Jill Leslie Rosenbaum

Moving Toward Justice for Female Juvenile Offenders in the New Millennium Modeling Gender-Specific Policies and Programs

This article presents an overview of national and state efforts to address gender-specific programming and summarizes findings from a statewide assessment in California in 1997 and 1998. Review of the literature and results of data analyses of a cross-sectional survey of program providers and agency representatives, along with information from focus group interviews with program participants and providers, show that the needs of girls and young women in the juvenile justice system are tied to specific, identifiable risk and protective factors, from which it is possible to model gender-appropriate interventions. The results indicate that the family is the most important risk and protective factor for young women. Respondents indicated a wide range of barriers to program services and the need for more information and gender-specific program models or best practices. It would appear that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Preventions Challenge Activity E grant has provided the initial momentum toward shaping the policies and programs for the new millennium in California and other states, but there is still much to be done to meet this challenge.

Family Dysfunction and Female Delinquency

This article examines the family backgrounds of a group of women who, as adolescents in the early 1960s, were committed to the California Youth Authority predominantly for status offenses and continued their criminal behavior into adulthood. Particular attention is paid to various measures of dysfunction, including family violence, parent-child conflict, family size, structure, and stability. Little variation existed within the various independent measures; all of the women came from dysfunctional homes. The manner in which these young women were dealt with by the Youth Authority is examined within the context of the cultural attitudes of that particular time.

Social control, gender, and delinquency: An analysis of drug, property and violent offenders

This paper is an empirical examination of social control theory as set forth by Travis Hirschi (1969). The analysis focused on the applicability of the theory for both males and females, as well as three types of delinquent behavior. When the different types of delinquency were examined, it became apparent that the theory explained some types of delinquent behavior better than others. Of the three types of delinquent behavior, more drug use was explained than either violent behavior or property offending, while almost none of the violent behavior was accounted for. However, regardless of the type of delinquency, the theory accounted for more female than male delinquency.

Criminal careers of female offenders

This article examines the subsequent lives of a sample of females who were committed to the California Youth Authority during the 1960s. The criminal careers of these women were analyzed in terms of the persistence and duration of offense behavior, crime specialization, and escalation of seriousness over sequential career periods (prior to youth authority commitment, the commitment period including time on parole, and post-release). In addition, the article focuses on the adult period in somewhat more detail to identify the nature and extent of offense patterns and the Criminal Justice Systems response to these patterns.

School, community context, and delinquency: Rethinking the gender gap

This study examines the role of gender and of community context in the relationship between school factors and delinquent behavior, otherwise termed here “the school-delinquency gender gap.” Control theory (Hirschi 1969) and power-control theory (Hagan, Simpson, and Gillis 1985) were employed as conceptual frameworks. Data used were drawn in part from the Seattle Youth Study, which included self-reported measures of school experiences and delinquent behavior for 1,508 high school students. Findings revealed significant reductions in delinquent behavior tied to positive outlooks on and performances in school-related activities. In addition, several school measures were discovered to affect differentially the delinquent behavior of males and of females. The importance of community context as an interacting variable in the school-delinquency relationship also was discovered. Conclusions support a power-control interpretation of school-based gender differences in delinquent behavior.

Appearance and Delinquency: A Research Note

Culturally derived standards of attractiveness are used in determining the treatment women receive in various aspects of their lives, including the criminal justice system. Examination of the files from the California Youth Authority from the 1960s indicated that male intake personnel often commented on the physical attributes of the female wards. This was most likely to occur when the ward had at least one charge of “immorality” on her record. When more recent files were examined, notations on the physical attractiveness were least likely to occur when the wards had been committed to the institution for serious violations.

Age, Race, and Female Offending

This paperexamines the similarities and differences among white and minority women who were committed to the California Youth Authority during the 1960s. Inspection of this groups juvenile and adult arrest records indicates that few differences existed among the groups with respect to offending behavior. However, significant differences did emerge in the sentences received as adults. Black women received more severe sentences as adults than did the white, Asian, or Latino women.