To What Extent has Girls Offending and Youth Justice Responses to it, Changed in Recent Years - Essay Example

To what extent has girls offending, and youth justice responses to it, changed in recent years? Introduction Part of the 20th century and the 21st century has seen the evolution of girls’ offending. Different scholars and researchers of the world have referred this to this scenario as ‘moral catastrophe’ because the fact that the female gender in the society has often been viewed as non-violent and offence-free. The increase in girls’ offending witnessed in the past two centuries has met adequate justice responses to it in different parts of the world. More laws and legal policies have come into play to adequately address the rising concern. In the past, the boys’ offending has been viewed as just ‘a norm’ compared to the girls’ offending which has been viewed as accidental and practically ‘un-intentional’. The different societies of the world in this case have associated the boy child with street offences while the girl child has been associated with “the culture of the bedroom” (Frith, 1983, p. 23). This has seen the different juvenile law systems of the world continue to sideline the male gender of the society and further nurture the ‘offending’ character of the girl child in the different societies of the world. The state of the Girls’ offending According to Zahn et.al (2008, p.1), the past decade has witnesses a tremendous increase in girls’ involvement in the crimes and petty crimes. This has adequately resulted in an increase in the number of female arrests made and the number of female culprits facing the law through the juvenile justice system. Zahn et.al (2008, p.1-2) articulates that 640,000 arrests were made on females under the age of eighteen years in the year 2006 in America and amongst those charged in court, the most common crimes were simply minor crimes that included simple assaults, larceny-theft, shop lifting, running away from home and disorderly conduct. However, amongst the arrests made, there were some charged with major crimes such as burglary and aggravated assaults (Zahn et.al (2008, p.1-2). According to the data revealed by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), between the years 1990 and 2000 arrests made on girls as compared to the boys significantly increased in almost all sorts of offences (Zahn et.al, 2008, p. 1). Chesney-Lind and Irwin (2008, p. 11) further sheds light on this issue by ascertaining that in the year 2004, girls accounted for thirty percent of the juvenile arrests made. To the different researchers and scholars of the world, the increase in participation of girls in crimes and other offences has ever since raised eyebrows. There has been more need to further establish why, how and where girls have infested themselves in crime and other related offences. This has further turned to be a question of whether in reality there has been an actual increase in the girls’ delinquency or has it been just some sort of societal transformation of the feminine behavior. According to Acoca (1999, p. 3-13), girls involvement in crime and other offences is not only a major concern in America and Europe but also a major problem to the Asian countries as well as the African states. This is a problem that has proved to be not a problem of just one society but a problem of the entire world in general. In the recent past, it has not only resulted into advancement of the juvenile laws in the different countries of the world but also expansion of the juvenile penitentiaries of the world. A survey by ‘Monitoring the Future’ conducted in the year 2006 in Britain revealed that thirty two percent of the girls are getting involved in petty crimes such as shop lifting and theft every year while fifteen percent are getting involved in some other major activities including drug-taking and gang fights (Daly, 2008, p. 109-137). According to Zahn et.al (2008, p.2), from the year 1980 to 2005, female delinquency has adversely undergone substantial advancements as compared to the male delinquency in the period. In between the years 1980 and 2005, there is a sharp increase in number of girls arrests made in the period as compared to the arrests made before this period before the year 1980 in both UK and America. Having been faced with the problem of interpreting such tendencies of the world statistics, the different researchers of the world have been forced to conduct more longitudinal studies to adequately ascertain why girls in the different societies of the world have turned into crime, violence and all other sorts of offences. In the data provided by the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), in the year 2005 in America, roughly fourteen million arrests are made every year. In the fourteen million, 2.1 million are normally juveniles involved in both major and minor crimes in relation to theft and violence. Amongst the 2.1 million, the girls comprise of twenty nine percent of the population; nearly a third percent of the overall population of the juvenile arrests made (Zahn et.al, 2008, p. 3-4). An explanation to girls’ offending Sharpe and Gelssthorpe (2009, p. 198-208) have noted the fact that the different scholars of the world as well as the different youth justice systems have in the past paid less attention or ignored the women and girls participation in crime. This has adequately created a space enough for them to further expand and thrive in the public spaces since they are less suspected and hunted (Carrinton, 2006, p. 13). This has adversely resulted into increase in the girls’ offending as compared to boys’ offending around the world in the past decade. Throughout history, the female children are presumed brought up in a manner that they possess more moral standards as compared to the male children (Smart, 1976, p. 30). In this regard, most legal institutions of the world are developed in a manner that they less constrains the girl child as compared to the boy child. In fact, in the past, if girls broke the law, it would not have been seen as a straightforward offence but rather considered a behavioral influence perpetrated by other factors such sexual abuse (Sharpe and Gelssthorpe, 2009, p. 198-208). According to Worrall (2000, p. 15-17), the assumptions that the deed and needs of the adolescent girls and boys should be treated differently in the different societies of the world has in the past resulted in gender-blind approaches towards addressing crime in the different societies and giving more room to girls to further grow in crime. This past gender-blindness is what should be blamed today for the number of girls and young women appearing in the different courts every year as well as the rising number of girls and young women in prison and penitentiaries (Worall, 2002, p. 32). According to the different criminological theorists of the world, women are considered conservatives when it comes to issues of crime as compared to their male counterparts. Sharpe and Gelssthorpe (2009, p. 198-208), further stresses that crime in young women and girls is more associated to factors such as poor self-image, psychological disturbances, psychological ‘acting out’ and emotional instabilities. The psychological ‘acting out’ in girls is a condition attributable to problem of being over-sexualized or under-sexualized and the problem of lack of positive relationships (Blos, 1969, p. 229-249). Psychologically, girls are more domesticated and passive than the boys who are normally encouraged both by the family and the society to grow up more aggressive, extrovert and more ambitious (Sharpe and Gelssthorpe (2009, p. 198-208). The modern life on the other hand has also had its share in contributions to the rising cases of girls’ offending cases in the different parts of the world. According to Campbell (1981, p. 12-25), the recent modernity has loosened the social control of the girl child in the different societies. Today, girls spend a lot of time roaming the streets with friends unlike in the past where they spent most of their time in the house with their mothers. This has adequately enhanced the probability of the girl child getting involved in crime and offences in major towns and urban areas. Also, the modern life has further opened up the public spaces for the feminine gender. More than ever, girls today are spotted hanging out in public streets, public squares and even secretive public parks even during the night something that for long was dominated by the masculine gender. This has further enhanced the involvement of criminal and violence offences as well as drug related offences in the major cities and streets. How girls’ offending was addressed in the traditional juvenile system Even though in the past the juvenile justice system in most nations of the world did not distinguish the boys and the girls in sentence ruling, it has been considered a potential loop hole in the justice system that has adequately escalated the delinquency in girls than the boys in the past few decades. According to Carpenter (1853, p. 45-60), “the delinquent girls just like their older sisters are worse than the boys”. What is more confusing is the dual image for the girls in the sense that whilst being viewed as more vulnerable than the boys and needing more care and attention, their delinquency is worse than that of the boys. To the society, they do not only break the prevailing laws but also the gender role expectation of the different societies of the world. Vulnerability of the girls as compared to the boys has in the past resulted to a notion that it is hard and difficult to rescue the girls from a life of crime as compared to the boys which further resulted to development of justice systems that were more focused on ‘saving’ the girls rather than punishing them (Sharpe and Gelssthorpe (2009, p. 198-208). Such measures were geared towards instilling good morals and arousing the consciousness in the girls making offences or getting involved in crime. According to Cox (2003, p.29), the 19th century juvenile system that extended to the mid 20th century is to be blamed for the escalating cases of girls’ offending cases today that are beyond the control of the parents and continued to become a global problem. In the traditional juvenile system, the girls just needed more emotional help and medical treatment rather than punishment. They were therefore never locked up in the juvenile cells and instead they were convened to certain residential homes, borstals and approved schools where they could receive such treatments (Sharpe and Gelssthorpe (2009, p. 198-208). In the 1980s, the criminal Justice Act of 1982 was adversely integrated in the UK juvenile laws. This resulted in resurgence of the detention centers for the boys while those of the girls were closed down (Cox, 2003, p. 34). This was as a result of the fact that the number of girls being convicted as compared to the number of boys was established to be too insignificant. According to Home office (2004, p. 45), a part from the few girls and young women involved in serious crimes; about one hundred and fifty and of whom could adversely face the law through the Section 90 to 99 of the sentence Act 2000, the human right agencies together with the government agencies agreed that instead deal with the small proportion elsewhere rather than custody. This was mainly achieved through constructive community programs. Different scholars and researchers of the world have provided arguments for and against the traditional juvenile system in respect to delinquency in girls. Walker (1962, p. 31) for example supported the move to address delinquency in girls through other means rather that custody where he termed girls as “less criminally inclined” as compared to the boys. From his arguments, the delinquent girls were even more ‘at risk’ and vulnerable to contamination by the boys delinquents who are more hardened in case they are placed in a similar facility. Comparing girls to boys, girls are immature socially and unstable emotionally (Petries, 1986, p. 24). Such explanations and other similar explanations adequately gave support to the action of the traditional juvenile system of not taking stringent actions against the girls’ offending in the past decades. Therefore, the responses of the justice system to the young women and girls’ offending in the past has largely been influenced by a number of factors ranging from the religious expectations of the societies of the world to the socio-political factors in the different nations. This has resulted into the girls being treated in way that the boys have not. Different researches conducted in relevance to girls’ sexuality and behaviors have further contributed gender favors where girls get more scrutiny and special attention than the boys following their natural make. This has proved quite advantageous to the girls in the past since they have been able to avoid the juvenile justice system even having participated in crime and other offences. The traditional juvenile system has therefore in the past conspired in promoting the girls’ offending in the world today. The Juvenile Legal System today In the recent past, the juvenile system has significantly been amended following the varied critics from the different scholars of the world and key political activists. The traditional juvenile system was adversely criticized for being more inclined towards a certain gender in the society. Today, there exists an equitable justice system where both the boys and girls have been treated as similar and equal. According to Worall (2001, p. 37), the juvenile system has today witnessed girls’ behaviors that are less of problematic behaviors and more of criminal behaviors and further ensured that justice is served well in the juvenile criminal justice system. Following the introduction of intervention measures through the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, the youth justice has adequately been widened. Also, other programmes such as Support Panels and Youth Inclusion have in the recent past aided in serving justice as far as girls’ offences are concerned. The Juvenile system in response to girls’ offending According to the world’s history, practically in all parts of the world, boys and men have more offences than girls and women (Gelssthorpe, 2005, p. 145). Also the females involved in crimes tend to start their criminal activities at a later life and often commit less serious crimes as compared to their male counterparts who begin at reliably a lesser age and normally get involved in major criminal activities. The number of females who have a criminal career that lasts for less than a year is higher compared to that of their male counterparts; eighty percent versus fifty five percent (Sharpe and Gelssthorpe, 2009, p. 198-208). According to Home Office (2004, p. 30), the peak age for offending in males is eighteen years as compared to fifteen years in female. Further, juvenile offending in females of age gap of ten years to seventeen years is attributable to only handling stolen items, theft and assault (Home Office (2004, p. 30-31). This cannot be contrasted to the boys offending that is more sophisticated in terms of criminal activities involved. Further, Gelssthorpe (2005, p. 145) indicates that boys’ cases of offences are reported outside home while the girls’ offence cases are reported at home. Analyzing how the juvenile system has responded to the girls’ offending in the past years has significantly been made even more difficult for lack of provision of adequate data by the criminal analysts on the different court proceedings as well as the difficulty of interpreting the available evidence in relation to the girls’ offending cases (Sharpe and Gelssthorpe, 2009, p. 199). Also, the variation of the particular offences has been a major concern. Different researchers have in this case stipulated that even small matters such as playground fights among the girls may have been indicated as serious offences resulting to increase in percentage of girls making offences in the certain period of survey (Sharpe and Gelssthorpe, 2009, p. 203). This fact has further been supported by data released by the Youth Justice Board from both Wales and England that revealed an increase in the number of the juvenile offences with no corresponding increase in the number of the delinquent girls in the two countries (Sharpe and Gelssthorpe, 2009, p. 205). Nevertheless, even with such discrepancies, the girls’ offending cases in the last few years have escalated in England and Wales to an extent that the England girls have been referred to as the most dangerous in the world (Bateman, 2008, p. 20). Today, more than before there are a bigger number of girls joining the street gangs and participating in drug abuse alongside the boys as compared to the past years (Sharpe and Gelssthorpe, 2009, p. 198-208). In the 1990s, female juvenile crime was on the rise with increase in girls than boys especially in violence and drug related crimes (Home Office, 2004, p. 30-37). However, today, the number of the juvenile female arrested in the recent past has now doubled and the percentage has increased by approximately two hundred and fifty percent (Sharpe and Gelssthorpe, 2009, p. 205-208). This is far much less of the actual number since most of them is normally released on caution and final warnings. According to Home Office (2004, p. 28), girls are likely to receive warnings or a caution for being involved in illegal drug-taking or offences more than the boys. The new laws and regulations in play are dedicated towards curbing the rising cases of girls’ offending and further reducing both girls’ offending and boys’ offending in the different parts of the world. Worral (2001, p. 86) indicate that the offences made by the girls today are almost surpassing that of the boy and the girls have further been assigned to similar categories as their male counterparts; ‘girl rapists’, girl murders’ girl thieves and robbers’, ‘violent girls’ as well as ‘drug abusing girls’. Conclusion Some scholars and authors of the world have in the past suggested feminism is no longer required in this world. In the sense that practically everything that is done by men today is done by women. Why then would we have legal systems recognizing feminism? Over the past two decades, juvenile laws have been revised in the different parts of the world to further involve the girl child in the juvenile justice system and further stop sidelining the boy child. The different law institutions of the world mandated with instigating the youth justice have also developed a number of policies that clearly groups the juvenile offences in respective groups such that the sentences in the juvenile courts of law are carried out more easily and more effectively. Further, this has simplified the work of the police officers arresting the juvenile law breakers. Finally, there seems to be an adequate avenue in controlling the rising cases of girls’ offending specifically in America and UK. What Worall (2000, p. 42) has referred to as “a formal way of controlling nasty little madams”. Bibliography Acoca, L. 1999. ‘Investing in Girls: A 21st Century Challenge’. Juvenile Justice 6(1): 3–13. Bateman, T. 2008. Review of Provision for Girls in Custody to Reduce Offending. Reading: CfBT Education Trust. Blos, P.1969. ‘Preoedipal Factors in the A etiology of Female Delinquency’, Psychoanalytic Studies of the Child, 12: 229–249. Campbell, A. 1981.Girl Delinquents. 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U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Read More