Gender Issues in Juvenile Justice

Abstract

The federal JJDP legislation has had a differential impact on the pattern of admission of females and males to detention facilities and training schools, and also on the rate of admission relative to the total available youth population. These findings suggest a differential societal response, and also variable incidence of delinquency among females and males. Data from a self-report survey of high school youth corroborate the latter assumption and also findings that have been noted by others. Attachment to parents and normative institutions is an important constraint on delinquent behavior, but this bonding interacts differently for females and males. Thus, both explanatory and intervention theories of delinquency need to consider gender as a critical variable.