Female Juvenile Delinquents
Female juveniles who committed violent crimes such as robbery came from family backgrounds and their early experiences with their parents and family. These were individuals who had faced rejection from their parents and had grown up in homes that had a considerable conflict. More to that they had been exposed to conflict and violence in their homes. Having criminal parents is also attributed to female juveniles (Hoyt & Scherer 1998). Female juveniles who committed this crime came from single-parent families and had a poor upbringing. Some of the female juveniles had been sexually and physically abused and neglected. Female juveniles who committed a violent crime were poorly nurtured and did not have the best parental supervision and monitoring. Females who came from a single mother home committed these crimes. Antisocial behaviors for the female delinquents was an attribute to committing crime Problematic family structures were the key effects of dysfunctional families that led to the female committing violent crimes.
For male juveniles who committed violent crimes faced emotional, physical abuse, and neglect from their families. The male juveniles had experienced their parent’s divorce or separation when they were young (Parks 2013). Those that had experienced the loss of a parent and more so the father committed violent crimes despite having an affectionate mother. Re-marrying that was as a result of divorce and being bought up by a step-parent was also an attribute among the male delinquents. Parent’s substance abuse was a prompt for the male delinquents. The male delinquents came from large family sizes because the amount of attention given to the children is minimal leading to conflicts and frustration. The male delinquents had a family background that involved having a convicted family member such as their parents, brothers, sisters, or any other relative.
References
Hoyt, S., & Scherer, D. G. (1998). Female juvenile delinquency: Misunderstood by the juvenile
justice system, neglected by social science. Law and Human behavior, 22(1), 81-107.
Parks, A. B (2013) "The Effects of Family Structure on Juvenile Delinquency" .Electronic
Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2279.https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2279