John hagan's power control theory

c h a p t e r 6

Gender and Delinquency

CHAPTER OUTLINE

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT Socialization Differences Cognitive Differences Personality Differences What Causes Gender Differences? What Does This Mean to Me? Sexual Harassment

GENDER DIFFERENCES AND DELINQUENCY Gender Patterns in Delinquency Violent Behavior

ARE FEMALE DELINQUENTS BORN THAT WAY? Early Biological Explanations Early Psychological Explanations Contemporary Trait Views Contemporary Psychological Views

SOCIALIZATION VIEWS Socialization and Delinquency Contemporary Socialization Views Preventing and Treating Delinquency: Preventing Teen Pregnancy

LIBERAL FEMINIST VIEWS Support for Liberal Feminism Critiques of Liberal Feminism

CRITICAL FEMINIST VIEWS Crime and Patriarchy Power-Control Theory

GENDER AND THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter you should:

1. Be familiar with the changes in the female delinquency rate.

2. Understand the cognitive differences between males and females.

3. Be able to discuss the differences in socialization between boys and girls and how this may affect their behavior.

4. Understand the psychological differences between the sexes.

5. Be able to discuss the early work on gender, delinquency, and human traits.

6. Know the elements contemporary trait theorists view as the key to understanding gender differences, such as psychological makeup and hormonal differences.

7. Know how socialization is thought to affect delinquency rates.

8. Discuss the views of contemporary socialization theorists.

9. Know to what the term liberal feminism refers.

10. Discuss how critical feminists view female delinquency and describe Hagan’s power-control theory.

11. Be familiar with how the treatment girls receive by the juvenile justice system differs from the treatment of boys.

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Juvenile Delinquency: The Core COPYRIGHT © 2005 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc

136 C H A P T E R 6

The Northbrook incident was shocking because it involved young girls in an extremely violent incident, an image that defies the traditional image of females as less aggressive than males. This vision is not new.

To early delinquency experts, the female offender was an aberration who en- gaged in crimes that usually had a sexual connotation—prostitution, running away (which presumably leads to sexual misadventure), premarital sex, and crimes of sexual passion (killing a boyfriend or a husband).1 Criminologists often ignored female offenders, assuming that they rarely violated the law, or if they did, that their illegal acts were status-type offenses. Female delinquency was viewed as emotional or family-related, and such problems were not an important concern of criminologists. In fact, the few “true” female delinquents were considered anomalies whose criminal activity was a function of taking on masculine characteristics, a concept referred to as the masculinity hypothesis.2

Contemporary interest in the association between gender and delinquency has surged, fueled by observations that although the female delinquency rate is still much lower than the male rate, it is growing at a faster pace than male delinquency. More- over, the types of delinquent acts that young women are engaging in seem quite simi- lar to those of young men. Larceny and aggravated assault, the crimes for which most young men are arrested, are also the most common offenses for which females are arrested. There is evidence that girls are getting more heavily involved in gangs and gang violence.3 Although girls still commit less crime than boys, members of both sexes are similar in the onset and development of their offending careers.4 In societies with high rates of male delinquency, there are also high rates of female delinquency. Over time, male and female arrest rates rise and fall in a parallel fashion.5

Another reason for the interest in gender studies is that conceptions of gender differences have changed. A feminist approach to understanding crime is now firmly established. The stereotype of the female delinquent as a sexual deviant is no longer taken seriously.6 The result has been an increased effort to conduct research that would adequately explain differences and similarities in male and female offending patterns.