The aspects of gender and family may profoundly influence juvenile delinquents and delinquent activity patterns.

It is thought that females are often viewed and treated differently by the society and by the juvenile justice system. There are significant concerns whether females are treated fairly by the justice system and whether or not the differences between female and male rates of delinquency in the juvenile justice system are unavoidable. Factors such as family, home environment, biological influences, and socialization are all theorized to contribute to the persisting gap between male and female delinquents and the tendencies of both sexes to migrate towards different offense patterns. Overall, the family environment and gender of a juvenile can very much impact their voyage into delinquency. Interest in studying female delinquents is increasing because while female delinquents remain smaller in number than the males, it is growing at a faster rate (Siegel & Welsh, 2005). According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the typical female entering the juvenile justice system is between the ages of 14 and 16, is from a minority community, lives in a poor neighborhood with a high crime rate, and has been the victim of physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse (Miazad, 2002, p. 1). There are many current explanations for the differences between male and female delinquent activity rates and behavior. One theory is that biological differences between males and females such as brain development and hormones are critical to explaining the inherent differences in delinquent behavior between the sexes. Another key interest area is how differences in socialization and psychological development lead to different male and female behaviors. For example, it is theorized that males are encouraged to operate on their own in childhood whereas females are often supervised more closely, and taught to value relationships over independence. In this sense, boys are encouraged to become more aggressive while girls are discouraged from physical aggressive tendencies and are led towards relationship building tendencies (Siegel 2 Gender and Family

& Welsh, 2005). Generally, it is theorized that males respond outwardly to anger whereas females tend to internalize anger even though they may feel anger as often as males. This tendency towards internalization is especially troublesome because females are more likely to be victims of physical and mental abuse (Siegel & Welsh, 2005). The result is that females may suffer more from such assaults by blaming themselves and becoming depressive to the point where they cannot effectively rebuild their lives. They may then turn to delinquent acts such as prostitution and taking drugs as methods of survival. Next, family environment is thought to play a critical role in the development of adolescent delinquent behavior because the family is considered the first environment where a child learns to socialize by example. This is especially true in light of the ongoing breakdown of the nuclear and extended family models that were more prevalent in past eras. In a typical modern household, mothers and fathers both work and the father is more often than not no longer the primary breadwinner. Single parent families are more common than they have been in the past. Family instabilities such as parental divorce or separation and the absence of one or more parents have been shown to be linked to both female and male delinquency patterns but may affect males and females in different ways. It is thought that males may be more affected by the absence of a father while females may be more affected by the overall relationship between parents and the parenting of the mother figure in particular. However, it has been found that the overall quality of the family unit has more impact on youth than the actual make-up of the family (Siegel & Welsh, 2005). Thus, parental absence, abuse, and neglect can be considered stronger factors behind the development of delinquent behaviors than experiencing parental separation or being raised in a single parent household. There is evidence linking female deviant behavior with dysfunctional families and, in particular, with abusive male figures in their lives (Miazad, 2002). For females, developing coping skills 3 Gender and Family

that can leave them vulnerable to sexual exploitation can be extremely difficult to resolve once troubled female teens reach the juvenile justice system. Unfortunately, the juvenile justice system has not been immune from treating females differently than males and has, in fact, an extensive history of gender bias in policies and procedures. For example, between 1988 and 1997 the rate of girls being placed in detention increased at a rate twice that of boys and research suggests that the differences in incarceration rates are due to gender bias by courts and juvenile system staff (Miazad, 2002). Also, there has been a seeming reluctance to create gender specific programs in juvenile systems despite increases in female delinquents. Despite changes to federal law, in 1997 only about half of the states had developed meaningful plans or established programs for female juvenile delinquents (Shepherd, 2001, p. 1). Part of the reason that female-specific programs are still in their infancy in some ways may be partially because female delinquents tend to commit different types of crimes than males and these crimes tend to be viewed as a lesser threat to society (Cooney, Small, & OConnor, 2008). On average, other resources apart from programs are also more lacking for females in female-specific juvenile facilities. In addition, while it has been commonly assumed that females get lighter treatment from the juvenile justice system and its officials, the opposite may be true. Social views of what constitutes undesirable female behavior that have persisted in this society may be at least partially responsible for females receiving less accommodating treatment in the juvenile justice system. For example, arrest rates demonstrate that female juveniles are more likely to get arrested for status offenses than males and it is theorized that this is because some of the behaviors they are participating in are considered negative when perpetrated by a female but would not gain official attention if engaged in by a male (Siegel &Welsh, 2005, p. 152). 4 Gender and Family Studies have also shown that female juveniles are more likely to receive harsher treatment such as being held in detention facilities for longer periods of time compared to male

juveniles. Overall, it does not appear that female delinquents benefit from being female because cultural bias may still play a significant role in stigmatizing and punishing some young women more harshly than their male counterparts. Certainly, improvement should be made to address the needs of female juvenile offenders and provide an equal level of punishment. There are numerous factors that may contribute to the differences between male and female delinquency patterns. Both biological and environmental factors seem to play a role in how delinquent behaviors differ between males and females. However, studying female delinquency has been hampered by a societal viewpoint that tends to focus on male delinquents rather than their female counterparts. While rising rates of female criminal behavior have helped to spur an interest in understanding how girls develop delinquent behavior, female delinquency still arguably comes with a social stigma attached that does affect their stay within the juvenile justice system. References