Abstract
Females commit much less crime and delinquency than males for nearly every category of crime. The gender gap in offending is larger for more serious and violent offenses and narrower for minor behaviors. These are among the most robust and consistent findings in criminology. In recent years, however, the extent and character of gender differences in crime are increasingly being called in question by statistics and media reports suggesting a greater involvement of girls in the criminal justice system.
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Notes
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The three questions ask 12th graders how often during the past 12 months have they: (a) “gotten into a serious fight at school or at work”; (b) “hurt someone badly enough to need bandages or a doctor”; and (c) “hit an instructor or supervisor.” These questions ask about specific acts that are clearly violent in nature.
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The gender gap’s stability, especially over the 1990s, is remarkable in light of girls’ substantial assault arrest gains and in light of possible self-fulfilling effects on survey sources of the increased legitimacy of girls’ violence. Recent media and popular representations might encourage adolescent females to see their aggression, or that of their peers, as more acceptable and hence as less shaming (e.g., less of a “femininity” violation), increasing their willingness to self-report it. Similarly, victims may be more inclined to report girls as violent, by labeling gray areas of aggressive behavior as “assault” that in the past would be ignored or defined in milder terms.
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A recently available source on youth violence trends is the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (NYRBS) that provides national estimates of 9–12th graders’ involvement in a physical fight between 1991–2003. Supplemental analyses of fighting also showed no change in the gender gap.
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Liquor law violations include underage consumption, possession, and purchase; using a false id; transporting alcohol; drinking in public; and public intoxication (FBI 2004).
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Schwartz, J., Steffensmeier, D. (2012). Stability and Change in Girls’ Delinquency and the Gender Gap: Trends in Violence and Alcohol Offending Across Multiple Sources of Evidence. In: Miller, S., Leve, L., Kerig, P. (eds) Delinquent Girls. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0415-6_1
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