Trends in Girls' Delinquency in the United States

Abstract

While the rest of the world focused on girls' issues around education, girls' victimization in the family, girls' problems with sexual assault and harassment, and girls forced into early marriage, the US seems curiously mired in a series of media-driven moral panics about girlhood. The last few decades have seen worries about girls: girls going bad, mean girls, and girls who are bullies, girls mimicking boys' violence, and girls getting sexually trafficked and engaging in prostitution. Given this, it is important to review several key themes: the current evidence about the actual dimensions of female delinquency and trends in juvenile arrests, particularly girls' arrests for non-traditional offences; the role of race in girls' delinquency will also be explored. This analysis will document the need to explore gendered consequences in the policing of girls' misbehaviour. Specifically, the chapter will explore the implication of girls' increasing presence in a largely male-oriented juvenile justice system and the feminisation of juvenile justice in the United States.

Citation

Chesney-Lind, M. (2023), "Trends in Girls' Delinquency in the United States", Banwel, S., Black, L., Cecil, D.K., Djamba, Y.K., Kimuna, S.R., Milne, E., Seal, L. and Tenkorang, E.Y. (Ed.) The Emerald International Handbook of Feminist Perspectives on Women’s Acts of Violence, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 481-499. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-255-620231032