Juvenile delinquency and gender

Josine Junger-Tas, Denis Ribeaud, Maarten JLF Cruyff

17

European Journal of Criminology 1 (3), 333-375,)

This article considers differences in patterns of youth delinquency and problem behaviour between
boys and girls. It uses cross-sectional surveys of self-reported youth offending in 11 European
countries, and a similar survey covering various ethnic groups in Rotterdam, both carried out in
1992. These surveys show that there remains a substantial gap in the level of delinquency between
girls and boys across all countries and ethnic groups. The findings confirm that weak social controls
by family and school are an important correlate of delinquency for males and females in all country
clusters and across all ethnic groups. On the whole, the correlates of delinquency are found to be
similar in males and females, which suggests that there is no need for a different theory to explain
delinquency in boys and girls. Social control explains part of the gap in delinquency between boys
and girls, simply because social controls of girls tend to be stronger and tighter. Culturally
determined differences in the strength of family-based social controls can also explain some of the
variation in delinquency between ethnic groups.

The family and juvenile delinquency

Walter R Gove, Robert D Crutchfield 19

Sociological Quarterly 23 (3), 301-319,)

This paper examines the effect of various “family variables” on the etiology of juvenile delinquency.
These self‐report data are unique in that they are from reports by parents of their child's behavior,
the nature of the child's life at home, and parental perceptions of their relationship with the child.
How the family and delinquency literature fit into control theory's conceptualization of the
importance of a child's attachment to the family as a determinant of delinquency is evaluated.
Variables measuring (1) family structure, (2) poor parental characteristics, (3) household
characteristics, and (4) parent‐child relationships are examined. The attachment variable was found
to be the strongest predictor of delinquency and helps to “interpret” the effects of other variables
that are significantly related to delinquency. The variables that predict male delinquency were found
to be different from those that predict female delinquency. Characteristics of the parents' marriage
play an important role for boys, while misbehavior of girls is more strongly predicted by variables
measuring parent‐child interaction and parental control.
Juvenile delinquency

David P Farrington

The school years, 123-163, 19

Juvenile delinquency covers a multitude of sins. As defined by English criminal law, it includes acts as
diverse as theft, burglary, robbery, violence, vandalism, fraud, drug use and various kinds of
heterosexual and homosexual acts. The focus in this chapter is on delinquency in England (and
Wales), with some reference to the United States, since most research is American. At the time of
writing (January 1991), the age boundaries for juvenile delinquency in English law were between 10
and 16 inclusive, but the current Criminal Justice Bill proposes to raise the upper age limit to 17. In
most states of the United States, the upper age limit is 17, while the lower age limit can be as low as
7. Of course, there are no sharp cutoff points for the occurrence of behaviour, and acts such as
stealing and vandalism can be committed before age 7.

Juvenile delinquency

Donald J Shoemaker

Rowman & Littlefield, 2017

Juvenile Delinquency is a timely and comprehensive introduction to crime, justice, and young
people, with an emphasis on theory and practice. The third edition retains the overall structure of
the second edition and features updates throughout, including new information on gangs and
prevention, the impact of race and gender on crime and justice, additional comparative and
international examples, and more. The book opens with an overview of delinquency; historical and
contemporary discussions of juvenile justice; theories of delinquency; institutional contexts of
delinquency, such as school and the family; and chapters on topics such as drug use, youth gangs,
female delinquency, police, courts, and corrections. Many chapters discuss treatment programs as
well as delinquency and illustrate theory put into practice. Most issues are examined through the
lenses of race, class, and gender. Juvenile Delinquency covers the essentials of the topic with a price
point far below most competitors. To enhance student learning, a complimentary instructor’s
manual and test bank are available. Please see the “Features” page for additional information.
The effects of family structure on juvenile delinquency

Alisha B Parks 19

Studies show that family structure is an important factor in explaining delinquency among
adolescents (Price & Kunz,). There is a lack of research, however, pertaining to cohabitation. The
main goals of this study are to determine if there are variations in delinquency between
cohabitating and other family types, and to examine the extent to which parental social control
measures account for the variation in delinquency by family structure. Data from the National
Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) are used for the purposes of this study (n=
4,389). While there are no significant differences in violent delinquency between cohabitating
families and other family types, results indicate that adolescents from cohabitating families have a
greater odds of engaging in nonviolent delinquency compared to those from 2-biological-parent
families, although reaching only marginal significance. This difference, however, is explained once
parental social control factors are accounted for in the models.