Evaluation Methods of Past Literature - Female Justice Juvenile System and Delinquency

Evaluation Methods of Past Literature - Female Justice Juvenile System and Delinquency

Introduction

The criminal justice system is definitely a complex one and there is no exception when it comes to juveniles. The juvenile justice system however is based on the philosophy that children need to be protected and corrected, not necessarily punished. Juveniles have different rights at the time of arrest and our afforded protections because of their age and immaturity. One of the differences is that juveniles are not prosecuted for committing crimes, but rather delinquent acts. The study of female juvenile delinquency is a relatively new area that has only just started to receive the proper attention. Even though men and women are different in many ways, it was only within the last century that there have been serious efforts to create a justice system and corrective programs that take sex differences into account. This paper will give a general overview of female juvenile delinquency, especially young girls through a comprehensive and comparative evaluation of methodologies of past literature.

Discussion

Although females have lower reported rates of criminal activity, this doesn't mean that the distribution of offenses is the same for boys and girls. For example, running away accounts for 4-7% of boys' arrests opposed to 11-28% of girls' arrests. Girls are primarily and disproportionately incarcerated for status offenses, non-violent acts that would not be considered criminal. Data from 2003 found that 4% of male versus 10% of female delinquents were incarcerated for status offenses, hard evidence of the unequal prosecution for females committing status offenses (Feld 2009).

It has also been found that girls are much more likely than boys to express conduct disorder and aggression through covert (e.g., lying, gossiping, shunning) rather than overt (physical aggression, property destruction) actions. Also, data indicates that girls usually receive more harsh punishments for status offenses and sex offenses (i.e. prostitution) and this further skews the accuracy of statistics since this inflates the crime statistics for females involved in low-level offenses (Zahn et al., 2009).

Comparison of Evaluation Designs and Methodologies of Past Literature

The research paper titled as “Determining What Works for Girls in the Juvenile Justice System: A Summary of Evaluation Evidence” is authored by Margaret A. Zahn, Jacob C. Day, Sharon F. Mihalic and Lisa Tichavsky. The research aims at discussing the effectiveness of various correction programs for girls in the justice system. The authors endured a comprehensive comparison of the programs between non-gender specific programs (targeted both towards girls and boys) and gender specific programs (targeted towards girls only) (Zahn et al., 2009).

Due to the fact that the incarcerated girls have much greater chances of psychological disorders, experts suggest the formulation and subsequent implementation of targeted and gender specific programs towards girls. The authors conducted a multistep search in proposing gender specific programs. The authors searched 3 year plans juvenile justice for all states during the year 2006 - 2007. The authors also reviewed past literature and Google searches to conclude ...