THE LIFE WORLDS AND PRACTICES OF VIOLENT SCHOOL GIRLS by
Sibylle Artz
M.A., University of Victoria, 1992
A Dissertation Subm itted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Faculty of Education
in the D epartm ent of Social and N atural Sciences
We accept this D issertation as conforming to the required standard
D r.t'f. J Riecjcen, Supervisor (Departm ent of Social and N atural Sciences)
Dr. R. l i ( Fowler, D epartm ental Member (Departm ent of Social and N atural Sciences)
Dr. A. A. Obefjg, O utside M ember (Departm ent of Com m unication and Social F o u n d a tio n s)1, ;
Dr. R.'.'V.Peavy, Oqtsid4 M ember (Departm ent of Psychological Foundations in Education) • \
Dr. F. MatheWs, External Examiner (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education)
Copyright © Sibylle Artz, 1995 U niversity of Victoria
All rights reserved, This dissertation m ay not be reproduced in w hole or in part, by photocpoying or by other means, w ithout the perm ission of the au th o r.
I I . Supervisor: Dr. T. J. Riecken
ABSTRACT
This dissertation explores the life w orlds and practices of violent school girls. After show ing that violence am ong adolescent school girls is on the rise in C anadian schools and establishing that virtually no literature currently exists w hich addresses the participation of school girls in violence, the author undertook an ethnographic key inform ant study which h ad a tw ofold
purpose: (1) contributing tow ards filling the gap in the literature on violence and girls, an d (2) form ulating an understanding of the participation of school girls in violence. A ttached to this second purpose was the intention that data gathered should be also be useful to the design and im plem entation of
program s an d interventions w hich have the pow er to reach violent girls and help them to stop participating in violence.
Six girls aged fourteen to sixteen years participated in this year long stu d y along w ith their parents, prim arily their m others, and their educators and counsellors. Each participant has been both a victim and an assailant. Four of the six had been sexually abused, one by her brother, three by non family m em bers they knew and trusted.
The central findings of the study are that: (1) all six girls come from families in w hich violence is a regular p art of every day life; (2) w ithin these families an d also w ithin the social w orld in which the key inform ants live, girls and w om en are devalued and oppressed as a m atter of course, and (3) violence in all its form s is justified by the assailants on the grounds that the victim caused the assailant to attack the victim thus m aking violence necessary. In m ost b u t not all cases, the key informants beat up other girls prim arily because they saw these girls as threatening their relationships w ith males. O n occasion, they also engaged in physical battles w ith other girls and sometim es boys, in order to defend their status and uphold their reputations. Chiefly they felt justified in attacking other girls if they believed that these girls "deserved" to be beaten because they were sexually provocative or prom iscuous and could therefore be construed as "sluts". They also felt justified in attacking those w ho attem pted to attach this label to them. All six key inform ants struggle w ith notions of self which are for the m ost part, negative an d grounded in an acceptance of the belief that w om en achieve their greatest im portance w hen they com m and the attention of men. All are striving to be recognised and respected. If prosocial m eans for achieving this are seen as closed to them, they are w illing to use antisocial m eans to achieve their ends.
It is suggested here, that if we are to help violent girls choose other m eans of settling disputes and achieving social standing and significance, we m u st find w ays to help them see themselves and other girls and w om en as having w o rth and im portance in their ow n right, separately from standards set for them by the males w ho dom inate their life worlds. We m ust w ork w ith violent girls to help them to change their notions that those w ho
I I I .
displease them are m orally and causally responsible for the beatings they m ete out to them. We m ust recognise that their ow n abuse histories come into play in any change process and m ust address their recovery issues an d w e m u st find the m eans to allow them to experience respect, positive attention an d connectedness to others. Otherwise w e can expect them to continue to use violence and the other antisocial approaches they are currently using as tools for survival.
Exam iners:
Dr. V. J Rieckei)/ Supervisor (Departm ent of Social and N atural Sciences)
Dr. 'fc. H. Fowler, D epartm ental M ember (Departm ent of Social and N atural Sciences)
Dr. A. A. Ober$, O utside M ember (Department of Com m unication and Social F o u n d atio n s) v
D r .^ . V. PeavyrQ utsi^ie M ember (Departm ent of Psychological Foundations in Education) 'J
Dr. F. M athew s^External Examiner (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education)
IV. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I could not hav e done this w ork w ithout the participation, support, guidance an d goodw ill of m any people. I w ish to acknowledge and thank the m em bers of m y committee, Dr. Robert Fowler, Dr. A ntoinette Oberg, and Dr. Vance Peavy, and m y external examiner, Dr. Fred M athews. Their questions, insights and suggestions w ere pertinent, useful and appreciated. To my supervisor, Dr. Ted Riecken, I w ish to extend my gratitude and esteem for his thoughtful support. H is encouragem ent and confidence in m y w ork helped m e w ith every step along the way. I w ould also like to extend m y
appreciation to Dr. Laurie Baxter and Dr. Bill McCarthy w ho provided me w ith valuable assistance w ith the course w ork leading u p to the completion of this undertaking an d to Dr. Valerie Kuehne, Director of the School of Child a n d Youth Care, for h er additional support and encouragem ent. To Marie H oskins an d Theresa Van Domselaar, m y colleagues and fellow students, I w o u ld like to say a special thank you for their help w ith the final preparations for m y defense. To m y partner Stan Olsen, I would like to say a heartfelt th an k you for his countless hours of practical support. Every dinner he cooked and every task he took upon him self in order to leave m e free to stu d y and w rite bro u g h t me closer to the desired end. To M ary Alford, who m ad e this w ork possible by supporting the notion of research before action, I offer my deepest gratitude. W ithout her vision, this w ork could not have b een done.
V.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY... 1
Situating the In q u iry ... 1
An O verview of Recent Views of Violence in Schools... 3
Emerging trends... 5
Females and Violence in Schools... ...7
CHAPTER TWO - A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE... 11
Exploring Theories of Female Crime and D elinquency... 11
M ainstream Theories of Crime and D elinquency...11
Strain theories of crime and delinquency... 12
Differential association theories of crime and delinquency...16
Social control theories of crime and delinquency... 17
Labeling theories...20
Sum m ary... ... 21
A Brief H istory of Theories of Female Crime and D elinquency...22
Sex based theories of female crime and delinquency... 23
G ender role theories of female crime and delinquency... 25
OVERVIEW OF ADMISSIONS TO CORRECTIONS FROM APRIL 1986 TO APRIL 1993,... 28
"Masculinization" theories of female crime and delinquency... ... 30
VI.
Filling the gap ... ... 38
CHAPTER THREE - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY... 43
Com ing to G rips W ith M ethod... 43
Introduction to Choosing a M ode of In q u iry ... 43
A Brief Overview of Ethnography... 46
The Epistemological A ssum ptions and Com m itm ents of E th n o g rap h y ... 48
The naturalistic-ecological assum ption... 49
The qualitative-phenom enological assu m p tio n ...49
The achievem ent of dynam ic tension in assum ptions... 50
The subjectivity-objectivity dim ension... 51
The inductive-deductive dim ension... 54
The generative-verification dim ension... 55
The construction-enum eration d im en sio n ...56
A C oncluding Overview of My Epistemological Stance... 56
The Theoretical U nderpinnings of Ethnography... 57
O How I p roceeded... 64
O bservation... 64
P articipant-observation ... 66
In te rv ie w in g ... 73
CHAPTER FOUR - THE FINDINGS OF THIS STUDY THE LIVES OF THE KEY INFORMANTS,... 79
The Key Inform ants...79
Finding the Key Inform ants...79
M eeting Each in T urn...80
VI I . M arilee... 82 M olly...84 M ary... .. 86 Linda... 88 Jenny...89
The Key Inform ants' Stories... 92
Sally's Story... 92 M arilee's S to ry ... 122 Molly's Story... 136 M ary's Story... 156 Linda's Story... 187 Jenny's Story... 202
CHAPTER FTVE - MAKING SENSE... 226
M aking Sense A Sum m ary of the Key Inform ants’ Perceptions and Interpretations of Self and W orld and the Relationship of This to Existing T heory... 226
The Dynam ics of the Families of the Six Key Inform ants 226 Experiences of Self... ..238
Friends and F riendship... 249
Social A ctivities... 251
Violence... 253
Violence in Schools... 261
F urther D im ensions of V iolence... 263
W hat the Key inform ants W an t... 265
My O w n U nderstanding of W hat the Key Inform ants H ave Told Me... ... 269
V I I I .
H ow W hat I H ave Found Ties In W ith Previous
Research and the Implications of T h is... 271
R eferences... 276
APPENDIX I ... ...288
CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
W e m ust say in all honesty that the research scholar in the social sciences w ho undertakes to study a given sphere of social life that he does n ot know first hand will fashion a picture of that sphere in terms of pre-established images ( H erbert Blumer, 1969, p. 36).
Situating the Inquiry
I initially becam e interested in conducting this inquiry into violence am ong adolescent school girls while w orking as a consultant for a local school district, w hich I have been doing since the fall of 1990. While conducting w orkshops on learning and teaching styles, I was struck by the num ber of tim es that teachers bro u g h t violence in schools into our discussions.
As tim e w ent on, m ore and m ore teachers began to talk about an increase in aggressive and violent behaviour. Teachers and school board personnel, some of w ho w ere also attending the w orkshops, w ere reporting gang fighting, d ru g use, vigilantism and extortion am ong students, along w ith w hat they described as a definite increase in intim idating behaviour tow ards adults.
While educators and adm inistrators grappled v rith these difficulties on the froni lines, the local press was also reporting incidents of violence
involving adolescents. According to new spaper articles, students in local schools are carrying w eapons (mostly knives, but in one case a starter pistol). They are ganging u p on one another in order to steal coveted clothing (in one case a baseball cap, in other cases brand nam e sneakers and jackets bearing the em blem s of professional sports teams), They are also involved in crime in greater num bers than previously reported (lim es Colonist, February 28, M arch 21, A pril 13, 1993). For a time, banner headlines were feeding the
n otion th at violence am ong adolescents in our com m unity is reaching crisis pro p o rtio n s.
The teachers I had contact w ith, while not suggesting that a crisis was im m inent, w ere never-the-less visibly alarm ed. Task forces w ere called together an d effective m odes of intervention were sought. Because of m y involvem ent w ith the district and m y connection to the field of Child and Youth Care, m y opinion w as also asked. W hat struck m e at that time, was th a t I knew no m ore about the problem than anyone else did, and that w e all knew only w hat w e had either heard, or in some cases personally witnessed. N o one h a d an overall grasp of the problem , although everyone h ad in one w ay or another been touched by it.
M y response to the situation w as to ask for m ore inform ation and to suggest th at intervention m ight be prem ature if none of us actually
u n d ersto o d the problem of school-based adolescent violence or the conditions w hich w ere contributing to w hat appeared to be rapid increase in the
incidence and of such behaviour. Because of my suggestion, I was invited to research the nature and incidence of the violence in order to provide a realistic an d concrete understanding of the extent of the problem in the junior secondary schools w here m ost of this w as and still is taking place. W hen I began this process by holding a series of m eetings w ith the district's Director of Instruction, it became clear that not only w ere w e talking about violence am ong the studen* body in a general sense, w e w ere also talking ab o u t a very particular group of perpetrators-fem ale adolescents. Girls, who typically have very low involvem ent in violent behaviour and w ho are m ost often seen as the victims of violence rather than those w ho carry it out
(Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 1992), w ere being reported as participating in every kind of aggressive act that had been described.
As I w orked tow ards form ulating m y inqui ' >elt p u lled in two directions. On the one han d /1 felt some urgency w ith regard to w hat w as em erging as a serious and escalating problem, and I w anted to do w hat I could to assist school personnel w ith the design and im plem entation of well-
grounded intervention and prevention program s. O n the other hand, I felt hesitant about leaping into intervention w ithout first learning w hat I could about how other concerned researchers and field w orkers h ad approached the problem. I w as also interested in understanding the w ay in w hich violence w as being enacted at a local level and how the girls them selves m ade sense of their participation in violence. I handled my dilem m a by tu rning first to existing literature on the topic in order to inform myself of current thinking an d current trends, and to help me choose the kind of research design which w ould assist me w ith gaining insight into the life w orlds and practices of others. As I turned to existing research, I discovered the following:
An O verview of Recent Views of Violence in Schools In C anada and the U nited States, youth violence, and violence in schools have been the object of intense m edia attention in recent years. This topic has been w idely discussed in new spapers, magazines, learned journals a n d books an d displayed on television (both commercial and public) and debated on radio talk shows, as well being m ade the focus of academic and com m unity conferences. O n a purely personal note, since entering into the fray and announcing myself as a scholar in the field of adolescent females and violence in schools in September of 1993,1 have been interview ed for radio four times, w ritten about in the new spaper four times and been the subject of tw o journal articles. I have also been invited to participate in ten conferences, given presentations a t six schools, and attended an eleventh conference at w hich I did not speak. Youth violence is "hot,” and it appears to be
com m only accepted as fact that youth violence, and violence in schools is on the rise at an unprecedented rate, and that this violence is m ore intense, vicious and deadly than ever before.
In an article entitled It's a Jungle O ut There, (Ham ilton, 1993) the author states categodcal.lv th at "few young people today have not experienced som e form of violence either first-hand or involving a friend. Bullying, sexual assault, and violent incidents involving children and teens are happening m ore and m ore frequently across Cane da, in big cities and smal tow ns, in parks and shopping centers, in private and public schools" (p.A2). She supports her assertion w ith data from Statistics Canada and an Ontario Teachers Federation survey conducted in 1991. Bibby and Posterski (1992), suggest in their Teen Trends report on Canadian youth, th at talking w ith educators convinced them "that violence in the school environm ent is increasing" (p. 228). In their report on Student Perceptions o f Violence, conducted in two southern Ontario school districts, Ryan, M athew s and Banner (1993), state that, "There can be little doubt that we have a problem w ith violence in schools in this country." In his descriptive stu d y entitled Youth Gangs on Youth Gangs, a study of in gangs in M etropolitan Toronto a n d southern O ntario, M athews (1994), points out that "at a m inim um , there has been an increase over the past few years in the level of violence used by youth, particularly g an g s/g ro u p s and especially in or around schools" (p. 9). The British Co’um bia Teachers' Federation Task Force on Violence in Schools Final Report (January 1994) states that "Teachers are observing and experiencing an increase in aggression am ong their students" (p. 3),
A m erican educators agree w ith their Canadian counterparts. In an article entitled The Violence at Your Door, which distils the findings of their
national survey of school executives, Boothe, Bradley, Flick, Keough and Kirk
(1993) state that "violence has increased m arkedly in US. public schools in the last five years" (p. 16).
Em erging trends
Sources consulted report the following:
From It's a Jungle O ut There (Hamilton, 1993, p. A2)
• Statistics from 13 police departm ents across Canada show that the num ber of youths charged w ith violent crimes has increased 34% in the past four years [1988-9?].
From Teen Trends (Bibby and Posterski, 1992, p. 228;
• W hen today's teens w ere asked if they knew anyone w ho h ad been the subject to an attack of v i o l e n c e , apart from w hat they h ad read in the p ap er or seen on TV, the percentages were as follows:
Physically attacked at school 45%
Victim of gang violence 35%
Physically abused at hom e 42%
Sexually abused 39%
From Student Perceptions o f Violence, (Banner, M athew s & Ryan, 1993, pp. 105-108).
Students participating in a survey of student perceptions and self- reported participation rates of violence in two southern O ntario schools suggest that:
• D epending on the school, between 60% and 82% of students did not feel safe at school.
• There w ere no rem arkable differences betw een m ale and female perceptions of violence.
• M ore than 8 out of 10 students [in both schools] h ad been exposed to violence.
• Overall, m ales and females reported similar rates of victimisation. • [However,] male students reported that they w ere m ore likely to be the victims of physically violent crimes [that is, beatings] w hile female students reported that they w ere more likely to be victims of sexual assault and less physically violent crimes [such as threats, intim idation and bullying].
» The three m ost com m on [violent] offences students reported
com m itting in both schools w ere verbally h arassin g /b u lly in g someone, threatening som eone or beating up a fellow student.
• [According to the researchers,] the extent of fem ale-perpetrated violence w as a surprise finding in the study. In one school, female students reported that they were as likely as m ale students to rob another student... and m ore likely than male students to threaten or h u rt som eone w ith a weapon. [In another school,] older females (grade 9) w ere m ore likely than males, to be perpetrators of m ost categories of violent offences w ith the exception of sexual violence.
From Youth Gangs on Youth Gangs (Mathews, 1994, pp. 9-10)
Trends that appear to be em erging in M etropolitan Toronto and southern O ntario are:
• Y outh involved in violence are getting younger w ith students in grades 1 and 2 getting involved in violent activity.
• There is evidence of the presence of guns and gun replicas in school violence.
• There is a reported increase in verbal and physical insults on teachers and in vandalism of teachers' cars and other property.
• Individual school yard bullies are being replaced by groups of youth w ho com m it assaults, thefts and swarm ings.
• extortion a n d d ru g dealing are becom ing routine in some schools in som e com m unities.
• Intruders have become a serious problem for m any schools.
• Girls are becom ing m ore directly involved in assault and the use of w eapons, as individuals and in groups or gangs, though m ost attacks are against other individual girls or groups of girls.
From the British C olum bia Teachers' Federation Task Force on Violence in Schools Final Report (1994, pp. 5-6)
Trends that appear to be em erging in British Colum bia schools are: • Students appear to be aggressive at a younger age w ith teachers raj: orting biting, kicking or punching of teachers and fellow students and the use of extremely violent language am ong students as young as age five.
• Violence am ong students appears to be more severe [i.e., teachers are reporting the perception that violence is m ore severe in th at this appears to be so to them]. Students appear to be resorting to violence m uch m ore quickly. One-to-one fighting appears to be giving w ay to
group attacks and ganging up on individuals appears to be on the increase. The "end points " in fighting appear to be changing in that the fighting continues even after the victim is dow n. R andom acts of violence appear to be on the increase.
• W eapons appear to be more common, w ith knives and razors being the w eapon of choice.
• Verbal abuse appears to be on the increase and respect for authority appears to be on the decrease.
• Teachers rep o rt noticing adolescent females as perpetrators of intim idation, harassm ent and physical assault
From The Violence at Your Door (Boothe, Bradley, Flick, K eough & Kirk, 1993, pp. 18-22)
According to a survey of school adm inistrators in the U nited States conducted in 1993 an d asking about trends in the last five years,
• N early half (46%) of the school executives who responded to the survey reported that the num ber of acts of violence com m itted by students has grown.
• Two thirds predicted an increase in school violence d uring the next two years.
• Fifty-four percent of m iddle school principals and fifty-six percent of elem entary school principals acknow ledged an increase in the num ber of violent acts in their schools or districts com pared w ith five years ago.
• The highest rates of increased acts of school violence reported were am ong girls fighting.
Each of the sources consulted supported the notion that violence in schools has increased over the past few years. Four of them specifically m entioned an increase in violence am ong girls. While the rep o rted increase in violence overall has m ade violence in schools a "hot" topic, the
involvem ent of fem ales has m ade it even hotter. Fem ales and Violence in Schools
"Hot" topics usually generate a great deal of literature, therefore, an extensive literature search w as undertaken in order to investigate this topic further. W ith regard to girls an d violence in schools how ever, little was found. U sing com puterised data bases (ERIC, Sociofile, Psychlits and Social
W ork A bstracts) as resources, and choosing "female, school, violence," and "female, delinquency, violence and aggression" and "female, developm ent, aggression and violence" as key w ords and going back twelve years to 1982, 202 articles w ere found. Of these, 68 w ere judged to be relevant to the study of school life and gender because they focused on girls as perpetrators rather th an as victims. H ow ever, of these 68, none actually concerned them selves specifically w ith girls w ho are violent in schools. The vast m ajority of the articles focused on female delinquency outside schools, and took up their stu d y of females w hen they were already for the m ost part, lost to the regular school system . In the school based literature on violence, girls seem to be largely absent.
F urther attem pts w ere m ade to uncover literature on violent girls w ithin recently published m aterial o n violence in schools, b u t other than the articles m entioned above, w hich indicated that females w ere also participants in violence in schools, nothing w as found. In fact, a major trend in the literature for both m ales and females and violence in schools w as not to research the violence in order to better understand it, b u t rather to offer prescriptions against it. For example, in their handbook Leading the W ay to Violence-Free Schools (October 1993) the British Colum bia School Trustees A ssociation/B ritish Colum bia Teachers' Federation provide 64 articles, b u t only 4 of these are focused on research on violence, w hile 60 focused on various aspects of prevention and intervention. The 4 research-based articles, p lu s 2 governm ent publications w hich were also published in the fall of 1993 in O ntario, w ere the 6 studies consulted in the Overview and the Em erging Trends sections of this paper. The bibliographies of these six studies w ere consulted in the hope that they m ight reveal further sources w ith regard to girls and violence in schools; they how ever, offered nothing more.
This absence of literature on girls is n o t a new phenom enon. It has been investigated and discussed by feminist scholars (Brown & Gilligan, 1992; Gilligan,, Lyons & H anm er, 1990; Hancock, 1989) in the field of m oral and intellectual developm ent. Yet w hile m uch has been w ritten about w om en since the advent of the w om en's m ovem ent in the 1970's, w ork w hich focuses on girls and specifically girls as perpetrators of aggression and
violence is limited. Chesney-Lind and Randall Shelden (1992) in their book, Girls, Delinquency and Juvenile Justice, the first book devoted solely to the topic of girls and the juvenile justice system published in the U nited States, state that, "For m ost people delinquency is an almost exclusively m ale activity" (p. xi). The authors go on to point out that as a consequence, very little has been w ritten about deviant girls' lives and problem s. W here girls are concerned, no m atter w hat the topic, this is generally the case. In Canada, only one book entitled No Kidding: Inside the World o f Teenage Girls,
(Kostash, 1987) has been w ritten about girls and their experiences. While focusing on the unexplored territory of the lives of adolescent girls, this book does not how ever, discuss aggressive and violent girls or girls and
delinquency. As Chesney-Lind and Koroki (1985) point o ut in a report
w ritten for the Youth and D evelopm ent Research Center at the U niversity of Hawaii:
Female juvenile offenders have traditionally been ignored by those building theories of delinquent behaviour. As a consequence,
although there are a large num ber of books and articles on crime and the crim inal justice system, m ost concern them selves w ith the m ale criminal. The unique experience of the female juvenile offender has, until recently, eluded serious examination, and w as at best, dealt w ith as a special category of [male] delinquent behaviour (p. 1).
If one looks outside ' V*e field of juvenile delinquency an d w ishes to inquire into aggression and violence am ong girls, little has been w ritten. Females are
ignored largely because relative to males, their participation in deviant
behaviour, especially aggressive and violent deviant behaviour, is low. Until th e rise of fem inist scholarship, it w as sim ply taken for granted that theories w hich explained m ale deviance* w ere adequate to explain female deviance. G iven the m arked lack of literature on this topic, in part, the purpose of this stu d y is to analyse w hat does exist, identify the gaps and contribute new know ledge to w h at appears to be a relatively new academic field.
W hat follows in the next chapter is a synopsis of the literature reviews of theories about female crime and delinquency, produced by Chesney-Lind & Koroki (1985), Ronald M. Berger (1989) and Chesney-Lind & Shelden (1992). These review s surveyed close to 200 articles, reports and books produced betw een 1985 and 1991. O ther sources w ere also consulted, notably W arren, (1981) and Flowers, (1990), b ut for the m ost part, this synopsis is guided by the w ork of Chesney-Lind and her associates, and Berger. This chapter also explores the im plications of current research on female adolescent crime and delinquency and addresses w hat can be done w ith regard to the above
identified gap.
* As Flowers, (1990) points out, no uniform definition of adolescent deviance or antisocial behaviour exists. The term is freely used, and rarely defined, A dictionary definition (Oxford, 1995) describes deviance as "deviating from what is accepted as normal or usual" (p.220). Kelly (1993) suggests that all categories of deviance emerge out the interaction between people and depend on the existence of agreed upon laws or mores, the designation or viewing of certain behaviours as violating those laws or mores, and the possibility of enforcement of said laws and mores. As well, the term deviance seems to be interchangeable with the term delinquency, as exemplified by the definition of this term offered in Atwater (1992), which states that delinquency is "socially deviant behaviour by youth under the legal age" (p.429). A final problem compounds the difficulty of providing a definition for deviance/delinquency for minors: their acts can be labelled deviant if they commit criminal acts and if they commit acts that would otherwise be considered legal and acceptable if for adults. In the end, deviance is an elastic term which depends upon prevailing and sometimes loosely agreed upon social trends in an interplay with more tightly codified laws, Even where the law is concerned there is room for interpretation, because distinctions are made in law between status offences and criminal offences. While an adolescent is generally considered delinquent if she or he has been processed in juvenile court, the actual label of delinquent is applied more to those who have been
convicted of criminal rather than status offences (Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 1992; Flowers, 1990),
CHAPTER TWO - A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Prior to the 1970's researchers treated females as m arginal to the stu d y of juvenile delinquency. Albert Cohen (1955), for example, w ell know n for his study of m ale delinquent subcultures, paid only token attention to females, proposing that m ale delinquency w as "versatile," w hile female delinquency w as "specialized" an d limited to "sexual crimes" (p. 144). H e concluded that girls becam e delinquent because they w ere preoccupied w ith establishing sexual relationships w ith boys ( Berger, 1989, p. 375).
Exploring Theories of Female Crime and Delinquency M ainstream Theories of Crime and Delinquency
Early theorists of crime and delinquency included P ark & Burgess (1925), w ho studied ecological patterns of crime and delinquency and the effects of social disorganisation and deprivation on crime; Thrasher (1927), w ho studied juvenile gangs; an d Shaw & McKay (1931,1942), w hose w ork further investigated the effects of social factors on crime and delinquency. W hile these theorists dem onstrated the pow erful effects of social
disorganization, the breakdow n of social conventional structures and social class on crime and delinquency, for the m ost part, they overlooked females and concentrated on the experiences of males. Focusing on inner city crime, these researchers w ere able to show that comm unities w hich are largely populated by transitory, economically underprivileged people com ing from sim ilar ethnic backgrounds and are characterised by a collective inability to m ake provisions, problem solve and m aintain social control through the adequate use of organisations, groups and individuals w ithin those com m unities, invariably give rise to disproportionately high crime rates. Their w ork w as sem inal for others, notably those w ho developed "strain" theories of delinquency and crime, theories w hich concentrate on the explanatory pow er of frustrated social opportunity and its relationship to crim e.
Strain theories of crime and delinquency.
Building o n Emile D urkheim 's (1933) notion of anomie, described in W ebster (1975) as "lawlessness: a state of society in which norm ative
standards of conduct and belief are weak or lacking," (p. 47), and described by Chesney-Lind & Shelden (1992) as a "breakdown in m oral ties, rules, custom s, law s and the like th at occurs in the wake of rapid social change" (p. 64), strain theorists beginning w ith Robert M erton (1938), developed theories w hich "explain juvenile delinquency as a response of adolescents to their lack of socially approved opportunities" (Flowers, 1990, p. 127). M erton, focusing on males, noted th at unequal opportunity and limited access to legitim ate m eans for achieving culturally defined m ale success goals created "strain" or
pressures w hich p u sh ed those w ho experience this into finding alternate m eans to achieve these desired ends. M erton postulated five alternate adaptive responses to anom ie and strain: (1) becoming a conformist, w hich im plied accepting culturally defined success goals and m eans, (2) becom ing an innovator, w hich im plied accepting com m only held success goals w hile replacing socially sanctioned m eans w ith deviant means, (3) becom ing a retreatist, w hich im plied giving u p and rejecting both goals and m eans, (4) becom ing a ritualist, w hich implied blindly following the m eans w hile
rejecting the goals, th u s following rules only for rule's sake w ith o u t attaining the goal, an d (5) becom ing a rebel, w hich im plied redefining success goals in one's ow n term s a n d inventing one's ow n m eans for attaining them
(Chesney-Lind Shelden, 1992; and Flowers, 1990).
Generally, it has been reasoned that the m ost com m on adaptive responses used by delinquents are innovation expressed through the use of illegal m eans such as theft, fraud and robbery to achieve m aterial gain; retreatism, the flight to drugs and alcohol as a means of escape from
frustration; and rebellion, the rejection of conventional authority through aggressive and hostile behaviour (Flowers/ 1990).
W hile M erton's theories m ay have had explanatory p ow er for males, they do n o t hold for females, especially in the late tw entieth century. Given th at it can be argued that females in great num bers now have success goals sim ilar to those of m en (Adler, 1975; Morris, 1987; Simon, 1975), and given also th at w om en's opportunities are far m ore limited than those of m en (Faludi, 1991), it w o uld be expected according to Merton, that wom en w ould experience m ore strain than men, and w ould therefore commit m ore crime th a n men. Thus, w hile it m ay be true that w om en experience m ore strain th an m en, they are not com m itting m ore crime than men.
Theories w hich followed on M erton's, continued to explore the links betw een strain, social class and gender and crime and delinquency. Am ong these are A lbert Cohen's (1955) theories of delinquent subculture w hich saw delinquency as a phenom enon brought about by the inability of low er class m ales to achieve recognition and success com m ensurate w ith the standards set by the dom inant m iddle class.
C entral to Cohen's thesis is the notion that problem s of adjustm ent are different for males and females because each individual's behaviour m ust first of all be in keeping w ith his or her identity as male or female. Thus females m u st preserve their frail and dependent state in order to affirm them selves as fem inine and as such, are not inclined tow ards crime and delinquency, w hile m ales m ust preserve their independent an d dom inant state in o rd er to affirm themselves as masculine, and are therefore, w hen thw arted, m ore inclined to delinquency, For Cohen, delinquency is a male solution to a male problem.
...both the respectable m iddle class pattern [for success, i.e., getting an education an d success in the business world] and the delinquent response are characteristically masculine. A lthough they differ dram atically, to be sure, they have som ething in common. This com m on elem ent is suggested by the w ords "achievement," "daring," "active mastery," "pursuit." Every one of these term s has, to be sure, a different tw ist of em phasis or direction w hen com bined w ith the different values orientations of the respectable and the delinquent culture...In b o th cultures how ever, one m easures his m anhood by com paring his performance, w hether it be in stealing, fighting, athletic contests, w ork or intellectual achievement, against those of his ow n sex (1955, p. 139).
Cohen suggested that because m ale members of the low er class w ere for the m ost p a rt blocked from ever achieving success as defined by the m iddle class, they instead inverted middle-class standards, and developed a reactive and rebellious subculture. In redefining the rules for success in a w ay that m ade it attainable for them they established themselves as "rogue males," "untram m elled in their m asculinity" and therefore free from the dom ination of others (p.140). Cohen described the values and standards of this subculture as a "short ru n hedonism " th at is "malicious, negativistic and non
utilitarian," b u t at least left one thing in no doubt, for "however it m ay be condem ned by others on m oral grounds, [this behaviour] has at least one virtue: it incontestably confirms, in the eyes of all concerned, his [the rogue male's] essential m asculinity" (1955, pp. 139-140).
Cohen's firm claim, that a defence of masculinity is at the bottom of crime and delinquency, leaves little room for the form ation of an
und erstan d in g of female crime and delinquency. This gap in applicability does not ap p ear to have deterred others from continuing to build theory based exclusively u p o n male experience. Miller (1958) further explored conflict in class standards and values, and argued, m uch like Cohen, that a low er class m ale focus on trouble, toughness, sm artness, excitement, fate and autonom y ultim ately leads to engagem ent in delinquency and crime. H e
further suggested that this is often the outcom e of males seeking the com pany of other males in street corner groups w hich become gangs. This, Miller (1958) argued, w as the result of the absence of fathers in lower class households and the inability of m others to provide adequate m ale role m odels, thus forcing young males to learn male behaviour from their peers.
Clow ard & O hlin (1960), concentrating once m ore on males and
delinquent gangs, elaborated on M iller's (1958) notions and argued that while low er class males indeed had far less opportunity to achieve success through legitim ate m eans an d therefore experienced intense frustration, they still had am ple access to illegitimate means (especially because of their propensity to congregate in gangs) which they frequently exercised. Like Miller, Clow ard & O hlin suggested th at the underlying cause for all this could be found in the absence of males in the life w orld of the lower class adolescent. Lower class m ales,
engulfed by a feminine w orld and uncertain of their ow n
identification,..protest against femininity...in the form of robust aggressive behaviour, and even malicious, irresponsible, and
destructive acts. Such acts evoke m aternal disapproval and thus come to stand for independence and m asculinity to rebellious adolescents" (Cloward & Ohlin, 1960, p. 49, in Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 1992, p. 67). Q uite apart from the fact that Miller (1958) and Clow ard & O hlin (1960) offer nothing to females and indeed in some ways, seem to hold females responsible for male deviance, they also overlook the fact that w hile lower class, or m ore appropriately working class, males are disproportionately represented in index crime statistics, the vast majority of w orking class males are not before the courts for delinquency and crime. According to Flowers (1990), such theories have also been w idely criticised for m aking the
assum ption that low er class males autom atically wish to adopt m iddle class norm s of m aterial success, and educational and occupational achievem ent in
the first place, and for overlooking that fact that even those w ho becom e gang m em bers for the m ost p art eventually abandon their delinquent lifestyle and lead conventional ad u lt lives.
Differential association theories of crime and delinquency.
N oting that delinquents appear to gather in groups and gangs, and noting also that those w ho engage in crime appear to have m ore interaction w ith others w ho engage in crime th an those who do not, Sutherland (1939) an d others (Sutherland and Cressey, 1978) argued that deviant behaviour, like o ther h u m an behaviour, is learned. Thus, close association w ith others engaging in such behaviour provides learning opportunities in w hich the techniques, m otives and values w hich facilitate criminal behaviour are transm itted. A ccording to Flowers (1990) differential association theory suggests that:
the probability of delinquent behaviour varies directly w ith the
priority, frequency, duration, and intensity of a person's contacts w ith p attern s of delinquent behaviour, and inversely w ith their non deviant contacts. Interaction w ith anti-social elem ents tends to take place m ore often w hen an individual's perception of their
circum stances is supportive to violations of the law ...A dditionally, the theory contends that delinquency is a social rather than anti-social behavioural pattern. Thus, if m ost of a juvenile's interaction is w ith people who frequently violate the law and who express beliefs th at seek to justify their behaviour, then the juvenile has a greater cnance of becom ing delinquent or criminal than one w ho interacts w ith persons w ho do not violate the law or disapprov e of such violations (p. 130). Sutherland, w hile not confining himself to a study of the low er classes in that he included w hite collar crime and professional theft in his work, did how ever focus only on males. Despite this, Sutherland's differential
association theories hold some prom ise w ith regard to females, given that recent research indicates that females w ho have frequent contact w ith deviant females ap p ear to engage in deviant behaviour to a greater degree than those
w ho do n ot (Giordano & Cernkovich, 1979). As was pointed o ut by Giordano, Cernkovich & P ugh (1986; see also Morash, 1986 and Singer & Levine),
females w ho become involved in deviance and delinquency, w hile still participating at low er rates than males never-the-less
both adopt a set of attitudes in which they [see] delinquency as appropriate, possible, or desirable...and a friendship style in which they... encourage each other as a group to act on these orientations, (p. 1,194,1988),
Social control theories of crime and delinquency.
Also prom ising from the point of view of females, are social control theories of crime and delinquency w hich focus on the capacity of all hum an b eirg s to engage in deviance and crime (although most researchers who conceptualised them still focused on males as research subjects). For social control theorists, crime and delinquency have less to do w ith m otivation to deviate from the norm and m ore to do w ith the presence or absence of conditions favourable to breaking the law. Social control theorists explored personal control or inner containm ent of deviant urges gro u n d ed in a positive self-concept (Reiss, 1951; Reckless, 1961), effective family and other external social controls of deviance grounded in a positive social structure (Nye, 1958; Toby, 1957), and the absence or presence of a social bond (Hirschi, 1969). Both Chesney-Lind and Shelden, and Flowers select H irschi as offering the m ost influential of the social control theories largely because his theory th at individuals w ith strong bonds to social institutions like family and school are m ore likely to have lower rates of crime and delinquency, have been in p a rt borne o ut not only by Hirschi's o w n research, b u t also by that of others.
Hirschi (1969) suggested that the social bond -- that which keeps one's deviance in check - is m ade up of four components: (1) attachment, largely
em otional, to family, friends, peers and institutions like school;
(2) co,nm :hnent, or one’s personal stake or investm ent in conform ity based in. w hat ovte would stand to lose if one did engage in crime and delinquency; (3) im v tv e m e n t, or one’s participation in legitim ately sanctioned activities like school, work, and non-deviant forms of recreation; and (4) belief, or one’s acceptance that socially sanctioned moral values provide the correct
foundation upon w hich to build one’s own standards. Hirschi (once m ore w orking exclusively w ith boys) found that attachm ent, com m itm ent and belief w ere the best predictors of delinquency or lack of it, while involvem ent h ad a lesser effect (Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 1992).
H irschi’s notions that social bonds and the social controls exerted by these bonds had a direct effect on the level of an individual’s participation in delinquency and crim e generated much further research, including research on females. Jensen & Eve (1976) and Cernkovich & G iordano (1987) found th at attachm ent to conventional others and a belief in the legitimacy of rules had predictive pow er for both male and female delinquency. Cernkovich and G iordano also found that lower rates of female delinquency could be partly explained by higher levels of parental supervision and intimate
com m unication betw een parents and daughters.
H agan, Simpson & Gillis (1987) and Hagan (1988,1990) took up the theory of social control and argued that social control or constraint varies across gender, w ith females experiencing more social control especially in m ore traditional, patriarchal families. Hagen, Simpson & Gillis (1987) define the "ideal-type patriarchal farniiy" as including "a husband who is em ployed in an authority position and a wife w ho is not em ployed outside the home" (p. 791). They define the "ideal-type egalitarian family" as including a m other and father w ho are both em ployed in authority positions outside the hom e
(p. 792). They also define single parent households headed by w om en as "a special kind of egalitarian family" which, like other egalitarian households, experiences "freedom from m ale domination" (p. 793).
It is their contention that w henever males are dom inant, as they m ost often are in the ideal-type patriarchal household, m others are charged w ith th e task of child-rearing as a result of a division of labour along gender lines. This leaves fathers in control of production (that is, participation in the w ork force) and m others in control of consum ption and dom estic labour and the "day-to-day control of their children, especially their daughters" (p. 792). According to H agan et al., such families reproduce the gender divisions they m odel and enforce and allow m uch less risk-taking behaviour in their daughters. As a result, these families produce lower deviance and
delinquency rates for females than for males, while ideal type egalitarian families (which allow m ore risk taking in their female m em bers) produce higher delinquency rates for females, rates which tend to m ove tow ards a closing of the gender gap. Therefore, according to H agan et al., the m ore traditional the family, the lower the female delinquency rate.
Their argum ent rests upon tw o points: one w hich suggests that m others w orking outside the hom e (especially in positions of authority) constitute a move aw ay from patriarchy tow ards a m ore egalitarian system, a n d the second w hich suggests that such a move tow ards egalitarianism is linked w ith higher delinquency rates in girls. Therefore, for H agen et al., the greater the control of m en over w om en and girls in families, the lower the risk for female adolescent deviance. W hen this is not the case, and adult w om en in families take up m ore equal pow er w ith males, or find themselves in the position of being single heads of households, girls in these families
become m ore like boys and as a consequence also take m ore risks, including deviant risks.
In effect, H agan and his associates appear to be suggesting that w orking m others are contributing to higher delinquency in their daughters. But, as Chesney-Lind & Shelden (1992) point out:
no evidence suggests that as w om en's labor force participation has increased, girl’s delinquency has increased. Indeed, d uring the past decade, w hen w om en's labor force participation an d the n um ber of fem ale-headed household soared, aggregate female delinquency m easured both by self-report and official statistics either declined or rem ained stable (Ageton, 1983; Chilton & Datesm an, 1987, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1986) (pp. 96-97).
Therefore, w hile H agan and his associates may be correct in pointing out that gender an d patriarchy are im portant w ith regard to the shaping of both m ale a n d female behaviour, their assum ption that m others w orking outside the hom e leads to increases in female delinquency does not appear to hold. This theory, like others th at will be discussed below, is an exam ple of the kinds of backlash theories th at in effect suggest to w om en that it m ay be better to stay w ith traditional role configurations because in the end, liberation, that is a m ove to w ard the m asculine, carries w ith it a price that m ay not be w orth paying.
Labeling theories.
O ne final m ainstream theoretical approach w hich m ay shed light on female crim e and delinquency is labeling theory. Labeling theory concerns itself prim arily w ith the selective social construction of certain behaviours as crim inal an d delinquent rather than w ith original causes of behaviour.
Schur (1972) suggests that
H u m an behaviour is deviant to the extent that it com es to be view ed as involving a personally discreditable departure from a group's
norm ative expectation and it elicits interpersonal an d collective
reactions th at serve to isolate, treat and correct or p u n ish individuals engaged in such behaviour (p. 21).
Therefore, deviance becomes the creation of those in society called "moral entrepreneurs" by Becker (1963), w ho designate deviance through the creation of certain rules and standards which, w hen broken, constitute deviance. Thus deviance is n o t characterised by certain kinds of behaviour, b u t is rather the consequence of the attachm ent of the label of deviance and its differential application to certain kinds of behaviour.
This theory helps us to understand the social construction of certain behaviours as deviant for females although they are n ot constituted as such for males. A prim e example of this is the propensity for juvenile justice systems to characterise w om en and girls as deviant based u p o n the perception th at they are engaged in prom iscuous sexual behaviour and to incarcerate them for status offences, such as running away and curfew violations because they are designated as "unmanageable" and "being beyond control," a
standard th a t is rarely applied to m en and boys (Chesney-Lind & Shelden 1992). Further, labeling theorists, unlike other m ainstream theorists thus far, d id in fact include w om en in their theorising. Schur (1984) extended his theories to w om en and argued that
W om en's pow erlessness has resulted in an extensive array of labels being used against them to characterise them as deviant and to devalue
and objectify the very condition of w om anhood itself (Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 1992, p. 70)
S u m m ary
Few m ainstream sociological theories appear to have concerned them selves w ith female crime and delinquency. C ontent w ith the
assum ption th at crim e and delinquency were m asculine form s of behaviour an d bolstered in th at assum ption by statistical evidence of the overw helm ing
participation of m ales in such behaviour, the majority of theorists, w ho w ere them selves m ale, focused on males. Those who did concern them selves w ith female participation in crime and delinquency still grounded m ost of their thinking in m ale experience.
A Brief H istory of Theories of Female Crime and Delinquency
As outlined above, m ost researchers treated females as m arginal to the study of crime an d delinquency prior to the 1970's. In p art at least, interest in female crime and delinquency arose as the result of tw o forces: (1) the
involvem ent of m ore w om en in scholarship and (2) the possibility th at female crime and delinquency m ay be on the rise. A careful reading of w ork focusing on females, reveals that m ost research on female crime and
delinquency has been geared tow ard answ ering the question, "why do so few girls and w om en engage in crime and delinquency?" rather than tow ard answ ering the question, "w h y do girls and wom en engage in crime and delinquency?" W hen females are considered, the focus is generally on the gender gap and the proportionally low participation of females, rather than o n either the conditions or the m otivations w hich m ove females tow ard crime and delinquency.
Three categories of theory have em erged from the literature: (1) those w hich explain the gender gap in crime and delinquency as given in the
biological differences betw een the sexes and explain female deviance in term s of biologically based sexual problems; (2) those which explain the gender gap in crime an d delinquency as derived from differences in gender role
socialisation and explain the kinds of deviance females do participate in as based on their gender roles; and (3) those which accept that female deviance is o n the rise relative to m ales and explain this growing deviance in term s of a "m asculinization" of w om en brought on by w om en's liberation an d the
fem inist m ovem ent. All three categories of theory explain female crime and delinquency as a m ove aw ay from the feminine tow ard the m asculine. Only Chesney-Lind and her colleagues call for a shift aw ay from theories of
delinquency w hich are uncritically grounded in male behaviour. In place of such theories, Chesney-Lind et al. suggest a move tow ard a broader
und erstan d in g of the lives of deviant girls and women. Sex based theories of female crime and delinquency
Early theories of female crime, like early theories of m ale crime, w ere strongly affected by social Darwinism. Biology was destiny, and criminal behaviour w as seen as the result of problem s w ith evolution. Cesare Lombroso, w orking in 1895, explained all criminal elem ents in society as biological throw backs resulting from an arrested evolutionary process. According to Lombroso, females w ere congenitally less inclined tow ards crime than m ales because (a) they h ad evolved less than m ales and w ere therefore naturally m ore childlike, sedentary, w eak and passive, and thus not able to participate in challenging and independent activities like crime; (b) their prim ary functions w ere childbearing and caretaking w hich m ade them unsuited to crim inal activity; and (c) their under-developed intelligence, and their m aternity, piety and weakness tem pered their often jealous and
vengeful n atures and prevented them from behaving like crim inals. Thus, Lombroso reasoned that if wom en did choose to become criminals, it w as largely because they were not possessed of a m aternal instinct and w ere m ost probably degenerate, unw om anly and negatively m asculine in throw back form .
The belief th at biology is destiny, along w ith the notion th at m en and w om en had natu ral roles and true natures outlived Lombroso, although his w ork has by now been for the m ost part, discredited. Otto Pollack, w orking in
the 1950's, an d Cowie, Cowie & Slater w orking in the 1960's, w rote extensively about imbalances in w om en's physiology and sexuality as causative of female crime.
For Pollack (1950) the explanation for the consistently low rates of female crime in relation to higher rates for males, lay in the fact th at w om en w ere naturally m ore deceitful and concealing and could therefore get away w ith far m ore than m en could. H e located this skill in deceit in w om en's sexual passivity and their ability to conceal or m anufacture sexual arousal; som ething w hich m en cannot do. Therefore, w om en's ability to be deceitful coupled w ith the various horm onal imbalances brought about by
m enstruation, m enopause and pregnancy, predisposed w om en tow ards crim inality and at the same tim e provided them w ith the m eans to escape detection an d responsibility for their actions.
For Cowie, Cowie & Slater (1968) differences in m ale and female delinquency w ere largely explained by anatomy. According to Cowie et al. (1968), tw o prim ary forces accounted for nr; le/fem ale differences in deviance: (1) biological, som atic and horm onal differences derived from chrom osom al differences betw een the two sexes, and (2) the natural tim idity and lack of enterprise found in females. If females did get involved in crim inal activity, Cow ie et al. attributed this to an excess of male chromosomes.
The notion th at biological factors exert a strong influence persists am ong some criminologists to the present day. Slade (1984) and Binder, Geis & Bruce (1988), proposed pre-m enstrual syndrom e (PMS) as a cause for female crim inality, although little evidence w as brought to bear in su p p o rt of this claim, and W ilson & H errnstein (1985) once again stated the case for the belief th a t biological factors are determ inant of levels of aggression and differentials in m ale and female law breaking. Gisela Konopka (1966, 1983), w ho broke
broke new ground by being one of the first to go directly to adolescent females in order to form ulate an understanding of their life w orlds, and broke further new ground by em phasising the effects of psychosocial problem s on identity form ation, the changing cultural position of w om en and the sexual double standard on fem ale crime delinquency, none-the-less assum ed th at in the final analysis, girls and w om en w ere largely controlled by biology and
sexuality. As Chesney-Lind & Shelden (1992) point out, Konopka, in noting th at m ost girls come to the attention of the juvenile justice system because of sex-related behaviours, w as convinced that "most female delinquency is either "sexual" or "relational" rather than "criminal" in nature"(p. 61) and therefore requires help w ith sexual adjustm ent
In part, the assum ption m ade by so m any researchers that delinquency in juvenile females is largely sexual delinquency borne of sexual
m aladjustm ent, can be explained by the fact that in the U nited States, the ratio of arrests for prostitution is 50:1 for girls over boys (Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 1992, p.8). N otew orthy as this arrest pattern may be, it m ay in fact reflect not girls' sexual deviance, b u t the American judicial system 's preoccupation w ith girls' sexuality, a preoccupation that in itself reflects the preoccupation of the culture at large ,
G ender role theories of female crime and delinquency.
In contrast to and in protest against biologically based theories of crime, gender role theories of delinquency and crime em erged in the 1950's (Grosser, 1951) and have grow n in strength and num ber to the present day (Balkan and Berger, 1979; H agan, Simpson & Gillis, 1985; Hoffman-Bustamente, 1973; M orris, 1965). Given that males are socialised to be m ore active, aggressive, in d ep en d en t and rew arded for flaunting conventional behaviour, w hile females are socialised to be m ore passive, caring, dependent and rew arded for
engaging in conventional behaviour, (Berger, 1989; Gilligan, 1982; Hoffm an- Bustam ente, 1973) it is reasoned by gender role theorists th at the m ale/fem ale differences in aggression and crime can be accounted for by differences in socialisation.
The pow er of gender role theories lies in the fact th at a look at female involvem ent in delinquency and crime shows clear distinctions w ith regard to the kinds of crimes in which males and females engage. Berger (1989) notes th at "male juveniles have been consistently m ore likely th an females to be arrested for every crime category (except running aw ay and
prostitution)" (p. 378). Citing Federal Bureau of Investigation d ata from 1987, he indicates that
m ale juveniles accounted for 89% of all juvenile arrests for "index" violent crim es (i.e., m urder, non-negligent m anslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault) and 79% of all juvenile arrests for index p ro p erty crim es (i.e., burglary, larceny-theft, m otor vehicle theft, arson) as w ell as 91% of arrests for vandalism and 81% of arrests for disorderly conduct (FBI, 1988) (p. 377).
Chesney-Lind & Shelden tell a similar story using self-report data gathered in the US b y Cernkovich & Giordano (1979). They report that
Boys are m ore likely to report involvem ent in gang fighting, carrying a h id d e n w eapon, strong-arm ing students and others, aggravated assault, hitting students, sexual assault [and sex for money]. Boys are also disproportionately involved in serious property crimes; they are m uch m ore likely to report involvem ent in thefts of m ore than $50 (pp. lb - 17).
A gain, m ales show dom inance in all areas including sex for m oney, a
delin q u en t beh av io u r traditionally considered "feminine". Com parable d ata w ere reported by Figueria-M cDonough, Barton & Sarri (1981), w ho found significant gender differences in theft, vandalism , fraud, serious fighting, carrying w eapons an d prostitution, w ith males reporting their involvem ent at ratios of betw een 3 and 6 to 1 over females.
R eturning to official crime statistics, H indelang, Hirschi & Weis (1981) also reported stable, offence specific, m ale/fem ale differences in US Uniform crime reports from 1960 to 1976, w ith males show ing a distinct dom inance in burglary, w eapons offences, assault, robbery, and auto theft. D ata on
adm issions to corrections gathered in B.C. betw een 1986 and 1993 show s a sim ilar trend. (See following page.)
OVERVIEW OF ADMISSIONS TO CORRECTIONS FROM APRIL 1986 TO APRIL 1993, BRITISH COLUMBIA MINISTRY OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
FEMALE? AGED 12 TO 19
1986-87 1987-88 1998-89 1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-9?
Total Admissions
796 797 738 742 825 1007 930
Breaking and Entering
69 61 38 50 54 78 66
Crimes Against Persons
94 99 93 110 139 184 190 Property Crimes 431 419 398 413 460 564 499 Sexual Crimes 29 53 28 16 26 42 34 Theft by Fraud 19 14 32 15 13 23 14 Theft Under $1000 248 250 264 226 270 304 306 Violent Crime 31 38 24 28 36 53 43 MALES AGED 12 TO 18 198.6-87 1987-88 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-9? Total Admissions 4,075 3,714 3,630 3,944 4,134 4,494 4,192
Breaking and Entering
1,209 956 926 841 809 878 801
Crimes Against Persons
421 386 421 586 650 758 778 Property Crimes 2,638 2,285 2,247 2,358 2,544 2,863 2,522 Sexual Crimes 99 97 90 117 106 122 120 Theft by Fraud 64 37 45 35 28 47 31 Theft Under $1000 652 629 607 632 584 652 583 Violent Crime 256 210 220 319 314 405 399
♦ Note these figures, provided by the British Columbia Ministry of the Attorney General and reprinted here with permission, indicate only the incidence of admission to custody, not the number of individuals in custody. It is entirely possible that one individual was sentenced for more than one offence and that one individual was placed into custody more than once in a given year. Note also, that not all categories of crime for which data exists are presented here. The above categories were selected because they are similar to the ones discussed by the other researchers mentioned.
