NCJ Number
85494
Date Published
1982
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study of the patterns of male and female delinquency over a 10-year period in a juvenile court of an affluent suburb shows that feminism has not led to a significant comparative increase in the volume and seriousness of female juvenile delinquency.
Abstract
The propositions tested were that official rates of female delinquency are rising more rapidly than the rates for males and that girls' offenses are becoming more severe. Three data-collection procedures were used. One consisted of a tabulation of the number of petitions for status offenses and delinquency for boys and girls from monthly court logs for each year from 1969-78 and for the first 7 months of 1980. The second involved the coding of court records for all girls and a random sample of boys in 1969, 1972, 1975, and 1978. Third, observational data were obtained from 1980 hearings in the same court to provide descriptive material on female delinquents now coming before the court. Data do not support either the proposition that female delinquency is rising much more rapidly than male delinquency or that females are now being treated more severely by the juvenile court. The small increase in female delinquency over the 10-year period appears to reflect in part a movement away from the use of status offenses. The percentage of total petitions filed on girls over the study period did not increase. Further, there is no suggestion in the data that the seriousness of girls' crimes has increased. Most of the girls appearing before the court had committed relatively minor property offenses. Tabular data and 24 notes are provided.