Chapter 13 

The Double Standard of Juvenile Justice 

q     Importance of Gender

q     Not to be confused with biology, gender is cultural

q     Gender establishes expectations for behavior

q      Gender shapes all aspects of crime and criminal/ juvenile justice

q     Gender is important when it comes to the family, as boys and girls are brought up differently, which in turn relates to delinquency

 Gender & Family 

n      Adolescent girls live in a world that has not changed much despite alterations to the adult female role.

n      Modern girls, like girls in the past, are more closely watched than their brothers.

n      Much of the family disharmony is an outgrowth of the long-standing sexual double standard that tacitly encourages male sexual exploration and punishes female sexuality  

Parents and Juvenile Court Referrals 

n      Some parents turn to the family or juvenile court to enforce their authority.

n      For many parents, maintaining control over their children, especially girls, is extremely important.

n      One major reason for the presence of girls in juvenile courts is the insistence of their parents that they be arrested.

n      This pattern began to appear when the juvenile court was founded 

Girls & the Child Saving Movement  

n      Many early activities of the child savers revolved around monitoring the behavior of young girls, particularly immigrant girls, in order to prevent their “straying from the path.”

n      Little wonder the majority of girls appeared in court of such charges as “immorality” and other status offenses

n      Even today we see that girls are more likely than boys to appear on such charges (even though they are no longer called “immorality”)

 Obsession over Sex 

n      It was (and still is to a considerable extent) mostly about adults worrying about the sexual activities of girls

n      Reformers apparently wanted to make sure their daughters were “chaste” and “pure” for the young men of the nation

n      Note how many new “training schools” for girls opened in the early 1900s and what sort of “training” they received

n      To be “good wives and mothers” 

The Best Place to Conquer Girls 

n      This was the goal of the juvenile court and the double standard was and still is alive and well.

n      Some recent research reveals that this is still the case

n      Girls far more likely than boys to appear in court for status offenses and also to be detained and sent to a training school

n      Note how many studies have been done documenting this (covering most of the past century)

n      Also in other countries 

Deinstitutionalization  

n      A new buzzword for the 1970s and 1980s

n      Conservatives overcame this movement by engaging in what is called “bootstrapping”

n      Relabeling status offenders as delinquents by virtue of violating probation, etc.  

1992 Reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act 

n      States were required to provide gender appropriate services to girls

n      To deal, for instance, with issues of sexual abuse

n      Aimed to resolve the problem of “bootstrapping”

n      Despite such efforts, there remains evidence of the double standard

n      Girls continue to be arrested for mostly status offenses and minor assaults (domestic violence and fights at school) 

Girls Favored Over Boys? 

n      In some cases, girls who are involved with boys in serious offenses (e.g., burglaries and robberies) are often not arrested

n      Might be because their role is as an accessory or in some cases coercion was involved

n      In fact, the “lenient” treatment of women in general by the justice system stems more from the minor nature of their offenses

n      Yet girls are still over-represented for status offenses 

Girls and referrals to juvenile court  

n      The overall % of girls rose from 19% to 25% between 1985 and 2000

n      No significant change in girls overall level of criminal activity

n      So why the change?  Zero tolerance, emphasizing petty offenses, and overall changes in policies, rather than changes in behavior

 Commitment to juvenile prisons 

n      13% of the girls, but only 3% of the boys in juvenile correctional facilities as of 1999 were status offenders

n      Almost one-fourth of the girls in private facilities were status offenders, compared to only 7% of the boys.

n      Boys twice as likely as girls to be “chronic offenders”

n      Girls still more likely to be referred for shoplifting

Girls and Detention 

n      Girls are still more likely than boys to be detained for status offenses

n      Look at “other status” offenses in Missouri data (Table 13.3)

n      Look at Table 13.4 and see the big male-female differences for status offenses and “technical” violations (bootstrapping?) 

The “New” Double Standard of Juvenile Justice 

n      This involves girls of color

n      In LA courts, Latinas comprised the largest proportion of the population (45%), followed by white girls (34%), and African-American girls (23%).

n      white girls more likely to be recommended for a treatment than minorities

n      Resisting a negative label – resources is the key

n      Note the study by Mike Males of race and girls processing in San Francisco

n      Blacks are around 12% of San Francisco’s total population of girls, but they represent about 61% of all girls arrested for felonies, two-thirds of those arrested for robbery and almost three-fourths (72%) of those arrested for drug felonies

n      Note what Males has to say about the drug problem – it largely a problem of whites over 30!

n      See what I said on p. 409 (before summary)