Gender and Family assignment

The North brook incident was shocking because it involved young girls in an extremely violent incident, an image that defies the traditional image of females as less aggressive than males. This vision is not new.

To early delinquency experts, the female offender was an aberration who en- gaged in crimes that usually had a sexual connotation—prostitution, running away (which presumably leads to sexual misadventure), premarital sex, and crimes of sexual passion (killing a boyfriend or a husband).1 Criminologists often ignored female offenders, assuming that they rarely violated the law, or if they did, that their illegal acts were status-type offenses. Female delinquency was viewed as emotional or family-related, and such problems were not an important concern of criminologists. In fact, the few “true” female delinquents were considered anomalies whose criminal activity was a function of taking on masculine characteristics, a concept referred to as the masculinity hypothesis.2

Contemporary interest in the association between gender and delinquency has surged, fueled by observations that although the female delinquency rate is still much lower than the male rate, it is growing at a faster pace than male delinquency. More- over, the types of delinquent acts that young women are engaging in seem quite simi- lar to those of young men. Larceny and aggravated assault, the crimes for which most young men are arrested, are also the most common offenses for which females are arrested. There is evidence that girls are getting more heavily involved in gangs and gang violence.3 Although girls still commit less crime than boys, members of both sexes are similar in the onset and development of their offending careers.4 In societies with high rates of male delinquency, there are also high rates of female delinquency. Over time, male and female arrest rates rise and fall in a parallel fashion.5

Another reason for the interest in gender studies is that conceptions of gender differences have changed. A feminist approach to understanding crime is now firmly established. The stereotype of the female delinquent as a sexual deviant is no longer taken seriously.6 The result has been an increased effort to conduct research that would adequately explain differences and similarities in male and female offending patterns.

This chapter provides an overview of gender factors in delinquency. We first discuss some of the gender differences in development and how they may relate to the gender differences in offending rates. Then we turn to some explanations for

On May 4, 2003, girls at a “powder-puff”

touch football game in Northbrook, Illi-

nois, went on a rampage that was cap-

tured on videotape. Senior girls began the

event by chugging beer straight from a

keg provided by some parents. Then they

began pounding some of the younger

girls with their fists and with bats, while

pushing them down into the mud. They

doused the novice football players with

excrement, garbage, and food. The stu-

dents apparently arranged the event in

secret, making sure that school adminis-

trators were kept unaware of the time

and place. In the aftermath, five girls

were hospitalized, including one who

broke an ankle and another who suffered

a cut that required ten stitches in her

head; the attackers were suspended

from school and criminal charges filed.

The tape was circulated to the news

media and it was shown repeatedly all

around the country.