Girls And Crime
Stress, teenage mother hood, drug habits all those components needs survival
skills. How do you keep those survival skills? Gangs, prostitution, abuse? To us
juvenile delinquency is something that we look at it with disdain instead of
taking the time to look into sociological issues, emotional issues and the
reality that would give us a clearer view and still not make us feel or
understand the conditions they live in, the pressures they go through or face
everyday. For us to be able to make a non judgmental opinion is very difficult,
perhaps many of us have been affected by the wrong doings of some delinquent’s
actions such as a drive by shooting, being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The realization, what we call going through a day, everyday, is a day they’ve
survived. True there are other options to those girls, but realistically how
many are able to go and get out as easy as those programs claim it is? The
emotion I used to write this paper was compassion. I believe that because of
that emotion I was able to bring a difference to the view of the female
delinquent.
State juvenile justice systems across the country are
challenged by the question: What about girls? This question cannot be ignored
because female involvement in the juvenile justice system continues on a steady
course upward -- even as juvenile male involvement in delinquency
declines.
Between 1992 and 1996 the number of juvenile females arrested
for Violent Crime Index offenses increased 25 percent, with no increase in
arrests of male juveniles for the same offenses. Juvenile female arrests for
Property Crime Index offenses increased 21 percent, while juvenile male arrests
in this category decreased 4 percent. Law enforcement agencies made 723,000
arrests of juvenile females in 1996 (Snyder, 1997). Female involvement in the
juvenile justice system, once seen as an anomaly, has evolved into a significant
trend. State and local juvenile justice systems are increasingly called upon to
address the needs of juvenile female offenders and at-risk girls. Recognizing
that these needs require national attention, the Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has launched a multilevel approach. It includes
reviewing how States are dealing with female juvenile offenders, developing an
inventory of best practices, producing a prototype-training curriculum, and
implementing a variety of program development activities. Which would contradict
with Chesney-Lind and Shelden’s (1992:97) point that despite increases over the
past decade in both the number of female-headed household and more women in the
workplace, female delinquency has either remained the same or declined. Then
again it was not until women entered the criminology force, that gender issues
began to be seriously addressed.
What about girls? In its own way, there
are often common challenges:
· A growing number of female offenders.
·
Demand for comprehensive needs assessments that identify gaps in the provision
of services for girls.
· The necessity of developing and implementing
gender-specific services and programs designed to meet the unique needs of
girls.
· Competition for scarce resources and a limited understanding of what
works for girls.
Another specific question is why is there an increase?
Well maybe we should look at the reasons behind the actions, or maybe how they
have rationalized their actions in order to be able to carry the crime. The
video I have seen was a home tape of multiple shows or documentary on female
crime. I was only able to come out from it with a fear, empathy, and even more
confused then I first saw a video in the class and this is why. When watching
the video in our classroom about the male delinquent, I saw pain in their eyes
and some I saw “I am getting my fifteen minute of fame” look. The girl’s video
in class and my friend’s was the need to survive look in almost all the girls’
faces. In the boys I saw it too but I found it very hardcore. I believe that if
we were to break that façade of authoritarian, need to prove a point to society,
I believe we can make an immense difference.
From most of the female
offenders, my first realization was the neighborhood they lived in. The living
conditions, such as dirt, roach infested rooms, no education, the male
dominating ghettos and not much nutrition. Most were mothers and the oldest was
18. The most interesting part was that the owners were not part of a minority
groups, most were white or Asian and that most were living in rich
neighborhoods. One actually said “they want to pay low rent, low rent equals low
income, low income equals low maintenance”. From that we can see one way or one
reason for the need to want to make fast money and get the “hell” out. Now to
come to this easy cash flow or even come to better living conditions, you have
to be able to see things as a need, necessity and if you need you can
rationalize most. The realization or the come to be aware of what or where you
live can make you not want to feel, which will bring you to two options. One is
alcohol, the one thing that will make you go through the day easier and the
second is drugs. You now have a habit to upkeep and a habit costs, hence the
sell of drugs in order for you to keep you habit or selling yourself. In both
situation you need to be careful, not to feel that cheap dirty guy who wants to
be with you for a thrill and him knowing you will do it just because you need
the money. If you are a single mother you want the best for your child you do
not want them to be or have what you’ve had and so the vicious circle of
rationalizations comes to play, again.
The book portrays a very different
image on the female delinquent and calls her the less then perfect girl.
According to Lombroso and Ferrero (1895) the female was bad just because she was
a female. That her reaction to situations were emotional and therefore just as
bad as male criminals, that “their evil tendencies…more varied than men’s” and
so because they are females the get away with everything, because they are less
visible then men. You then have the theory of Freud (1924) where he called
female crimes as “Penis envy”. Unlike Freud, Thomas saw the female problem
stemmed from inadequate families, demoralization and frustration from social
rules and moral codes. Which for me was the closest to the article I showed you
on the previous pages, and most agreed with? In conclusion I think that the more
research that will be done in the socioeconomic concepts, then focus on
individual concepts, we then will be able to understand and compare progress.
You cannot judge a delinquent according to William Foote Whyte’s “ Street Corner
Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum” unless you have been in his
shoes. I believe that his research was correct and precise. That you can judge
him but you cannot understand him. Our goals today should be to understand. Our
goals today should be to better our education, to make it accessible to others
in lower income places and that way we can make a
difference.
Bibliography
Reference:
· Bell, Sandra J. 1943
“Young Offenders and Juvenile Justice: A century after the fact.
· Home
videos of public television shows and documentary
· Snyder, H.N. 1997
Juvenile Arrests 1996.
· Department of Justice, Office of Justice
programs
· Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention
· Journal
by Budnick, Kimberly