Girls, Aggression, and Delinquency: Research and Policy Considerations (From Girls and Aggression: Contributing Factors and Intervention Principles, P 225-237, 2004, Marlene M. Moretti, Candice L. Odgers, and Margaret A. Jackson, eds. -- See NCJ-204960)

• NCJ Number: 204975
• Author(s): Jennifer L. Woolard
• Date Published: 2004
• Length: 13 pages
• Sale Source: Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This review of issues that delinquent girls raise for both research and policy first describes how policymakers and researchers might approach girls' delinquency from different perspectives but with common interests; and then it addresses areas that might benefit from policy-relevant empirical research.

Abstract

Research can have an important role in policy development if researchers provide policymakers the kind of practical information needed to determine which policies and programs are likely to produce the desired effects. Four recommendations are offered for increasing the relevance of research to policymaking. First, research should examine the common and distinctive predictors for multiple policy-relevant outcomes, including delinquent behavior, arrest and system involvement, treatment effectiveness, and recidivism risk. Second, research must focus on the small but increasing number of girls who have engaged in serious violent behavior. Third, research should examine intervention pathways in order to understand patterns of system involvement and the impact on treatment effectiveness. Fourth, research methodologies must produce strong conclusions that are relevant to policy. In the case of gender-specific research, some research questions relevant to policymakers are whether violent girls are like violent boys; how policies toward violent girls and violent boys should differ to increase effectiveness with each gender; whether there are special case management issues for female offenders; and whether resources allocated for juvenile justice should be distinguished by gender. The concluding section of the chapter attempts to integrate the policymaker's questions and the researcher's theoretical and empirical interests. This is done through a review of existing research on the nature and extent of male and female offending, the tailoring of case processing according to gender in a system of care and control, and gender-specific intervention and treatment. 38 references