTENT & NATURE OF FEMALE DELINQUENCY
There has been an increased interest in youth girls‟ misbehaviour since the 1970‟s. Early interest focused on
girls‟ sexual activities and the CJS‟s preoccupation to control these young girls‟ sexual misbehaviour. At the
same time the sexual behaviour of boys was not seen as important. When girls practice sexual misbehaviour
they are seen as “hoes”, whereas boys try and sleep with as many girls as they can and get praised for it.
One main reason why the interest is focused on girls could be that they have a possibility of getting
pregnant. The media reports that currently the CJS has to cope with the epidemic of female juvenile
delinquency and sexual misbehaviour, but there is not much truth in this.
Research shows that female juveniles have only modest increases in theft, serious assault, vehicle theft and
vagrancy. There is decreased participation for young girls in homicide, fraud, embezzlement and sex work. It
is reported that worldwide young girls account for ¼ of the total juvenile arrests. The very latest report
received from SA‟s correctional facilities states that there are 187 child offenders (before age 18) in prison.
There are only 3 girls, making up only 1.6% of all child offenders. As for juveniles (age 18-20), there are 103
females serving sentences compared to 4023 males serving sentences. Juvenile females thus make up only
2.4% of the prison population.
The representation of girls in gangs are overstated by the media as girls in gangs make up only small
percentages and are still less violent and criminal than male juvenile gangs. Self-report studies, that are used
to see a larger part of the “iceberg”, indicate that crime patterns of boys and girls are more similar than OCS
indicate. Girls do not specialise in sex crimes, like OCS state. The gender gap of the amount of crimes both
sexes commit becomes greater when the seriousness of the offence is bigger. There are a few findings from
self-report studies. Girls report less criminal involvement than boys do. Both sexes have almost equal
participation in drug abuse, disobeying parents, defying parental authority, running away, skipping school,
disturbing peace, drinking alcohol, engaging in sexual activities and petty theft.
There is a sex differential for selling hard drugs and theft involving items of greater value, because the more
serious the crime, the greater the gap. A limitation of self-report studies is gender-specific under- and over-
reporting. Men tend to over-report and women tend to under-report. Self-report studies show that boys are
significantly more involved in violent crime. The last finding is that the most common reason for arrest of
both sexes is theft. Shoplifting is the most prominent type of theft committed.
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