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Chapter 6: Gender and Delinquency
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Do gender differences in development pave the way for future differences in misbehaving?
Baby girls show greater control over their emotions
Boys are more easily angered and depend more on input from their mothers
Three development differences:
Socialization
Cognitive
Personality
Gender Differences in Development
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LO1. Contrast male and female developmental trajectories.
Photo - Jack Carey / Alamy
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Psychologists believe that differences in the way females and males are socialized affect their development
Females
Benefit from strong parental attachment and stronger levels of self-control
Learn their self-worth through sustaining relationships
Are socialized to be less aggressive
Learn to respond to provocation by feeling anxious
Males
Learn to value independence
Are encouraged to retaliate
Socialization Differences
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LO1. Contrast male and female developmental trajectories.
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Differences between males and females start in childhood
Cognitive, Personality, and Emotional Differences
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LO1. Contrast male and female developmental trajectories.
Concept Summary 6.1
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Girls are often stereotyped as talkative, but research shows that in many situations boys spend more time talking than girls do
Girls are often stereotyped as being more emotional than boys, but research shows that in many situations, gender differences in emotionality are narrow
The gender gap in emotion increases with age: girls exhibit more positive emotions as they reach maturity, while boys lag behind; this may explain differences in teen delinquency rates by gender
Gender Differences and StereoTYpes
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LO1. Contrast male and female developmental trajectories.
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Possible causes of gender differences:
Biological origin
Brain organization
Hormonal differences
Socialization
Gender-schema theory
Sandra Bem
Our culture polarizes males and females by forcing them to obey mutually exclusive gender roles, or “scripts”
Not all social scientists agree that there are significant gender differences
What Causes Gender Differences?
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
LO1. Contrast male and female developmental trajectories.
Photo:
Game time for Molly Kaissar and friends at the Girls Leadership
Institute camp. The goal is to help girls develop esteem and
confidence and become survivors in a tough world. Program creator
Rachel Simmons believes that because girls fear rocking their
all-consuming relationships, they are notoriously inept at addressing
everyday conflicts. More aggressive girls fight dirty and mean,
bullying, taking command of the lunch table, and spreading
rumors about their targets. Their devastated,
demoralized victims, furious themselves, feel emotionally
paralyzed. Much of the subtle savagery, the clique infighting,
Flourishes below adult radar.
Shana Sureck/The New York Time/Redux
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Research has found that the factors that influence male and female delinquency are quite different
“Two-cultures view”
Girls and boys differ in their social behavior because their sex-segregated peer groups demand behavior that may not be characteristic of them in other social situations
Gender and Delinquency
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LO1. Contrast male and female developmental trajectories.
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The juvenile and adult crime rates for both males and females have been in decade-long decline
While males still commit more delinquency and are more likely to be arrested than females, there are indications that the gender gap in crime and delinquency arrests is narrowing, especially for serious violent crimes
Why the narrowing of the gap?
Changing in police procedures
Girls are committing more crimes – not supported by self-reported data
Gender Patterns in Delinquency
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LO1. Contrast male and female developmental trajectories.
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high school seniors and Offenses
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LO1. Contrast male and female developmental trajectories.
Table 6.1: Chart - Source: Monitoring the Future, 2014 (Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, 2015).
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There is a long tradition of tracing gender differences in delinquency to traits that are uniquely male or female
The argument that biological and psychological differences between males and females can explain differences in crime rates is not a new one
Trait Views
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LO2. Examine the traits related to female delinquency.
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Cesare Lombroso (The Female Offender, 1895)
Women who commit crimes could be distinguished from normal women by physical characteristics
The masculinity hypothesis suggested that delinquent girls had excessive male characteristics
Chivalry hypothesis
Gender differences in the delinquency rate can be explained by the fact that female criminality is overlooked or forgiven by male agents of the justice system
Early Biological Explanations
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LO2. Examine the traits related to female delinquency.
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Some psychologists view the physical differences between males and females as a basis for their behavior differentials
Penis envy
Sigmund Freud maintained that girls interpret their lack of a penis as a sign that they have been punished
One way to compensate is to identify with their mothers and accept a maternal role
Early Psychological Explanations
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LO2. Examine the traits related to female delinquency.
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Early puberty/precocious sexuality
Early theorists linked female delinquency to early puberty and precocious sexuality
Female delinquents were believed to be promiscuous and more sophisticated than male delinquents
This claim is no longer taken seriously
Biological and social factors seem to interact to postpone, or accelerate, female delinquent activity
Contemporary Trait Views
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LO2. Examine the traits related to female delinquency.
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Early puberty and victimization
Boys and girls who reach puberty early are at increased risk of victimization
Hormonal effects
Hormonal imbalance may influence aggressive behavior
Premenstrual syndrome
Early biotheorists suspected premenstrual syndrome (PMS) was a direct cause of female violence
Aggression
Gender differences can be explained by inborn differences in aggression
Contemporary Trait Views
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LO2. Examine the traits related to female delinquency.
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Girls are socialized to be less aggressive than boys
Research indicates that antisocial adolescent girls do suffer a wide variety of psychiatric problems
Female delinquents score high on psychological tests such as:
Psychopathic deviation
Schizophrenia
Paranoia
Psychasthenia
Contemporary Psychological Views
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LO2. Examine the traits related to female delinquency.
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Socialization views are based on the idea that a child’s social development may be the key to understanding delinquent behavior
If a child experiences impairment, family disruption, and so on, the child will be more susceptible to delinquent associations
Girls are supervised more closely than boys, and closer supervision restricts opportunities for delinquency
Early view suggested that boys become delinquent to demonstrate their masculinity; girls were delinquent as a result of hostility toward parents and the need to obtain attention from others
Socialization Views
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LO3. Explain the association between socialization and female delinquency.
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Contemporary investigators continue to support the view that female delinquents have more dysfunctional home lives than males
Girls are more affected by child abuse and may be forced into a life of sexual promiscuity
Issues related to female delinquency: running away, family breakdown, and trauma and victimization
Contemporary views
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
LO3. Explain the association between socialization and female delinquency.
Photo:
Nicole Clark’s story is all too familiar. She ran away from her group home in Medford, Oregon, and
spent weeks sleeping in parks and under bridges. Finally, the 14-year-old grew so desperate that
she accepted a young man’s offer of a place to stay. One day he threatened to kick her out if she
did not have sex with several of his friends in exchange for money. She agreed, fearing she had no
choice. That first exchange of money for sex led to a downward spiral of prostitution that lasted for
14 months, until she escaped from a pimp who she said often locked her in his garage apartment
for months. Now 17, she is on the road back to reclaiming her life.
Monica Almeida/The New York Times/Redux
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There is a significant body of literature linking home lives to gang participation and crime
Joan Moore’s analysis of gang girls in east Los Angeles found that many came from troubled homes
According to Gaarder and Belknap, most young women sent to adult prisons had endured prolonged sexual abuse and violence
Contemporary views
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LO3. Explain the association between socialization and female delinquency.
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Intervention
The Practical Academic Cultural Educational (PACE) Center for Girls
A school-based program for at-risk adolescent girls
Provides academic education, individualized attention, gender-specific life management, skills enhancement, case management, parental involvement, community volunteer services, and career enhancement and awareness, and transition services
What theoretical perspectives would support the PACE approach? In other words, which theories of delinquency are at work here?
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
LO3. Explain the association between socialization and female delinquency.
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The feminist movement has, from its origins, fought to help women break away from their traditional roles
Liberal feminists believe that females are less delinquent than males because their social roles provide fewer opportunities to commit crime
Female criminality is motivated by the same influences as male criminality
As the roles of women become more similar to those of men, so will their crime patterns
Liberal Feminism
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LO4. Analyze feminist views on female delinquency, including power-control theory.
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Critical feminism posits that gender inequality stems from the unequal power of men and women in society and the exploitation of females by fathers and husbands
In a patriarchal society women are a “commodity”
Female delinquency originates with the onset of male supremacy
Critical FeminisM
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LO4. Analyze feminist views on female delinquency, including power-control theory.
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Critical feminists focus on the social forces that shape girls lives
“Patriarchal capitalism”
According to the critical feminist view, male exploitation acts as a trigger for female delinquency
Critical FeminisM
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
LO4. Analyze feminist views on female delinquency, including power-control theory.
Photo:
Critical feminists are concerned with the victimization of young girls and women, a crime which
Occurs all too often on high school and college campuses. On July 31, 2015, Owen Labrie
Appears in Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord, New Hampshire. The St. Paul’s prep
school student sexually assaulted a fellow student while taking part in a practice at the school
known as “Senior Salute” in which graduating boys try to take the virginity of younger girls before
the school year ends. Labrie was convicted of four charges stemming from the assault and will
have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
AP Images/Lynne Tuohy
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Gender differences in the delinquency rate are a function of class differences and economic conditions that influence the structure of family life
Hagan suggests that class influences delinquency by controlling the quality of life
In paternalistic families, fathers assume the role of the breadwinner
Mothers are expected to control the behavior of daughters while granting greater freedom to sons
Power-Control Theory
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LO4. Analyze feminist views on female delinquency, including power-control theory.
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Egalitarian families
Husband and wife share power at home
Daughters gain a kind of freedom similar to that of sons, and their law-violating behavior mirrors that of their brothers
Middle-class girls are most likely to violate the law, because they are less closely controlled than lower-class girls
Power-Control Theory
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
LO4. Analyze feminist views on female delinquency, including power-control theory.
Photo:
Thousands of girls are now being trafficked each year. Shown here is an underage survivor of
Trafficking in her room at a shelter in Romania.
Mashid Mohadjerin/Redux
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Gender differences not only have an effect on crime patterns
May have a significant impact on the way children are treated by the criminal justice system
Several feminist scholars argue that girls are not only the victims of injustice at home, but are also at risk of being victimized by agents of the justice system
A higher percentage of females’ cases were “petitioned for formal processing and ultimately adjudicated; females are also handled more punitively than males”
Gender and the Juvenile Justice System
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LO5. Critique the differential treatment of girls in the juvenile justice system
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Researchers (Chesney-Lind, Stevens, Pasko) find that female juveniles are more likely to be:
Arrested for sexual activity than males who exhibit the same behavior
Be disadvantaged if their behavior is viewed as morally incorrect by government officials, inappropriate for female gender norms, or considered beyond parental control
Officials and policy makers still show a lack of concern about girls’ victimization
Gender and the Juvenile Justice System
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
LO5. Critique the differential treatment of girls in the juvenile justice system
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Some experts suggest that gender differences may have a biological origin, that males and females are essentially different
Gender differences are developed over the life course and reflect different treatment of males and females
Socialization is linked to gender differences in delinquency
According to liberal feminists, females are less delinquent than males because their social roles provide fewer delinquent opportunities
Gender delinquent patterns have become similar
Summary
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LO1-LO5.
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