Myth That Females Are Treated More Leniently Than Males in the Juvenile Justice System

• NCJ Number: 86892
• Journal: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Dated: (November 1980) Pages: 4-13
• Author(s): L Hancock
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: New Zealand

Annotation

This paper examines some sociologists' approaches to the study of female delinquency, and police and court decisionmaking in Victoria, Australia, is examined to determine if it reflects discrimination according to gender and social class.

Abstract

All but the most recent studies of the sociologists analyzed reflect a narrow perspective that provides neat retrospective accounts of the official picture of female delinquency. The studies are generally consistent with an individually-based correctional model and an interpretation of female delinquency as primarily sexual or moral in nature. Further, the studies uncritically accept repressive legal statutes and overlook the discriminatory use of discretionary power by the police. The study of decisionmaking by Victoria police and courts examined 300 male and 141 female juvenile court appearances and 151 male and 130 female warnings. Females were more likely than males to be presented to court on protection applications for juvenile status offenses but were more likely than the males to receive a supervisory disposition. Further, the females most affected by a moral definition of behavior and subsequent harsher treatment were those working class females who are socially and sexually precocious, are more visible to police, are more likely to contravene accepted standards of femininity and morality, and are thus more likely to appear in court on protection applications. In contrast, the middle-class females, whose behavior is more likely to be defined by a legalistic model, were treated more leniently, occasioning a warning or a nonsupervisory court disposition. Withdrawal of the morals statutes (status statutes) would eliminate judicial intervention in the lives of many female juveniles and would encourage the growth of voluntary community services designed to help troubled youth. Tabular data, 10 footnotes, and 39 references are provided.