Gender and Family assignment

Ch. 6 & 7 discuss the influence gender and family have on delinquency. In addition, you have read briefly about gender and the juvenile justice system.

Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper answering the following questions:

How does gender affect delinquency?

What are some current explanations for gender differences as they relate to delinquency?

How does family affect delinquency?

How does family makeup affect delinquency?

How does family behavior influence delinquency?

Are delinquent females treated differently than delinquent males by members of the juvenile justice system?

Are they treated unfairly?

Do they benefit from being female? Why or why not?

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

c h a p t e r 6

Gender and Delinquency

CHAPTER OUTLINE

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT
Socialization Differences
Cognitive Differences
Personality Differences
What Causes Gender Differences?
What Does This Mean to Me? Sexual
Harassment

GENDER DIFFERENCES AND DELINQUENCY
Gender Patterns in Delinquency
Violent Behavior

ARE FEMALE DELINQUENTS BORN THAT WAY?
Early Biological Explanations
Early Psychological Explanations
Contemporary Trait Views
Contemporary Psychological Views

SOCIALIZATION VIEWS
Socialization and Delinquency
Contemporary Socialization Views
Preventing and Treating Delinquency

Preventing Teen Pregnancy

LIBERAL FEMINIST VIEWS
Support for Liberal Feminism
Critiques of Liberal Feminism

CRITICAL FEMINIST VIEWS
Crime and Patriarchy
Power-Control Theory

GENDER AND THE JUVENILE
JUSTICE SYSTEM

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter you
should:

1. Be familiar with the changes in
the female delinquency rate.

2. Understand the cognitive
differences between males
and females.

3. Be able to discuss the differences
in socialization between boys
and girls and how this may affect
their behavior.

4. Understand the psychological
differences between the sexes.

5. Be able to discuss the early work
on gender, delinquency, and
human traits.

6. Know the elements contemporary
trait theorists view as the key to
understanding gender differences,
such as psychological makeup and
hormonal differences.

7. Know how socialization is thought
to affect delinquency rates.

8. Discuss the views of contemporary
socialization theorists.

9. Know to what the term liberal
feminism refers.

10. Discuss how critical feminists view
female delinquency and describe
Hagan’s power-control theory.

11. Be familiar with how the treatment
girls receive by the juvenile justice
system differs from the treatment
of boys.

135

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136 C H A P T E R 6

The Northbrook incident was shocking because it involved young girls in an
extremely violent incident, an image that defies the traditional image of females
as less aggressive than males. This vision is not new.

To early delinquency experts, the female offender was an aberration who en-
gaged in crimes that usually had a sexual connotation—prostitution, running away
(which presumably leads to sexual misadventure), premarital sex, and crimes of
sexual passion (killing a boyfriend or a husband).1 Criminologists often ignored
female offenders, assuming that they rarely violated the law, or if they did, that their
illegal acts were status-type offenses. Female delinquency was viewed as emotional or
family-related, and such problems were not an important concern of criminologists.
In fact, the few “true” female delinquents were considered anomalies whose criminal
activity was a function of taking on masculine characteristics, a concept referred to
as the masculinity hypothesis.2

Contemporary interest in the association between gender and delinquency has
surged, fueled by observations that although the female delinquency rate is still much
lower than the male rate, it is growing at a faster pace than male delinquency. More-
over, the types of delinquent acts that young women are engaging in seem quite simi-
lar to those of young men. Larceny and aggravated assault, the crimes for which most
young men are arrested, are also the most common offenses for which females are
arrested. There is evidence that girls are getting more heavily involved in gangs and
gang violence.3 Although girls still commit less crime than boys, members of both
sexes are similar in the onset and development of their offending careers.4 In societies
with high rates of male delinquency, there are also high rates of female delinquency.
Over time, male and female arrest rates rise and fall in a parallel fashion.5

Another reason for the interest in gender studies is that conceptions of gender
differences have changed. A feminist approach to understanding crime is now firmly
established. The stereotype of the female delinquent as a sexual deviant is no longer
taken seriously.6 The result has been an increased effort to conduct research that would
adequately explain differences and similarities in male and female offending patterns.

This chapter provides an overview of gender factors in delinquency. We first
discuss some of the gender differences in development and how they may relate to
the gender differences in offending rates. Then we turn to some explanations for

On May 4, 2003, girls at a “powder-puff”

touch football game in Northbrook, Illi-

nois, went on a rampage that was cap-

tured on videotape. Senior girls began the

event by chugging beer straight from a

keg provided by some parents. Then they

began pounding some of the younger

girls with their fists and with bats, while

pushing them down into the mud. They

doused the novice football players with

excrement, garbage, and food. The stu-

dents apparently arranged the event in

secret, making sure that school adminis-

trators were kept unaware of the time

and place. In the aftermath, five girls

were hospitalized, including one who

broke an ankle and another who suffered

a cut that required ten stitches in her

head; the attackers were suspended

from school and criminal charges filed.

The tape was circulated to the news

media and it was shown repeatedly all

around the country.

VIEW THE CNN VIDEO CLIP OF THIS

STORY AND ANSWER RELATED CRITICAL

THINKING QUESTIONS ON YOUR JUVENILE

DELINQUENCY: THE CORE 2E CD.

To find information on the
state of adolescent girls and
the risks they face, go to the
Web site of the Common-
wealth Fund by clicking on
Web Links under the Chapter
Resources at http://cj.
wadsworth.com/siegel_
jdcore2e.

ht
tp

masculinity hypothesis
View that women who comm

crimes have biological and psy-
chological traits similar to those
of men.

these differences: (1) the trait view, (2) the socialization view, (3) the liberal feminist
view, and (4) the critical feminist view.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT
Gender differences in cognition, socialization, and behavior may exist as early as
infancy, when boys are able to express emotions at higher rates. Infant girls show
greater control over their emotions, whereas boys are more easily angered and de-
pend more on inputs from their mothers.7 There are indications that gender differ-
ences in socialization and development do exist and that they may have an effect
on juvenile offending patterns.8

Socialization Differences
Psychologists believe that differences in the way females and males are socialized
affect their development. Males learn to value independence, whereas females are
taught that their self-worth depends on their ability to sustain relationships. Girls,
therefore, run the risk of losing themselves in their relationships with others, while
boys may experience a chronic sense of alienation. Because so many relationships go
sour, females also run the risk of feeling alienated because of the failure to achieve
relational success.9

Although there are few gender differences in aggression during the first few years
of life, girls are socialized to be less aggressive than boys and are supervised more
closely.10 Differences in aggression become noticeable between ages three and six,
when children are socialized into organized groups, such as the daycare center. Males
are more likely to display physical aggression, whereas females display relational
aggression—for example, by excluding disliked peers from play groups.11

As they mature, girls learn to respond to provocation by feeling anxious, unlike
boys, who are encouraged to retaliate.12

Overall, women are much more likely to
feel distressed than men.13 Although
females get angry as often as males,
many have been taught to blame them-
selves for such feelings. Females are,
therefore, much more likely than males
to respond to anger with feelings of
depression, anxiety, and shame. Females
are socialized to fear that anger will
harm relationships; males are encour-
aged to react with “moral outrage,”
blaming others for their discomfort.14

Females are also more likely than
males to be targets of sexual and physical
abuse. Female victims have been shown
to suffer more seriously from these at-
tacks, sustaining damage to their self-
image; victims of sexual abuse find it
difficult to build autonomy and life skills.

Cognitive Differences
There are also cognitive differences
between males and females starting in
childhood. Males excel in tasks that
assess the ability to manipulate visual

G E N D E R A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 137

Research shows that males are more likely than females to behave in an ag-
gressive manner. There is evidence that differences in socialization, cognition,
and personality may help explain gender-based disparity in rates of antisocial
and violent behaviors.

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Juvenile Delinquency: The Core COPYRIGHT © 2005 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc

images in working memory, whereas females do better in tasks that require retrieval
from long-term memory and the acquisition and use of verbal information.15 Girls
learn to speak earlier and faster, and with better pronunciation, most likely because
parents talk more to their infant daughters than to their infant sons. Girls are far
less likely than boys to have reading problems, but boys do much better on stan-
dardized math tests, which is attributed by some experts to their strategies for ap-
proaching math problems. Boys in the United States are more likely than girls to be
dyslexic.

In most cases cognitive differences are small, narrowing, and usually attributed
to cultural expectations. When given training, girls can increase their visual-spatial
skills. However, differences still exert a penalty on young girls. For example, perfor-
mance on the mathematics portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) still favors
males: twice as many boys as girls attain scores over 500 and thirteen times as many
boys as girls attain scores over 700.16

Personality Differences
Girls are often stereotyped as talkative, but research shows that in many situations
boys spend more time talking than girls do. Females are more willing to reveal their
feelings and more likely to express concern for others. Females are more concerned
about finding the “meaning of life” and less interested in competing for material suc-
cess.17 Males are more likely to introduce new topics and to interrupt conversations.

Adolescent females use different knowledge than males and have different ways
of interpreting their interactions with others. These gender differences may have
an impact on self-esteem and self-concept. Research shows that, as adolescents
develop, male self-esteem and self-concept rise whereas female self-confidence is
lowered.18 One reason is that girls are more likely to stress about their weight and
be more dissatisfied with the size and shape of their bodies.19 Young girls are regu-
larly confronted with unrealistically high standards of slimness that make them
extremely unhappy with their own bodies; it is not surprising that the incidence
of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia have increased markedly in recent
years. Psychologist Carol Gilligan uncovered an alternative explanation for this de-
cline in female self-esteem: as girls move into adolescence, they become aware of the
conflict between the positive way they see themselves and the negative way society
views females. Many girls respond by “losing their voices”—that is, submerging
their own feelings and accepting the negative view of women conveyed by adult
authorities.20

These various gender differences are described in Concept Summary 6.1.

138 C H A P T E R 6

Gender Differences

Females Males
Socialization Sustain relationships. Be independent.

Be less aggressive. Be aggressive.
Blame self. Externalize anger.

Cognitive Have superior verbal ability. Have superior visual/spatial ability.
Speak earlier. Are better at math.
Have better pronunciation.
Read better.

Personality Have lower self-esteem. Have high self-esteem.
Are self-aware. Are materialistic.
Have better attention span. Have low attention span.

Concept Summary 6.1

What Causes
Gender Differences?
Why do these gender differences occur? Some ex-
perts suggest that gender differences may have a
biological origin: males and females are essentially
different. They have somewhat different brain orga-
nizations; females are more left-brain-oriented and
males more right-brain-oriented. (The left brain is
believed to control language; the right, spatial rela-
tions.) Others point to the hormonal differences
between the sexes as the key to understanding their
behavior.

Another view is that gender differences are a
result of the interaction of socialization, learning,
and enculturation. Boys and girls may behave differ-
ently because they have been exposed to different
styles of socialization, learned different values, and
had different cultural experiences. It follows, then,
that if members of both sexes were equally exposed
to the factors that produce delinquency, their delin-
quency rates would be equivalent.21 According to
psychologist Sandra Bem’s gender-schema theory,

our culture polarizes males and females by forcing them to obey mutually exclusive
gender roles, or “scripts.” Girls are expected to be “feminine,” exhibiting traits such
as being sympathetic and gentle. In contrast, boys are expected to be “masculine,”
exhibiting assertiveness and dominance. Children internalize these scripts and accept
gender polarization as normal. Children’s self-esteem becomes wrapped up in how
closely their behavior conforms to the proper sex role stereotype. When children
begin to perceive themselves as either boys or girls (which occurs at about age three),
they search for information to help them define their role; they begin to learn what
behavior is appropriate for their sex.22 Girls are expected to behave according to the
appropriate script and to seek approval of their behavior: Are they acting as girls
should at that age? Masculine behavior is to be avoided. In contrast, males look for
cues from their peers to define their masculinity; aggressive behavior may be
rewarded with peer approval, whereas sensitivity is viewed as nonmasculine.23

See the accompanying What Does This Mean to Me feature for an interesting
perspective on the issue of sexual harassment.

GENDER DIFFERENCES AND DELINQUENCY
Regardless of their origin, gender distinctions may partly explain the significant gen-
der differences in the delinquency rate. Males seem more aggressive and less likely to
form attachments to others, factors that might increase their crime rates. Males view
aggression as an appropriate means to gain status. Boys are also more likely than girls
to socialize with deviant peers, and when they do, they display personality traits that
make them more susceptible to delinquency. Recent research by Jean Bottcher found
that young boys perceive their roles as being more dominant than young girls. Male
perceptions of power, their ability to have freedom and hang with their friends,
helped explain the gender differences in delinquency.24

Girls are shielded by their moral sense, which directs them to avoid harming
others. Their moral sensitivity may counterbalance the effects of family problems.25

Females display more self-control than males, a factor that has been related to
criminality.26

Females are more verbally proficient, a skill that may help them deal with con-
flict without resorting to violence. They are taught to be less aggressive and view

G E N D E R A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 139

The mission of the National
Council for Research on
Women is to enhance the
connections among research,
policy analysis, advocacy, and
innovative programming on
behalf of women and girls.
Visit their site by clicking on
Web Links under the Chapter
Resources at http://cj.
wadsworth.com/siegel_
jdcore2e.

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tp
:

What Does This Mean to Me?

Sexual Harassment
Can gender differences in perception shape the perception of
sexual harassment? For example, research shows that males
and females both generally agree that sexual coercion and
sexual propositions constitute sexual harassment. Yet males do
not think that sex-stereotyped jokes are a form of harassment
while females do; females think that repeated requests for
dates after a refusal constitute harassment while males think
there is nothing wrong with asking girls out again and again.
It is not surprising to discover that females perceive that sexual
harassment has occurred in situations where males find no
wrongdoing.

1. Do you think that these different perceptions are biologi-
cally related or a matter of socialization?

2. (For women): Have you ever been in a situation where
you felt yourself being sexually harassed by a male who
thought he was doing nothing wrong?

3. (For men): Have you ever been accused of sexual harass-
ment by a woman you know even though you personally
felt you did nothing wrong?

gender-schema theory
A theory of development that
holds that children internalize
gender scripts that reflect the
gender-related social practices of
the culture. Once internalized,
these gender scripts predispose the
kids to construct a self-identity
that is consistent with them.

belligerence as a lack of self-control.27 When girls are aggressive, they are more likely
than boys to hide their behavior from adults; girls who “bully” others are less likely
than boys to admit their behavior.28

Cognitive and personality differences are magnified when children internalize
gender-specific behaviors. Boys who aren’t tough are labeled sissies. Girls are
expected to form closer bonds with their friends and to share feelings.

Gender Patterns in Delinquency
Over the past decades, females have increased their participation in delinquent be-
haviors at a faster rate than males. Arrest data indicate that juvenile females make up
a greater percentage of the arrest statistics today than they did thirty years ago. In
1967, females constituted 13 percent of all juvenile index-crime arrests; today they
make up about 25 percent. The most recent arrest data show that between 1993 and
2002 the total teenage male arrest rate decreased by about 16 percent and the female
rate increased by 6 percent.29 Even more striking was the relative change in arrests
for serious violent crimes—during a period of falling crime rates (1993 to 2002),
teenage male violent crime arrests declined 39 percent, while female arrests declined
a more modest 13 percent.

The Monitoring the Future self-report study also shows that patterns of male
and female criminality appear to be converging. Self-report data indicate that the
rank-ordering of male and female deviant behaviors is similar. The illegal acts most
common for boys—petty larceny, using a false ID, and smoking marijuana—are also
the ones most frequently committed by girls.30

Violent Behavior
Gender differences in the delinquency rate may be narrowing, but males continue
to be overrepresented in arrests for violent crimes. For example, almost all homicide
offenders are males. In 2002, of the more than 973 juveniles arrested for murder,
only 101 were female.31

One reason for the gender disparity in lethal violence is that males and females
display differences in the victims they target and the weapons they use. The typical
male juvenile kills a friend or acquaintance with a handgun during an argument.
In contrast, the typical female is as likely to kill a family member as an acquaintance

140 C H A P T E R 6

A youth worker talks with young
girls in an after-school program.
Are gender differences in per-
sonality a matter of experience,
or do you believe that males
and females are inherently
different?

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A number of institutes at major
universities are devoted to the
study of women’s issues. You
can visit the site of the one at
the University of Michigan by
clicking on Web Links under
the Chapter Resources at
http://cj.wadsworth.com/
siegel_ jdcore2e.

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:

Checkpoints
✔ Female delinquency was consid-

ered unimportant by early delin-
quency experts because girls rarely
committed crime, and when they
did it was sexual in nature.

✔ Interest in female delinquency has
risen because the female crime
rate has been increasing, while the
male rate is in decline.

✔ There are distinct gender patterns
in development that may explain
crime rate differences.

✔ Girls are socialized to be less
aggressive than boys.

✔ Girls read better and have better
verbal skills than boys.

✔ Gender differences may have both
biological and social origins.

✔ The female proportion of the delin-
quency rate has grown at a faster
pace than that of males during the
past twenty-five years.

and is more likely to use a knife. Both males and females tend to kill males—gener-
ally their brothers, fathers, or friends.

Why do these differences occur, and why are girls increasing their involvement in
delinquent activities at a faster pace than boys? The wide range of opinions on these
questions will be presented in the remaining sections of this chapter.

ARE FEMALE DELINQUENTS BORN THAT WAY?
There is a long tradition of tracing gender differences in delinquency to traits that
are uniquely male or female. The argument that biological and psychological differ-
ences between males and females can explain differences in crime rates is not a new
one. The earliest criminologists focused on physical characteristics believed to be
precursors of crime.

Early Biological Explanations
With the publication in 1895 of The Female Offender, Lombroso (with William Fer-
rero) extended his work on criminality to females.32 Lombroso maintained that
women were lower on the evolutionary scale than men, more childlike and less intel-
ligent.33 Women who committed crimes could be distinguished from “normal”
women by physical characteristics—excessive body hair, wrinkles, and an abnormal
cranium, for example.34 In appearance, delinquent females appeared closer to men
than to other women. The masculinity hypothesis suggested that delinquent girls
had excessive male characteristics.35

Lombrosian thought had a significant influence for much of the twentieth cen-
tury. Delinquency rate differentials were explained in terms of gender-based differ-
ences. For example, in 1925 Cyril Burt linked female delinquency to menstruation.36

Similarly, William Healy and Augusta Bronner suggested that males’ physical superi-
ority enhanced their criminality. Their research showed that about 70 percent of the
delinquent girls they studied had abnormal weight and size, a finding that supported
the “masculinity hypothesis.”37

So-called experts suggested that female delinquency goes unrecorded because
the female is the instigator rather than the perpetrator.38 Females first use their sex-
ual charms to instigate crime and then beguile males in the justice system to obtain
deferential treatment. This observation, referred to as the chivalry hypothesis, holds
that gender differences in the delinquency rate can be explained by the fact that fe-
male criminality is overlooked or forgiven by male agents of the justice system.
Those who believe in the chivalry hypothesis point to data showing that even though
women make up about 20 percent of arrestees, they account for less than 5 percent
of inmates. Police and other justice system personnel may be less willing to penalize
female offenders than male offenders.39

Early Psychological Explanations
Psychologists also viewed the physical differences between males and females as a
basis for their behavior differentials. Sigmund Freud maintained that girls interpret
their lack of a penis as a sign that they have been punished. Boys fear that they can be
punished by having their penis cut off, and thus learn to fear women. From this con-
flict comes penis envy, which often produces an inferiority complex in girls, forcing
them to make an effort to compensate for their “defect.” One way to compensate is to
identify with their mothers and accept a maternal role. Also, girls may attempt to
compensate for their lack of a penis by dressing well and beautifying themselves.40

Freud also claimed that “if a little girl persists in her first wish—to grow into a boy—
in extreme cases she will end as a manifest homosexual, and otherwise she will exhibit

✔ Checkpoints

G E N D E R A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 141

✔ Though males still are arrested
more often than females, the
intergender patterns of delinquency
are remarkably similar.

To quiz yourself on this
material, go to questions
6.1–6.5 on the Juvenile

Delinquency: The Core 2e Web site.

To read more about the
chivalry hypothesis and how
it relates to gang delinquency,
click on Web Links under the
Chapter Resources at http://cj.
wadsworth.com/siegel_
jdcore2e.ht

tp
:

chivalry hypothesis (also
known as paternalism
hypothesis)
The view that low female crime
and delinquency rates are a reflec-
tion of the leniency with which
police treat female offenders.

markedly masculine traits in the conduct of her later life, will choose a masculine
vocation, and so on.”41

At midcentury, psychodynamic theorists suggested that girls are socialized to be
passive, which helps explain their low crime rate. However, this condition also makes
some females susceptible to being manipulated by men; hence, their participation in
sex-related crimes such as prostitution. A girl’s wayward behavior, psychoanalysts
suggested, was restricted to neurotic theft (kleptomania) and overt sexual acts, which
were symptoms of personality maladaption.42

According to these early versions of the psychoanalytic approach, gender differ-
ences in the delinquency rate can be traced to differences in psychological orienta-
tion. Male delinquency reflects aggressive traits, whereas female delinquency is a
function of repressed sexuality, gender conflict, and abnormal socialization.

Contemporary Trait Views
Contemporary biosocial and psychological theorists have continued the tradition of
attributing gender differences in delinquency to physical and emotional traits (see
Figure 6.1). These theorists recognize that it is the interaction of biological and psy-
chological traits with the social environment that produces delinquency.

Precocious Sexuality Early theorists linked female delinquency to early or
precocious sexuality. According to this view, girls who experience an early onset of
physical maturity are most likely to engage in antisocial behavior.43 Female delin-
quents were believed to be promiscuous and more sophisticated than male delin-
quents.44 Linking female delinquency to sexuality was responsible, in part, for the
view that female delinquency is symptomatic of maladjustment.45

Equating female delinquency purely with sexual activity is no longer taken seri-
ously, but early sexuality has been linked to other problems, such as a higher risk of
teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.46 Empirical evidence suggests that
girls who reach puberty at an early age are at the highest risk for delinquency.47 One
reason is that “early bloomers” may be more attractive to older adolescent boys, and
increased contact with this high-risk group places the girls in jeopardy for antisocial
behavior. Girls who are more developed relative to their peers are more likely to so-
cialize at an early age and to get involved in deviant behaviors, especially “party de-
viance,” such as drinking, smoking, and substance abuse. Early puberty is most likely
to encourage delinquent activities that occur in the context of socializing with peers
and having romantic relationships with boys.48 The delinquency gap between early
and late bloomers narrows when the latter group reaches sexual maturity and in-
creases in exposure to boys.49 Biological and social factors seem to interact to post-
pone or accelerate female delinquent activity.

Hormonal Effects As you may recall from chapter 3, some biosocial theorists
link antisocial behavior to hormonal influences.50 One view is that hormonal im-
balance may influence aggressive behavior. For example, changes in the level of the
hormone cortisol, which is secreted by the adrenal glands in response to any kind of
physical or psychological stress, has been linked to conduct problems in young girls.51

Another view is that excessive amounts of male hormones (androgens) are re-
lated to delinquency. The androgen most often related to antisocial behavior is
testosterone.52 In general, females who test higher for testosterone are more likely
to engage in stereotypical male behaviors.53 Females who have low androgen levels
are less aggressive than males, whereas those who have elevated levels will take on
characteristically male traits, including aggression.54

Some females are overexposed to male hormones in utero. Females affected this
way may become “constitutionally masculinized.” They may develop abnormal hair
growth, large musculature, low voice, irregular menstrual cycle, and hyperaggressive-
ness; this condition can also develop as a result of steroid use or certain medical dis-

142 C H A P T E R 6

precocious sexuality
Sexual experimentation in early
adolescence.

orders.55 Author Diana Fishbein has reviewed the literature in this area and finds
that, after holding constant a variety of factors (including IQ, age, and environment),
females exposed to male hormones in utero are more likely to engage in aggressive
behavior later in life.56

Premenstrual Syndrome Early biotheorists suspected that premenstrual
syndrome (PMS) was a direct cause of the relatively rare instances of female vio-
lence: “For several days prior to and during menstruation, the stereotype has been
that ‘raging hormones’ doom women to irritability and poor judgment—two facets
of premenstrual syndrome.”57 The link between PMS and delinquency was popular-
ized by Katharina Dalton, whose studies of Englishwomen led her to conclude that
females are more likely to commit suicide and be aggressive and otherwise antisocial
before or during menstruation.58

Today there is conflicting evidence on the relationship between PMS and female
delinquency. Diana Fishbein, an expert on biosocial theory, concludes that there is an
association between elevated levels of female aggression and menstruation. Research
shows that a significant number of incarcerated females committed their crimes during
the premenstrual phase, and also that a small percentage of women appear vulnerable
to cyclical hormonal changes that make them more prone to anxiety and hostility.59

Fishbein notes that even though a majority of women do not actually engage in crimi-
nal behavior during their menstrual cycle the evidence does show a link.60 While this
evidence is persuasive, the true relationship between crime and the female menstrual
cycle still remains unknown.61 It is possible that the stress associated with menstrua-
tion produces crime, and it is also possible that the stress of antisocial behavior pro-
duces early menstruation.62

Aggression According to some biosocial theorists, gender differences in the delin-
quency rate can be explained by inborn differences in aggression; males are inherently

G E N D E R A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 143

Figure 6.1 Trait Differences in Male and Female Delinquents

• Disordered care-taking

• Lack of educational stimulation
in the home

• Reading problems

• A need for remedial education
by age 10

• Late maturation

• An unemployed, criminal,
or absent father

A longitudinal study that followed children born on the
Hawaiian island of Kauai in 1955 for thirty-two years found tha

the most reliable traits for predicting delinquency in boys
included these:

In addition, boys appeared to be particularly vulnerable to early
childhood learning problems, leading to school failure. A
combination of reaching puberty late and lack of a significant
male role model also encouraged the persistence of antisocial
behavior throughout adolescence.

• A history of minor congenital
defects

• Low development scores by age 2

• A need for mental health services
by age 10

• Earlier-than-average onset of
puberty

In the same longitudinal study, researchers found that
delinquent girls tend to have the following traits:

Researchers hypothesize that birth defects and slow early
development could lead to poor self-esteem, whereas early
sexual development may encourage sexual relationships with
older males and conflict with parents.

Source: Felton Earls and Albert Reiss, Breaking the Cycle: Predicting and Preventing Crime (Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, 1994), pp. 24–25.

more likely to be aggressive.63 Some psychologists have suggested that these differ-
ences are present very early in life, appearing before socialization can influence be-
havior. Males seem to be more aggressive in all societies for which data are available;
gender differences in aggression can even be found in nonhuman primates.64

Some biosocial theorists argue that gender-based differences in aggression reflect
the dissimilarities in the male and female reproductive systems. Males are more ag-
gressive because they wish to possess as many sex partners as possible to increase
their chances of producing offspring. Females have learned to control their aggres-
sive impulses because having multiple mates does not increase their chances of con-
ception. Instead, females concentrate on acquiring things that will help them rear
their offspring, such as a reliable mate who will supply material resources.65

Contemporary Psychological Views
Because girls are socialized to be less aggressive than boys, it is possible that the
young women who do get involved in antisocial and violent behavior are suffering
from some form of mental anguish or abnormality. Girls are also more likely than
boys to be involved in status offenses such as running away and truancy, behaviors
that suggest underlying psychological distress.

Research indicates that antisocial adolescent girls do suffer a wide variety of psy-
chiatric problems and have dysfunctional and violent relationships.66 Incarcerated
adolescent female offenders have more acute mental health symptoms and psychologi-
cal disturbances than male offenders.67 Female delinquents score high on psychologi-
cal tests measuring such traits as psychopathic deviation, schizophrenia, paranoia, and
psychasthenia (a psychological disorder characterized by phobias, obsessions, compul-
sions, or excessive anxiety).68 Clinical interviews indicate that female delinquents are
significantly more likely than males to suffer from mood disorders, including any dis-
ruptive disorder, major depressive disorder, and separation anxiety disorder.69 For
example, serious female delinquents have been found to have a relatively high inci-
dence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits, an affective disorder described by a lack of
remorse or shame, poor judgment, failure to learn by experience, and chronic lying.70

In sum, there are some experts who believe that female delinquents suffer from psy-
chological deficits ranging from lack of self-control to serious impairments.71

SOCIALIZATION VIEWS
Socialization views are based on the idea that a child’s social development may be the
key to understanding delinquent behavior. If a child experiences impairment, family
disruption, and so on, the child will be more susceptible to delinquent associations
and criminality.

Linking crime rate variations to gender differences in socialization is not a recent
phenomenon. In a 1928 work, The Unadjusted Girl, W. I. Thomas suggested that
some girls who have not been socialized under middle-class family controls can be-
come impulsive thrill seekers. According to Thomas, female delinquency is linked to
the “wish” for luxury and excitement.72 Inequities in social class condemn poor girls
from demoralized families to using sex as a means to gain amusement, pretty clothes,
and other luxuries. Precocious sexuality makes these girls vulnerable to older men,
who lead them down the path to decadence.73

Socialization and Delinquency
Scholars concerned with gender differences in crime are interested in the distinction
between the lifestyles of males and females. Girls may be supervised more closely
than boys. If girls behave in a socially disapproved fashion, their parents may be
more likely to notice. Adults may be more tolerant of deviant behavior in boys and
expect boys to act tough and take risks.74 Closer supervision restricts the opportu-

144 C H A P T E R 6

To read about the socialization
of female delinquents, click
on Web Links under the Chap-
ter Resources at http://cj.
wadsworth.com/siegel_
jdcore2e.ht

tp
:
Juvenile Delinquency: The Core COPYRIGHT © 2005 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc

nity for crime and the time available to mingle with
delinquent peers. It follows, then, that the adolescent
girl who is growing up in a troubled home and lacks
supervision may be more prone to delinquency.75

Focus on Socialization In the 1950s, a num-
ber of researchers began to focus on gender-specific
socialization patterns. They made three assumptions
about gender differences in socialization: families exert
a more powerful influence on girls than on boys; girls
do not form close same-sex friendships but compete
with their peers; and female criminals are primarily
sexual offenders. First, parents are stricter with girls
because they perceive them as needing control. In
some families, adolescent girls rebel against strict con-
trols. In others, where parents are absent or unavail-
able, girls may turn to the streets for companionship.
Second, girls rarely form close relationships with fe-
male peers because they view them as rivals for males
who would make eligible marriage partners.76 Instead,
girls enter into affairs with older men who exploit
them, involve them in sexual deviance, and father their
illegitimate children.77 The result is prostitution, drug
abuse, and marginal lives. Their daughters repeat this
pattern in a never-ending cycle of exploitation.

Broken Homes/Fallen Women A number
of experts share emphasis on the family as a primary
influence on delinquent behavior. Male delinquents

were portrayed as rebels who esteemed “toughness,”“excitement,” and other lower-
class values. Males succumbed to the lure of delinquency when they perceived few
legitimate opportunities. In contrast, female delinquents were portrayed as troubled
adolescents who suffered inadequate home lives, and more often than not, were
victims of sexual and physical abuse. Ruth Morris described delinquent girls as
unattractive youths who reside in homes marked by family tensions.78 In The
Delinquent Girl (1970), Clyde Vedder and Dora Somerville suggest that female
delinquency is usually a problem of adjustment to family pressure; an estimated
75 percent of institutionalized girls have family problems.79 They also suggest that
girls have serious problems in a male-dominated culture with rigid and sometimes
unfair social practices.

Other early efforts linked “rebellious” behavior to sexual conflicts in the home.80

Broken or disrupted homes were found to predict female delinquency.81 Females pe-
titioned to juvenile court were more likely than males to be charged with ungovern-
able behavior and sex offenses. They also were more likely to reside in single-parent
homes.82 Studies of incarcerated juveniles found that most of the male delinquents
were incarcerated for burglary and other theft-related offenses, but female delinquents
tended to be involved in incorrigibility and sex offenses. The conclusion: boys became
delinquent to demonstrate their masculinity; girls were delinquent because of hostility
toward parents and a consequent need to obtain attention from others.83

Contemporary Socialization Views
Investigators continue to support the view that female delinquents have more dys-
functional home lives than male offenders.84 Institutionalized girls tell of lives filled
with severe physical and sexual abuse. In addition to tragic home lives, delinquent
girls report social experiences that were frustrating or even degrading.85

G E N D E R A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 145

According to contemporary socialization views, if a girl grows
up in an atmosphere of sexual tension, where hostility exists
between her parents or where the parents are absent, she likely
will turn to outside sources for affection and support. In their
reaction to loneliness, frustration, and parental hostility, girls
begin to engage in the same activities as boys: staying out late
at night, drinking, partying, and riding around with their friends.

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Juvenile Delinquency: The Core COPYRIGHT © 2005 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc

Girls seem to be more deeply affected than boys by child abuse, and the link be-
tween abuse and female delinquency seems stronger than it is for male delinquency.86

A significant amount of female delinquency can be traced to abuse in the home.87

Meda Chesney-Lind, a prominent feminist scholar, has described this association:
“Young women on the run from homes characterized by sexual abuse and parental
neglect are forced, by the very statutes designed to protect them, into the life of an
escaped convict.”88 Girls may be forced into a life of sexual promiscuity because their
sexual desirability makes them a valuable commodity for families living on the edge.
For example, girls may be “lent out” to drug dealers so their parents or partners can
get high. Girls on the streets are encouraged to sell their bodies because they have little
else of value to trade.89 Many of these girls may find themselves pregnant at a very
young age. A number of programs have been created to help prevent teen pregnancy
and to help girls who find themselves pregnant. This is the topic of the above Prevent-
ing and Treating Delinquency feature.

There is a significant body of literature linking abusive home lives to gang participa-
tion and crime. Joan Moore’s analysis of gang girls in East Los Angeles found that many
came from troubled homes. Sixty-eight percent of the girls she interviewed were afraid
of their fathers, and 55 percent reported fear of their mothers.90 Many of the girls re-
ported that their parents were overly strict and controlling, despite the fact that they
engaged in criminality themselves. Moore also details accounts of sexual abuse; about
30 percent of the girls reported that family members had made sexual advances.91 Emily

146 C H A P T E R 6

Preventing Teen Pregnancy
Girls who become pregnant during their teen years often find
themselves on a rocky road. Many drop out of school, believ-
ing they will not be able to handle being a mother and a stu-
dent at the same time. Those who do drop out find themselves
without the necessary skills and educational degree they need
to obtain adequate employment. They may sink into persistent
poverty, managing to survive on meager state support. Their
plight is often intergenerational: children of teen parents are
also more likely to suffer educational deficiencies and be kept
back in school, and are more likely to eventually drop out;
their daughters are similarly significantly more likely to be-
come teen mothers than the offspring of women who are
older, married, and living in two-parent households. For these
reasons, juvenile justice experts believe it is critical to help teen
moms continue with their high school education while receiv-
ing help in developing their parenting skills. A number of
programs have been created to reach this objective.

LEAP
One teen parenting program that has been popular is the
Ohio-based Learning, Earning, and Parenting program
(LEAP). The LEAP program aims at requiring teen moms
either to attend high school or to attempt to earn a GED in
order to attain financial assistance from the state’s Aid to
Families with Dependant Children (AFDC). They are also
awarded an additional monthly stipend if they attend school
and have an equal amount deducted if they drop out. Upon
graduation, they are awarded an additional stipend.

The LEAP program strives to help teens continue their
high school education, gain employment skills, and also
learn effective parenting skills. Evaluations show that the
program does in fact increase participants’ school enrollment
and attendance. However, graduation rates increased only for
those teen moms who were already enrolled in school when
the program was implemented, not for those who entered
after the program was announced. Nonetheless, four-year
follow-up tests indicate that the program can be a big help,
especially in boosting employment among these teens.

LEAP has proven so successful that it is being adopted
in Canada. The Canadian program requires that each teen
complete high school credits and take thirty-five hours
of parenting classes. Once both these requirements are
completed, teens are awarded $500, which can be put away
toward further education for themselves or for the child’s
future education.

GRADS
The Graduation, Reality, and Dual-Role Skills (GRADS)
program is a voluntary program for pregnant teenagers or
teen parents who are in the seventh through twelfth grades.
Also developed in Ohio, GRADS comprises four main areas:
pregnancy, parenting, balancing work and family, and secu-
rity and happiness. Participants attend classes taught by
licensed and certified instructors. They are also placed in
individual counseling and participate in group sessions with
other teen parents. In addition, guest speakers from different
organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, come in to
enrich the classroom experience.

Preventing and Treating Delinquency

Gaarder and Joanne Belknap’s interviews with young women sent to adult prisons indi-
cated that most had endured prolonged sexual abuse and violence. For example, Lisa,
a young White woman serving time for attempted murder, had used drugs, alcohol, and
joined gangs to escape the pain and troubles of her home life. Her mother was an alco-
holic, and her father a convicted rapist. She had been sexually and physically abused by
her stepfather from the ages of nine to eleven. Soon after, Lisa began skipping school,
started using alcohol, and took acid. She joined a gang when she was twelve.“They were
like a family to me,” she told Gaarder and Belknap.“But I became involved in a lot of
stuff. . . . I got high a lot, I robbed people, burglarized homes, stabbed people, and was
involved in drive-bys.”At age fifteen, she stabbed a woman in a fight. She is serving
seven to fifteen years for the crime. She made this statement:

I had just gotten out of this group home. The lady I stabbed had been messing with
my sister’s fiancé. This woman [had] a bunch of my sister’s stuff, like her stereo and
VCR, so me, my sister, her fiancé, and my boyfriend went over to pick up the stuff.
We were all getting high beforehand. When we got to the house, my sister and I went
in. . . . They [her sister and the victim] started fighting over him, and I started stab-
bing her with a knife. I always carried a knife with me because I was in a gang.92

In summary, the socialization approach holds that family interaction is the key to
understanding female delinquency. If a girl grows up in an atmosphere of sexual ten-
sion, where hostility exists between her parents, or where her parents are absent, she is

G E N D E R A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 147

The GRADS program is aimed at strengthening the teens’
bond to society. So far, it appears to be a success. Where the
national dropout rate for teen mothers is approximately
60 percent, for those involved with the GRADS program it
hovers around 14 percent. Repeat pregnancies among teen
moms in the program have also dropped; 13 percent of those
involved with the GRADS program became pregnant again,
whereas 29 percent of those not in the program had additional
pregnancies. In fact, the program has proven so successful that
it is now implemented in 80 percent of Ohio’s school districts
and seventeen other states have adopted the program.

ROAD
Reaching Out to Adolescent Dads (ROAD), is a Virginia-
based program that targets young fathers between the ages
of thirteen and twenty.

The program strives to help these boys continue their
education by encouraging high school attendance or partici-
pation in a GED program. ROAD helps participants develop
job skills and explore career opportunities. Teens are taught
to accept responsibility and are educated on preventing
further pregnancies. The program teaches participants the
importance of father-child relationships and educates them
on parenting skills that will benefit them in caring for their
child. The program helps them understand the importance
of paying child support.

Evaluations suggest that ROAD is successful in increas-
ing paternal levels of responsibility, improves school perfor-
mance, helps participants gain employment, and also reduces
the chances of these teens fathering more children.

CRITICAL THINKING
Do programs that help kids deal with teen pregnancy perhaps
encourage them to have even more children while giving oth-
ers, who are not yet parents, the impression that having chil-
dren while they are still in school is not such a bad thing? Do
you believe that these programs may actually increase the
number of kids born to teen parents?

INFOTRAC COLLEGE EDITION RESEARCH
Can spirituality reduce the incidence of precocious

sex? Go to InfoTrac College Edition and read Willa Doswell,
Malick Kouyate, and Jerome Taylor, “The Role of Spirituality
in Preventing Early Sexual Behavior,” American Journal of
Health Studies 18:195–203 (2003).

Sources: Mike Bauer and Lorraine Graham-Watson, “Learning, Earn-
ing, and Parenting Program (LEAP)—2001 Progress Report” (Ontario,
Canada: Regional Municipality of Niagara, Social Assistance and Em-
ployment Opportunities Division, 2001), pp. 1–3; LEAP Final Report
on Ohio’s Welfare Initiative to Improve School Attendance Among Teen-
age Parents (New York: Manpower Demonstration Research Corpora-
tion, 1997); “Learning, Earning, and Parenting Program” (Ontario,
Canada: Ministry of Community, Family and Children’s Services,
2003), pp. 29–30; U.S. Department of Education, “Compendium of
School-Based and School-Linked Programs for Pregnant and Parent-
ing Adolescents.” National Institute on Early Childhood Development
and Education. Office of Educational Research and Improvement
(Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 1999); ROAD
Program, “Reaching Out to Adolescent Dads.” www.parenting
resources.ncjrs.org/familydynamics/teenparent.html, 2002.

likely to turn to outside sources for support. Girls are expected to follow narrowly
defined behavioral patterns. In contrast, it is not unusual for boys to stay out late,
drive around with friends, or get involved in other unstructured behaviors linked to
delinquency. If in reaction to loneliness and parental hostility, girls engage in the same
“routine activities” as boys (staying out late, partying, and riding around with
friends), they run the risk of engaging in similar types of delinquent behavior.93

The socialization approach holds that a poor home life is likely to have an even
more damaging effect on females than on males. Because girls are less likely than
boys to have close-knit peer associations, they are more likely to need close parental
relationships to retain emotional stability. In fact, girls may become sexually in-
volved with boys to receive support from them, a practice that tends to magnify
their problems.

LIBERAL FEMINIST VIEWS
The feminist movement has, from its origins, fought to help women break away
from their traditional roles and gain economic, educational, and social advancement.
There is little question that the women’s movement has revised the way women per-
ceive their roles in society, and it has altered the relationships of women to many
social institutions.

Liberal feminism has influenced thinking about delinquency. According to lib-
eral feminists, females are less delinquent than males because their social roles pro-
vide fewer opportunities to commit crime. As the roles of women become more
similar to those of men, so will their crime patterns. Female criminality is motivated
by the same influences as male criminality. According to Freda Adler’s important
book Sisters in Crime (1975), by striving for independence women have begun to
alter the institutions that had protected males in their traditional positions of
power.94 Adler argued that female delinquency would be affected by the changing
role of women. As females entered new occupations and participated in sports, poli-
tics, and other traditionally male endeavors, they would also become involved in
crimes that had heretofore been male-oriented; delinquency rates would then con-
verge. She noted that girls were becoming increasingly involved in traditionally
masculine crimes such as gang activity and fighting.

Adler predicted that the women’s movement would produce steeper increases in
the rate of female delinquency because it created an environment in which the roles
of girls and boys converge. She predicted that the changing female role would pro-
duce female criminals who are similar to their male counterparts.95

Support for Liberal Feminism
A number of studies support the feminist view of gender differences in delinquency.96

More than twenty years ago, Rita James Simon explained how the increase in female
criminality is a function of the changing role of women. She claimed that as women
were empowered economically and socially, they would be less likely to feel dependent
and oppressed. Consequently, they would be less likely to attack their traditional tar-
gets: their husbands, their lovers, or even their own children.97 Instead, their new role
as breadwinner might encourage women to engage in traditional male crimes, such
as larceny and car theft.

Simon’s view has been supported in part by research showing a significant corre-
lation between the women’s rights movement and the female crime rate.98 If 1966 is
used as a jumping-off point (because the National Organization for Women was
founded in that year), there are indications that patterns of serious female crime
(robbery and auto theft) correlate with indicators of female emancipation (the di-
vorce rate and participation in the labor force). Although this research does not
prove that female crime is related to social change, it identifies behavior patterns
that support that hypothesis.

148 C H A P T E R 6

liberal feminism
Asserts that females are less delin-
quent than males because their
social roles provide them with
fewer opportunities to commit
crimes; as the roles of girls and
women become more similar to
those of boys and men, so too
will their crime patterns.

critical feminists
Hold that gender inequality stems
from the unequal power of men
and women and the subsequent
exploitation of women by men;
the cause of female delinquency
originates with the onset of male
supremacy and the efforts of males
to control females’ sexuality.

In addition to these efforts, self-report studies support the liberal feminist view
by showing that gender differences in delinquency are fading; that is, the delinquent
acts committed most and least often by girls are nearly identical to those reported
most and least often by boys.99 The pattern of female delinquency, if not the extent,
is now similar to that of male delinquency,100 and with few exceptions the factors
that seem to motivate both male and female criminality seem similar.101 For exam-
ple, research shows that economic disadvantages are felt equally by both male and
female residents.102

As the sex roles of males and females have become less distinct, their offending
patterns have become more similar. Girls may be committing crimes to gain eco-
nomic advancement and not because they lack parental support. Both of these pat-
terns were predicted by liberal feminists.

Critiques of Liberal Feminism
Not all delinquency experts believe changing sex roles influence crime rates. Some
argue that the delinquent behavior patterns of girls have remained static and have
not been influenced by the women’s movement. Females involved in violent crime
more often than not have some connection to a male partner who influences their
behavior. One study of women who kill in the course of their involvement in the
drug trade found that they kill on behalf of a man or out of fear of a man.103

Others dispute that changes in female delinquency rates relate to the feminist
movement. Self-report studies show that female participation in most crime has
remained stable for the past ten years.104 It is possible that the women’s movement
has not influenced crime rates as much as previously thought.105 Perhaps the greater
participation by females in the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) arrest data is more a
function of how police are treating females than an actual change in female behavior
patterns.

CRITICAL FEMINIST VIEWS
A number of writers take a more critical view of gender differences in crime. These
scholars can be categorized as critical feminists (sometimes known as Marxist femi-
nists) who believe gender inequality stems from the unequal power of men and

G E N D E R A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 149

According to liberal feminists,
females are less delinquent than
males because their social roles
provide them with fewer oppor-
tunities to commit crime. As the
roles of girls and women be-
come more similar to those of
males, so too will their crime
patterns. Female criminality is
actually motivated by the same
crime-producing influences as
male criminality. The fact that
female delinquency is rising
at a faster rate than male de-
linquency reflects the conver-
gence of their social roles.

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women in a capitalist society and the exploitation of females by fathers and husbands:
under capitalism, women are a “commodity” like land or money.106 Female delin-
quency originates with the onset of male supremacy (patriarchy), the subordination
of women, male aggression, and the efforts of men to control females sexually.107

Critical feminists focus on the social forces that shape girls’ lives.108 They
attempt to show how the sexual victimization of girls is often a function of male
socialization and that young males learn to be exploitive of women. James Messer-
schmidt, an influential feminist scholar, has formulated a theoretical model to show
how misguided concepts of “masculinity” flow from the inequities built into “patri-
archal capitalism.” Men dominate business in capitalist societies, and males who
cannot function well within its parameters are at risk for crime. Women are inher-
ently powerless in such a society, and their crimes reflect their limited access to both
legitimate and illegitimate opportunity.109 It is not surprising that research surveys
have found that 90 percent of adolescent girls are sexually harassed in school, with
almost 30 percent reporting having been psychologically pressured to “do something
sexual,” and 10 percent physically forced into sexual behaviors.110

According to the critical feminist view, male exploitation acts as a trigger for
female delinquent behavior. Female delinquents recount being so severely harassed
at school that they were forced to carry knives. Some reported that boyfriends—men
sometimes in their thirties—who “knew how to treat a girl” would draw them into
criminal activity such as drug trafficking, which eventually entangled them in the
justice system.111

When female adolescents run away and use drugs, they may be reacting to abuse at
home or at school. Their attempts at survival are then labeled delinquent.112 Research
shows that a significant number of girls who are victims of sexual and other forms of
abuse later engage in delinquency.113 All too often, school officials ignore complaints
made by female students. Young girls therefore may feel trapped and desperate.

Crime and Patriarchy
A number of theoretical models have attempted to use a critical or Marxist feminist
perspective to explain gender differences in delinquency. For example, in Capitalism,
Patriarchy, and Crime, Marxist James Messerschmidt argues that capitalist society
is characterized by both patriarchy and class conflict. Capitalists control workers,
and men control women, both economically and biologically.114 This “double mar-
ginality” explains why females in a capitalist society commit fewer crimes than
males: they are isolated in the family and have fewer opportunities to engage in
elite deviance (white-collar and economic crimes); they are also denied access to
male-dominated street crimes. Because capitalism renders women powerless, they
are forced to commit less serious crimes such as abusing drugs.

Power-Control Theory
John Hagan and his associates have speculated that gender differences in delinquency
are a function of class differences that influence family life. Hagan, who calls his view
power-control theory, suggests that class influences delinquency by controlling the
quality of family life.115 In paternalistic families, fathers assume the role of bread-
winners and mothers have menial jobs or remain at home. Mothers are expected to
control the behavior of their daughters while granting greater freedom to sons. The
parent-daughter relationship can be viewed as a preparation for the “cult of domes-
ticity,” which makes daughters’ involvement in delinquency unlikely. Hence, males
exhibit a higher degree of delinquent behavior than their sisters.

In egalitarian families—in which the husband and wife share similar positions
of power at home and in the workplace—daughters gain a kind of freedom that
reflects reduced parental control. These families produce daughters whose law-
violating behaviors mirror those of their brothers. Ironically, these kinds of rela-
tionships also occur in households with absent fathers. Similarly, Hagan and his

150 C H A P T E R 6

For more than twenty years,
the Center for Research on
Women has been at the
forefront of research in which
the central questions are
shaped by the experiences and
perspectives of women. Its
Web site can be accessed by
clicking on Web Links under
the Chapter Resources at
http://cj.wadsworth.com/
siegel_ jdcore2e.

ht
tp
:

power-control theory
Holds that gender differences in
the delinquency rate are a function
of class differences and economic
conditions that influence the
structure of family life.

egalitarian families
Husband and wife share power at
home; daughters gain a kind of
freedom similar to that of sons
and their law-violating behaviors
mirror those of their brothers.

associates found that when both fathers and mothers hold equally valued managerial
positions the similarity between the rates of their daughters’ and sons’ delinquency is
greatest. Therefore, middle-class girls are most likely to violate the law because they
are less closely controlled than lower-class girls.

Research conducted by Hagan and his colleagues has tended to support the core
relationship between family structure and gender differences in delinquency.116

However, some of the basic premises of power-control theory, such as the relation-
ship between social class and delinquency, have been challenged. For example, some
critics have questioned the assumption that upper-class youths may engage in more
petty delinquency than lower-class youths because they are brought up to be “risk
takers” who do not fear the consequences of their misdeeds.117

Power-control theory encourages a new approach to the study of delinquency,
one that addresses gender differences, class position, and family structure. It also
helps explain the relative increase in female delinquency by stressing the significance
of changing feminine roles. With the increase in single-parent homes, the patterns
Hagan has identified may change. The decline of the patriarchal family may produce
looser family ties on girls, changing sex roles, and increased delinquency. Ironically,
this raises an interesting dilemma: the daughters of successful and powerful mothers
are more at risk for delinquency than the daughters of stay-at-home moms! How-
ever, as sociologist Christopher Uggen points out, there may be a bright side to this
dilemma: the daughters of independent working mothers may not only be more
likely to commit delinquent acts but also be encouraged to take prosocial risks such
as engaging in athletic competition and breaking into traditional male-dominated
occupations such as policing and the military.118

GENDER AND THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM
Gender differences not only have an effect on crime patterns but also may have a
significant impact on the way children are treated by the juvenile justice system.
Several feminist scholars argue that girls are not only the victims of injustice at home
but also risk being victimized by agents of the justice system.

Are girls still “victims” of the juvenile justice system? Meda Chesney-Lind’s well-
regarded research found that police are more likely to arrest female adolescents for

✔ Checkpoints

G E N D E R A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 151

According to power-control
theory, when girls grow up in
egalitarian families, where the
husband and the wife share
similar positions of power at
home and in the workplace,
they achieve freedom and
independence.

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Checkpoints
✔ There are a variety of views on why

girls become delinquent and why
there are gender differences in the
crime rate.

✔ At one time it was believed that
girls were naturally less aggressive
and female criminals were a bio-
logical aberration.

✔ Some experts still believe that
hormonal differences can explain
why males are more aggressive.

✔ Some experts believe that males
are more aggressive because they
have evolved that way to secure
mates.

✔ Under some circumstances females
may act more aggressively than
males.

✔ Some experts believe that girls
have been socialized to be less
violent.

✔ Female delinquents may be the
product of a destructive home life,
rebelling against abusive parents.

✔ The liberal feminist view is that
girls did not have the same oppor-
tunities to commit crime as boys
and that rising female crime
rates represent changing life
circumstances.

✔ Critical feminists see female delin-
quency as a function of male
domination and abuse.

To quiz yourself on this
material, go to questions
6.6–6.20 on the Juvenile

Delinquency: The Core 2e Web site.
Juvenile Delinquency: The Core COPYRIGHT © 2005 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc

sexual activity and to ignore the same behavior among male delinquents.119 Girls
were also more likely to be sent to a detention facility before trial, and the length of
their detention averaged three times that of boys. Girls are far more likely than boys
to be picked up by police for status offenses and are more likely to be kept in deten-
tion for such offenses.120

Girls, more than boys, are still disadvantaged if their behavior is viewed as morally
incorrect by government officials or if they are considered beyond parental control.121

Recent research conducted by John MacDonald and Meda Chesney-Lind found that
the juvenile justice system still categorizes female offenders into two distinct groups:
girls who momentarily strayed from the “good girl” path and are therefore deserving
of solicitous, humanitarian treatment, and dangerously wayward girls who have seri-
ous problems and must therefore be kept under strict control lest they stray further.122

Girls may also be feeling the brunt of the more punitive policies now being used
in the juvenile justice system. For example, when Chesney-Lind and Vickie Paramore
analyzed data from the City and County of Honolulu they found that tougher juve-
nile justice standards meant that more cases were being handled formally in the juve-
nile justice system.123 While girls are actually committing fewer violent crimes, they
are more likely to become enmeshed in the grasp of the juvenile justice system. Once
in the system, they may receive fewer benefits and services than their male counter-
parts. Institutionalized girls report that they are given fewer privileges and less space,
equipment, programs, and treatment than institutionalized boys.124

Girls may still be subject to harsh punishments if they are considered danger-
ously immoral. Girls are significantly more likely to be arrested on status offense
charges than boys.125 However, the arrest rates for girls show that girls are charged
with status offenses more often than boys because some of the behaviors they are
participating in are considered negative when perpetrated by a female but would not
gain official attention if engaged in by a male.126

There still appears to be an association between male standards of “beauty” and
sexual behavior: criminal justice professionals may look on attractive girls who en-
gage in sexual behavior more harshly, overlooking some of the same behaviors in less
attractive girls. In some jurisdictions, girls are still being incarcerated for status of-
fenses because their behavior does not measure up to concepts of “proper” female
behavior.127 Even though girls are still less likely to be arrested than boys, those who
fail to measure up to stereotypes of proper female behavior are more likely to be
sanctioned than male offenders.128

Why do these differences persist? Perhaps because correctional authorities con-
tinue to subscribe to stereotyped beliefs about the needs of young girls. Writing in
1998 with Randall Shelden, Meda Chesney-Lind found that court officials and policy-
makers still show a lack of concern about girls’ victimization and instead are more
concerned with controlling their behavior than addressing the factors that brought
them to the attention of the juvenile justice system in the first place.129

152 C H A P T E R 6

• The relationship between gender and delinquency has
become a topic of considerable interest to criminologists.

• At one time, attention was directed solely at male of-
fenders and the rare female delinquent was considered
an oddity. The nature and extent of female delinquent
activities have changed, and girls are now engaging in
more frequent and serious illegal activity.

• Sociologists and psychologists recognize that there are
differences in attitudes, values, and behavior between
boys and girls.

• There are cognitive differences. Females process infor-
mation differently than males do and have different
cognitive and physical strengths. These differences may,
in part, explain gender differences in delinquency.

• Girls are socialized differently, which causes them
to internalize rather than externalize anger and
aggression.

• There are also psychological differences between the
sexes. Girls may actually be at risk for a greater level
of mental anguish than boys.

SUMMARY

G E N D E R A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 153

• There are a number of different views of female
delinquency.

• Trait views are concerned with biological and psycho-
logical differences between the sexes. Early efforts by
Cesare Lombroso and his followers placed the blame
for delinquency on physical differences between males
and females. Girls who were delinquent had inherent
masculine characteristics.

• Contemporary trait theorists view girls’ psychological
makeup and hormonal and physical characteristics
as key to their delinquent behavior.

• Socialization has also been identified as a cause of
delinquency. Males are socialized to be tough and
aggressive, females to be passive and obedient.

• Early socialization views portrayed the adolescent
female offender as a troubled girl who lacked love at
home and supportive peer relations.

• These theories treated female delinquents as sexual
offenders whose criminal activities were linked to
destructive relationships with men.

• Contemporary socialization views continue to depict
female delinquents as being raised in hellish homes
where they are victims of sexual and physical abuse.

• More recent views of gender and delinquency incorpo-
rate the changes brought about by the women’s move-
ment. Liberal feminists argue that, as the roles of women
change, so will their crime patterns. Although a number
of studies support this view, some theorists question its
validity. The female crime rate has increased, and female
delinquency patterns now resemble those of males, but
the gender gap has not narrowed after more than two
decades.

• Critical feminists view female delinquency as a func-
tion of patriarchy and the mistreatment and exploita-
tion of females in a male-dominated society.

• Hagan’s power-control theory helps us understand
why these differences exist and whether change may
be coming.

• The treatment girls receive by the juvenile justice sys-
tem has also been the subject of debate. Originally, it
was thought that police protected girls from the stigma
of a delinquency label. Contemporary criminologists
charge, however, that girls are discriminated against by
agents of the justice system.

masculinity hypothesis, p. 136
gender-schema theory, p. 139
chivalry hypothesis, p. 141

precocious sexuality, p. 142
liberal feminism, p. 148
critical feminists, p. 148

power-control theory, p. 150
egalitarian families, p. 150

KEY TERMS

1. Are girls delinquent for different reasons than boys?
Do girls have a unique set of problems?

2. As sex roles become more homogenous, do you believe
female delinquency will become identical to male
delinquency in rate and type?

3. Does the sexual double standard still exist?

4. Are lower-class girls more strictly supervised than
upper- and middle-class girls? Is control stratified
across class lines?

5. Are girls the victims of unfairness at the hands of the
justice system, or do they benefit from “chivalry?”

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

As the principal of a northeastern junior high school, you
get a call from a parent who is disturbed because he has
heard a rumor that the student literary digest plans to
publish a story with a sexual theme. The work is written by
a junior high school girl who became pregnant during the
year and underwent an abortion. You ask for and receive
a copy of the narrative.

The girl’s story is actually a cautionary tale of young
love that results in an unwanted pregnancy. The author
details the abusive home life that led her to engage in an

intimate relationship with another student, her pregnancy,
her conflict with her parents, her decision to abort, and the
emotional turmoil that the incident created. She tells stu-
dents to use contraception if they are sexually active and
recommends appropriate types of birth control. There
is nothing provocative or sexually explicit in the work.

Some teachers argue that girls should not be allowed
to read this material because it has sexual content from
which they must be protected, and that in a sense it advo-
cates defiance of parents. Also, some parents may object to

APPLYING WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

154 C H A P T E R 6

a story about precocious sexuality because they fear it may
encourage their children to “experiment.” Such behavior
is linked to delinquency and drug abuse. Those who advo-
cate publication believe that girls have a right to read
about such important issues and decide on their own
course of action.

• Should you force the story’s deletion because its theme
is essentially sexual and controversial?

• Should you allow publication because it deals with the
subject matter in a mature fashion?

• Do you think reading and learning about sexual matters
encourages or discourages experimentation in sexuality?

• Should young girls be protected from such material?
Would it cause them damage?

• Inequalities still exist in the way boys and girls are
socialized by their parents and treated by social insti-
tutions. Do these gender differences also manifest
themselves in the delinquency rate? What effect do
gender roles have on behavior choices?

To help you answers these questions and to find out more
information on the gender of status offenders, click on Web
Links under the Chapter Resources at http://cj.wadsworth
.com/siegel_jdcore2e. Then go to the Web site for Hazel-
wood School District et al. v. Kuhlmeier et al. and other
landmark cases; go also to the National Scholastic Press

Association and the high school journalism Web site to
read more about school news and censorship issues.

Pro/Con discussions and Viewpoint Essays on some of the topics in
this chapter may be found at the Opposing Viewpoints Resource
Center: www.gale.com/OpposingViewpoints.

DOING RESEARCH ON THE WEB

c h a p t e r 7

The Family and

Delinquency

CHAPTER OUTLINE

THE CHANGING AMERICAN FAMILY
Family Makeup
Child Care
Economic Stres

THE FAMILY’S INFLUENCE ON DELINQUENCY
Family Breakup
Family Conflict
Family Neglect
Family Deviance

CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT
Historical Foundatio

Defining Abuse and Neglect
The Extent of Child Abuse
Causes of Child Abuse and Neglect
Focus on Delinquency: Relationship
Between Substance Abuse and Child
Maltreatment
The Child Protection System: Philosophy
and Practice
The Abused Child in Court
Disposition of Abuse and Neglect Cases

ABUSE, NEGLECT, AND DELINQUENCY
The Abuse-Delinquency Link

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter you
should

1. Be familiar with the link between
family relationships and juvenile
delinquency.

2. Understand the complex
association between family
breakup and delinquent behavior.

3. Understand why families in conflict
produce more delinquents than
those that function harmoniously.

4. Know the association between
inconsistent discipline and
supervision and juvenile crime.

5. Be able to discuss how parental
and sibling misconduct influences
delinquent behaviors.

6. Define the concept of child abuse.
7. Know the nature and extent of

abuse.
8. Be able to list the factors that are

seen as causing child abuse.
9. Be familiar with the complex

system of state intervention in
abuse cases.

10. Discuss the association between
child abuse and delinquent
behavior.

155

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156 C H A P T E R 7

The problems faced by runaways illustrate the significant impact that family relation-
ships have on adolescent development. Many experts believe that family dysfunction
is a key ingredient in the development of the emotional deficits that eventually lead to
long-term social problems.1 Interactions between parents and children, and between
siblings, provide opportunities for children to acquire or inhibit antisocial behavi

patterns.2 Children living in high-crime areas are able to resist the temptation of the
streets if they receive fair discipline and support from parents who provide them with
positive role models.3 However, children in affluent families who are being raised in a
household characterized by abuse and conflict, or whose parents are absent or sepa-
rated, will still be at risk for delinquency.4 Nor is the relationship between family life
and delinquency unique to U.S. culture; cross-national data support a significant
association between family variables and delinquency.5

The assumed relationship between delinquency and family life is critical today
because the American family is changing. Extended families, once common, are now
for the most part anachronisms. In their place is the nuclear family, described as a
“dangerous hothouse of emotions” because of the close contact between parents
and children; in these families, problems are unrelieved by contact with other kin
living nearby.

The nuclear family is showing signs of breakdown. Much of the responsibility for
child rearing is delegated to television and daycare providers. Despite these changes,
some families are able to continue functioning as healthy units, producing well-adjusted
children. Others have crumbled under the stress, severely damaging their children.7

This is particularly true when child abuse and neglect become part of family life.
Because these issues are critical for understanding delinquency, this chapter is

devoted to an analysis of the family’s role in producing or inhibiting delinquency. We
first cover the changing face of the American family. We then review the way family
structure and function influence delinquent behavior. The relationship between
child abuse, neglect, and delinquency is covered in some depth.

Although estimates vary, somewhere

from one to three million kids run away

from home each year. Most stay with a

friend for a few days and then return

home. Others stay away longer; some

leave home never to return. Many find

shelter with other kids living in similar

circumstances, sleeping under bridges

and in abandoned buildings, forming un-

easy alliances for survival. Many abuse

drugs and become the victims of preda-

tory criminals. Few remain undamaged

by their ordeal.

Why do they run? While some may be

evading the law, suffering depression, or

dealing with a personal crisis, most are

running from a disturbed family or home

life. They have problems with their par-

ents’ divorce or remarriage; there is con-

flict over rules and discipline; sibling

conflicts have gotten out of control. Many

of these kids simply want to remove

themselves from a bad situation without

any destination in mind or plan for the

future. Some teens repeatedly run away

from home, only to become an easy tar-

get for adult predators who try to lure

them into prostitution, drug use, or both.

VIEW THE CNN VIDEO CLIP OF THIS

STORY AND ANSWER RELATED CRITICAL

THINKING QUESTIONS ON YOUR JUVENILE

DELINQUENCY: THE CORE 2E CD.

A great deal of information on
families and children can be
found at the Web site of the
David and Lucile Packard
Foundation by clicking on
Web Links under the Chapter
Resources at http://cj.
wadsworth.com/siegel_
jdcore2e.

ht
tp

nuclear family
A family unit composed of parents
and their children; this smaller
family structure is subject to great
stress due to the intense, close
contact between parents and
children.

THE CHANGING AMERICAN FAMILY
The so-called traditional family—with a male breadwinner and a female who cares
for the home—is a thing of the past. No longer can this family structure be consid-
ered the norm. Changing sex roles have created a family where women play a much
greater role in the economic process; this has created a more egalitarian family struc-
ture. About three-quarters of all mothers of school-age children are employed, up
from 50 percent in 1970 and 40 percent in 1960. The changing economic structure
may be reflected in shifting sex roles. Fathers are now spending more time with their
children on workdays than they did twenty years ago (2.3 hours versus 1.8), and
women are spending somewhat less time (3.0 hours versus 3.3).8 On their days off,
both working men and women spend about an hour more with their children than
they did twenty years ago, with women devoting about eight hours, and men six. So
although the time spent with children may be less than would be desirable, it has
increased over the past twenty years.

Family Makeup
The proportion of American households that have children who live with both par-
ents has declined substantially. Today about 37 percent of African-American children
live in families that have two parents; about 74 percent of White children live with
two parents.9 As many as 40 percent of White children and 75 percent of African-
American children will experience parental separation or divorce before they reach
age sixteen, and many of these children will experience multiple family disruptions
over time.

Though there has been a sharp decline in the teen birthrate (dropping 28 percent
between 1990 and 2002), a significant number of children are still being born to un-
married women. A total of 4,040,121 births were reported in the United States in 2002,
about one-third of them, or 1.3 million, to unmarried women (see Figure 7.1).11

T H E FA M I LY A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 157

Figure 7.1 Percent of Births to Unmarried Women
in the United States, 1990–2001

Percentage of births to unmarried women

Year

1991 1993 19951990 1992 1994 1996 1997 1999 20021998 2000 2001

Source: “Birth: Final Data for 2001,” National Vital Statistic Reports, v51, n2 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics,
2002), Table C.

Child Care
Charged with caring for children is a daycare system whose workers are often paid
the minimum wage. Of special concern are “family daycare homes,” in which a single
provider takes care of three to nine children. Several states neither license nor moni-
tor these private providers. Even in states that mandate registration and inspection
of daycare providers, it is estimated that 90 percent or more of the facilities operate
“underground.” It is not uncommon for one adult to care for eight infants, an im-
possible task regardless of training or feelings of concern.

Children from working poor families are most likely to suffer from inadequate
child care; these children often spend time in makeshift arrangements that allow
their parents to work but lack the stimulating environment children need to thrive.

About 3.5 million children under age thirteen spend some time at home alone each
week while their parents are at work.

Economic Stress
The family is also undergoing economic stress (see Table 7.1). About 17 percent of all
children live in poverty and about 7 percent live in extreme poverty—at least 50 per-
cent below the poverty line. About 30 percent of all children live in families where no
parent has full-time, year-round employment.13 The majority of indigent families
live in substandard housing without adequate health care, nutrition, or child care.
Those whose incomes place them above the poverty line are deprived of government
assistance. Recent political trends suggest that the social “safety net” is under attack
and that poor families can expect less government aid in the coming years.

Will this economic pressure be reduced in the future? The number of senior
citizens is on the rise. As people retire, there will be fewer workers to cover the costs
of Social Security, medical care, and nursing home care. These costs will put greater
economic stress on families. Voter sentiment has an impact on the allocation of
public funds, and there is concern that an older generation, worried about health
care costs, may be reluctant to spend tax dollars on at-risk kids.

THE FAMILY’S INFLUENCE ON DELINQUENCY
Most experts believe a disturbed home environment can have a significant impact on
delinquency. The family is the primary unit in which children learn the values and

158 C H A P T E R 7

Table 7.1 Family Well-Being: National Indicators

Median income of families with children $50,000

Children in extreme poverty (income below 50% of poverty level) 7%

Female-headed families receiving child support or alimony 36%

Households with children receiving Earned Income Tax Credit 15,251,000

Average Earned Income Tax Credit for households with children $1,968

Households eligible for food stamps, but not receiving them 41%

Children without Internet access at home 52%

Children without a telephone at home 3%

Children without a vehicle at home 7%

Children without health insurance 12%

Two-year-olds who were immunized 79%

Low-income households with children where housing costs exceed 30% of income 59%

Source: Kids Count 2003 Data Book Online, www.aecf.org/cgi-bin/kc.cgi?action=profile&area=United+States.

attitudes that guide their actions throughout their lives. Family disruption or change
can have a long-lasting impact on children.

Four categories of family dysfunction seem to promote delinquent behavior:
families disrupted by spousal conflict or breakup, families involved in interpersonal
conflict, negligent parents who are not attuned to their children’s behavior and emo-
tional problems, and families that contain deviant parents who may transmit their
behavior to their children (see Figure 7.2).14 These factors may interact; for example,
drug-abusing parents may be more likely to experience family conflict, child neglect,
and marital breakup. We now turn to the specific types of family problems that have
been linked to delinquent behavior.

Family Breakup
One of the most enduring controversies in the study of delinquency is the relationship
between a parent absent from the home and the onset of delinquent behavior. Research
indicates that parents whose marriage is secure produce children who are secure and
independent.15 In contrast, children growing up in homes with one or both parents
absent may be prone to antisocial behavior.

A number of experts contend that a broken home is a strong determinant of a
child’s law-violating behavior. The connection seems self-evident because a child is first
socialized at home. Any disjunction in an orderly family structure could be expected
to have a negative impact on the child.

The suspected broken home–delinquency relationship is important because, if
current trends continue, less than half of all children born today will live continuously
with their own mother and father throughout childhood. And because stepfamilies,
or so-called blended families, are less stable than families consisting of two biological
parents, an increasing number of children will experience family breakup two or even
three times during childhood.

A number of studies indicate that children who have experienced family breakup
are more likely to demonstrate behavior problems and hyperactivity than children in
intact families.17 Family breakup is often associated with conflict, hostility, and
aggression; children of divorce are suspected of having lax supervision, weakened

T H E FA M I LY A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 159

Figure 7.2 Family Influences on Behavior

Delinquency

Family Breakup Family Conflict

Family Neglect Family Deviance

Each of these four factors has been linked to antisocial behavior and delinquency. Interaction between these
factors may escalate delinquent activity.

broken home
Home in which one or both par-
ents are absent due to divorce or
separation; children in such an
environment may be prone to
antisocial behavior.

blended families
Nuclear families that are the prod-
uct of divorce and remarriage,
blending one parent from each of
two families and their combined
children into one family unit.

attachment, and greater susceptibility to peer pressure.

And as a recent study of more than four thousand youths
in Denver, Pittsburgh, and Rochester found, the more
often children are forced to go through family transitions
the more likely they are to engage in delinquent activity.19

The Effects of Divorce The relationship be-
tween broken homes and delinquency has been contro-
versial, to say the least. It was established in early research,
which suggested that a significant association existed
between parental absence and youthful misconduct.20

For many years the link was clear: children growing up
in broken homes were much more likely to fall prey to
delinquency than those who lived in two-parent
households.21

Beginning in the late 1950s some researchers began to
question the link between broken homes and delinquency.
Early studies, they claimed, used the records of police,
courts, and correctional institutions.22 This research may
have been tainted by sampling bias: youths from broken
homes may get arrested more often than youths from in-
tact families, but this does not necessarily mean they en-
gage in more frequent and serious delinquent behavior.
Official statistics may reflect the fact that agents of the

justice system treat children from disrupted households more severely because they
cannot call on parents for support. The parens patriae philosophy of the juvenile courts
calls for official intervention when parental supervision is considered inadequate.23

A number of subsequent studies, using self-report data, have failed to establish any
clear-cut relationship between broken homes and delinquent behavior.24 Boys and
girls from intact families seem as likely to self-report delinquency as those whose par-
ents are divorced or separated. Researchers concluded that the absence of parents has a
greater effect on agents of the justice system than it does on the behavior of children.25

Divorce Reconsidered Though some researchers still question the divorce-
delinquency link, there is growing sentiment that family breakup is traumatic and
most likely has a direct influence on factors related to adolescent misbehavior.26 In
her study of the effects of parental absence on children, sociologist Sara McLanahan
finds that children who grow up apart from their biological fathers typically do less
well than children who grow up with both biological parents. They are less likely
to finish high school and attend college, less likely to find and keep a steady job, and
more likely to become teen mothers. Although most children who grow up with a
single parent do quite well, differences between children in one- and two-parent fami-
lies are significant, and there is fairly good evidence that father absence per se is re-
sponsible for some social problems.27 The McLanahan research has been supported
by other studies showing that divorce is in fact related to delinquency and status
offending, especially if a child had a close relationship with the parent who is forced
to leave the home.28 The effects of divorce seem gender-specific:

■ Boys seem to be more affected by the postdivorce absence of the father. In post-
divorce situations, fathers seem less likely to be around to solve problems, to dis-
cuss standards of conduct, or to enforce discipline. A divorced father who remains
actively involved in his child’s life reduces his son’s chances of delinquency.

■ Girls are more affected by both the quality of the mother’s parenting and post-
divorce parental conflict. It is possible that extreme levels of parental conflict
may serve as a model to young girls coping with the aftermath of their parents’
separation.29

160 C H A P T E R 7

Secure marriages produce children who are protected and
learn to become independent. Children growing up in homes
with one or both parents absent are more vulnerable to anti-
social behavior. Because a child is first socialized at home,
any disjunction in an orderly family structure can be expected
to have a negative impact on the child.

ef
f G

re
en

be
rg

/P
ho

to
Ed

intrafamily violence
An environment of discord and
conflict within the family; children
who grow up in dysfunctional
homes often exhibit delinquent
behaviors, having learned at a
young age that aggression pays off.

Although the prevailing wisdom is that “marriage is better than divorce,”
research by Sara Jaffee and her associates shows that the quality of marriage may be
more important than its makeup. They found that the less time fathers lived with
their children, the more conduct problems their children had. However, when fathers
engaged in high levels of antisocial behavior, the more time they lived with their
children the more conduct problems their children had. Marriage, they conclude,
may not be the answer to the problems faced by children living in single-parent fam-
ilies unless their fathers can refrain from deviant behaviors and become reliable
sources of emotional and economic support.30

Family Conflict
Not all unhappy marriages end in divorce; some continue in an atmosphere of con-
flict. Intrafamily conflict is a common experience in many American families.31 The
link between parental conflict and delinquency was established almost forty years
ago when F. Ivan Nye found that a child’s perception of his or her parents’ marital
happiness was a significant predictor of delinquency.32 Contemporary studies also
find that children who grow up in maladapted homes and witness discord or vio-
lence later exhibit emotional disturbance and behavior problems.33 There seems to
be little difference between the behavior of children who merely witness intrafamily
violence and those who are its victims.34 In fact, some research efforts show that
observing the abuse of a parent (mother) is a more significant determinant of delin-
quency than being the target of child abuse.35

Research efforts have consistently supported the relationship between family
conflict, hostility, and delinquency.36 Adolescents who are incarcerated report grow-
ing up in dysfunctional homes.37 Parents of beyond-control youngsters have been
found to be inconsistent rule-setters, to be less likely to show interest in their chil-
dren, and to display high levels of hostile detachment.38

Although damaged parent-child relationships are associated with delinquency, it
is difficult to assess the relationship. It is often assumed that preexisting family prob-
lems cause delinquency, but it may also be true that children who act out put enor-
mous stress on a family. Kids who are conflict-prone may actually help to destabilize
households. To avoid escalation of a child’s aggression, these parents may give in to
their children’s demands. The children learn that aggression pays off.39

T H E FA M I LY A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 161

Family conflict has been linked
to delinquency. Some experts
believe that improved parenting
skills may be key to reducing
the incidence of child abuse.
Here, Nicholas, 9 (left), and his
brother, Jared, 7, get help with
homework from their mom,
Wendy Hastie, at their home in
Nashville, Tenn. Wendy Hastie
and her husband recently com-
pleted a Youth Village treatment
program so they could learn to
cope better with behavioral and
health problems experienced by
Jared. The program stresses
early intervention in an attempt
to head off problems before a
juvenile breaks the law.

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Juvenile Delinquency: The Core COPYRIGHT © 2005 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc

Parents may feel overwhelmed and shut their child out of their lives. Adolescent
misbehavior may be a precursor of family conflict; strife leads to more adolescent
misconduct, producing an endless cycle of family stress and delinquency.40

Which is worse, growing up in a home marked by conflict or growing up in a
broken home? Research shows that children in both broken homes and high-conflict
intact homes were worse off than children in low-conflict, intact families.41 How-
ever, even when parents are divorced, kids who maintain attachments to their
parents are less likely to engage in delinquency than those who are alienated and
detached.42 See Exhibit 7.1 for other key findings on divorce.

Family Neglect
Parents who are supportive and effectively control their children in a noncoercive
fashion—a phenomenon referred to as parental efficacy—are more likely to raise
children who refrain from delinquency.43 Delinquency will be reduced if parents
provide the type of structure that integrates children into families while giving them
the ability to assert their individuality and regulate their own behavior.44 In some
cultures emotional support from the mother is critical, while in others the father’s
support remains the key factor.45

A number of studies support the link between the quality of family life and de-
linquency. Children who feel inhibited with their parents and refuse to discuss impor-
tant issues with them are more likely to engage in deviant activities. Poor child-parent
communications have been related to dysfunctional activities such as running away,
and in all too many instances these children enter the ranks of homeless street youths
who get involved in theft and prostitution to survive.46 In contrast, even children who
appear to be at-risk are better able to resist involvement in delinquent activity when
they report a strong attachment to their parents.47 The importance of close relations
with the family may diminish as children reach late adolescence and develop stronger
peer-group relations, but most experts believe family influence remains considerable
throughout life.48

Inconsistent Discipline Studies show that the parents of delinquent youths
tend to be inconsistent disciplinarians, either overly harsh or extremely lenient.49

But what conclusions can we draw from this observation?
The link between discipline and deviant behavior is uncertain. Most Americans

still support the use of corporal punishment in disciplining children. The use of
physical punishment cuts across racial, ethnic, and religious groups.50 There is grow-

162 C H A P T E R 7

Exhibit 7.1 The Family Structure–Delinquency Link

• Children growing up in families disrupted
by parental death are better adjusted than
children of divorce. Parental absence is
not per se a cause of antisocial behavior.

• Remarriage does not lessen the effects of
divorce on youth: children living with a
stepparent exhibit (a) as many problems
as youths in divorce situations and
(b) considerably more problems than do
children living with both biological parents.

• Continued contact with the noncusto-
dial parent has little effect on a child’s
well-being.

• Evidence that the behavior of children
of divorce improves over time is
inconclusive.

• Postdivorce conflict between parents
is related to child maladjustment.

• Parental divorce raises the likelihood
of teenage marriage.

Sources: Nicholas Wolfinger, “Parental Divorce and Offspring Marriage: Early or Late? Social Forces 82:337–354
(2003); Paul Amato and Bruce Keith, “Parental Divorce and the Well-Being of Children: A Meta-Analysis,” Psycho-
logical Bulletin 110:26–46 (1991).

The Parenting Project is
dedicated to addressing our
nation’s crises of child abuse,
neglect and abandonment,
teen pregnancy, and overall
violence by bringing parenting,
empathy, and nurturing skills
to all school-age children and
teens. Their Web site can be
accessed by clicking on Web
Links under the Chapter Re-
sources at http://cj.wadsworth.
com/siegel_ jdcore2e.

ht
tp

:
Juvenile Delinquency: The Core COPYRIGHT © 2005 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc

ing evidence of a “violence begetting violence” cycle. Children who are subject to
even minimal amounts of physical punishment may be more likely to use violence
themselves. Sociologist Murray Straus reviewed the concept of discipline in a series
of surveys and found a powerful relationship between exposure to physical punish-
ment and later aggression.51

Nonviolent societies are also ones in which parents rarely punish their children
physically; there is a link between corporal punishment, delinquency, spousal abuse,
and adult crime.52 Research conducted in ten European countries shows that the
degree to which parents and teachers approve of corporal punishment is related to
the homicide rate.53

Physical punishment weakens the bond between parents and children, lowers the
children’s self-esteem, and undermines their faith in justice. It is not surprising, then,
that Straus finds a high correlation between physical discipline and street crime. It
is possible that physical punishment encourages children to become more secretive
and dishonest.54 Overly strict discipline may have an even more insidious link to
antisocial behaviors: abused children have a higher risk of neurological dysfunction
than the nonabused, and brain abnormalities have been linked to violent crime.55

Supervision Evidence also exists that inconsistent supervision can promote
delinquency. F. Ivan Nye found that mothers who threatened discipline but failed to
carry it out were more likely to have delinquent children than those who were consis-
tent in their discipline.56 Contemporary research supports this finding with evidence
that assaultive boys tend to grow up in homes in which there is inconsistent
discipline.57

There is ample evidence that effective supervision can reduce children’s involve-
ment in delinquency. Youths who believe their parents care little about their activities
are more likely to engage in criminal acts than those who believe their actions will
be closely monitored.58 Kids who are not closely supervised spend more time out in
the community with their friends and are more likely to get into trouble. In contrast,
those who are supervised, especially in disorganized areas, are less likely to succumb
to the temptations of the streets. The ability of a family to provide parental super-
vision seems even more important for children growing up in poor neighborhoods
with fewer social ties among adults. In these areas parents cannot call upon neigh-
borhood resources to take up the burden of controlling children; there is, therefore,
a greater burden placed on families to provide adequate supervision.59

T H E FA M I LY A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 163

Some kids drift into law-
violating gangs and groups
when they are raised in families
that fail to provide sufficient
supervision and care. The
teen suspects shown in these
police photos are members of a
middle-class gang of Nevada
boys who were involved in
several gruesome attacks dur-
ing the summer of 2003, leaving
victims permanently disfigured.
Can their behavior be a result of
parental neglect? Can we blame
parents for the violent antisocial
behavior of their children?

00
3

AP
/W
id
e
W
or
ld
P
ho
to
s
Juvenile Delinquency: The Core COPYRIGHT © 2005 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc

Resource Dilution Parents may find it hard to control their children because
they have such large families that their resources, such as time, are spread too thin
(resource dilution). It is also possible that the relationship is indirect, caused by the
connection of family size to some external factor; for example, resource dilution
has been linked to educational underachievement, long considered a correlate of
delinquency.60 Middle children may suffer because they are most likely to be home
when large numbers of siblings are also at home and economic resources are most
stretched.61 Larger families are more likely to produce delinquents than smaller
ones, and middle children are more likely to engage in delinquent acts than first-
or last-born children.

Resource dilution may force some mothers into the workforce in order to sup-
port their young children. Critics have suggested that these working mothers are
unable to adequately supervise their children, leaving them prone to delinquency.
However, recent research by Thomas Vander Ven and his associates found that
having a mother who is employed has little if any effect on youthful misbehavior,
especially if the children are adequately supervised.62

Family Deviance
A number of studies have found that parental deviance has a powerful influence on
delinquent behavior.63 Deviant behavior is intergenerational; the children of deviant
parents produce delinquent children themselves.64

Some of the most important data on parental deviance was gathered by Donald J.
West and David P. Farrington, whose Cambridge Youth Survey found that a significant
number of delinquent youths have criminal fathers.65 About 8 percent of the sons of
noncriminal fathers became chronic offenders, compared to 37 percent of youths with
criminal fathers.66 In another analysis, Farrington found that one type of parental
deviance, bullying, may be both inter- and intragenerational. Bullies have children who
bully others, and these “second-generation bullies” grow up to become the fathers of
children who are also bullies (see chapter 9 for more on bullying in the schoolyard).67

The cause of intergenerational deviance is uncertain. Genetic, environmental,
psychological, and child-rearing factors may all play a role. For example, research
shows that fathers of youths who suffer attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD), a condition linked to delinquency, are five times more likely to suffer anti-
social personality disorder (APD) than fathers of non-ADHD youths; this finding
indicates that personality problems may be intergenerational.68 Similarly, research
on the sons of alcoholics show that they suffer from neurological impairments
related to delinquency.69 It is possible that parental alcoholism causes genetic prob-
lems related to developmental impairment or that the children of substance-abusing
parents are more prone to neurological impairment.

The quality of family life may also be key. Criminal parents may be least likely to
have close relationships with their offspring; parental neglect has been linked to
delinquency. Substance-abusing or criminal parents are more likely to use overly
harsh and inconsistent discipline, two factors that have previously been linked to the
onset of delinquent behavior.70

The association between parental deviance and children’s delinquency may be
related to labeling and stigma. Social control agents may be quick to fix a delinquent
label on the children of known law violators, increasing the likelihood that they will
pick up an “official” delinquent label.71 The resulting stigma increases the chances
they may fall into a delinquent career.

Sibling Influences Some evidence also exists that siblings may influence
behavior too; research shows that if one sibling is a delinquent there is a significant
likelihood that his brother or sister will engage in delinquent behaviors.72

Not surprisingly, siblings who maintain a warm relationship and feel close to
one another are also likely to behave in a similar fashion. If one of these siblings

164 C H A P T E R 7

resource dilution
A condition that occurs when
parents have such large families
that their resources, such as time
and money, are spread too thin,
causing lack of familial support
and control.

Helping deal with issues of
teen pregnancy and other
family issues, Planned Parent-
hood is the world’s largest and
oldest voluntary family plan-
ning organization. Its Web site
can be accessed by clicking
on Web Links under the
Chapter Resources at http://
cj.wadsworth.com/siegel_
jdcore2e.

ht
tp
:
Juvenile Delinquency: The Core COPYRIGHT © 2005 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc

takes drugs and engages in delinquent behavior, so too will his brother or sister.73

A number of interpretations of these data are possible:

■ Siblings who live in the same environment are influenced by similar social
and economic factors; it is not surprising that their behavior is similar.

■ Deviance is genetically determined, and the traits that cause one sibling to
engage in delinquency are shared by his or her brother or sister.

■ Deviant siblings grow closer because of shared interests. It is possible that
the relationship is due to personal interactions: older siblings are imitated
by younger siblings.

In summary, the research on delinquency and family relationships offers ample
evidence that family life can be a potent force on a child’s development. The delin-
quent child is likely to grow up in a large family with parents who may drink, partici-
pate in criminal acts, be harsh and inconsistent disciplinarians, be cold and unaffec-
tionate, have marital conflicts, and be poor role models. Overall, the quality of a
child’s family life seems to be more important than its structure.

CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT
Concern about the quality of family life has increased because of reports that many
children are physically abused or neglected by their parents and that this treatment
has serious consequences for their behavior over the life course. Because of this
topic’s importance, the remainder of this chapter is devoted to the issue of child
abuse and neglect and its relationship with delinquent behavior.

Historical Foundation
Parental abuse and neglect is not a modern phenomenon. Maltreatment of children
has occurred throughout history. Some concern for the negative effects of such mal-
treatment was voiced in the eighteenth century in the United States, but concerted
efforts to deal with the problem did not begin until 1874.

In that year, residents of a New York City apartment building reported to public
health nurse Etta Wheeler that a child in one of the apartments was being abused by
her stepmother. The nurse found a young child named Mary Ellen Wilson who had
been repeatedly beaten and was malnourished from a diet of bread and water. Even
though the child was seriously ill, the police agreed that the law entitled the parents
to raise Mary Ellen as they saw fit. The New York City Department of Charities
claimed it had no custody rights over Mary Ellen.

According to legend, Mary Ellen’s removal from her parents had to be arranged
through the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) on the ground
that she was a member of the animal kingdom. The truth, however, is less sensational:
Mary Ellen’s case was heard by a judge. Because the child needed protection, she was
placed in an orphanage.74 The SPCA was actually founded the following year.75

Little research into the problems of maltreated children occurred before that of
C. Henry Kempe, of the University of Colorado. In 1962, Kempe reported the results
of a survey of medical and law-enforcement agencies that indicated the child abuse
rate was much higher than had been thought. He coined a term, battered child syn-
drome, which he applied to cases of nonaccidental injury of children by their parents
or guardians.76

Defining Abuse and Neglect
Kempe’s pioneering work has been expanded in a more generic expression of child
abuse that includes neglect as well as physical abuse. Specifically, it describes any
physical or emotional trauma to a child for which no reasonable explanation, such

✔ Checkpoints

T H E FA M I LY A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 165

Checkpoints
✔ The family today is changing, and

an increasing number of children
will not live with their birth parents
during their entire childhood.

✔ Families are experiencing social
and economic stresses.

✔ A number of factors shape the
family’s influence on delinquency.

✔ Most experts believe that children
whose parents have divorced are at
risk for delinquency.

✔ Kids who grow up in conflict-ridden
households are more likely to
become delinquent.

✔ Poor parent-child relations, includ-
ing inconsistent discipline, have
been linked to delinquency.

✔ Parents who commit crimes and
use drugs are likely to have
children who also do so.

✔ If one sibling is delinquent, so are
her brothers and sisters.

To quiz yourself on this
material, go to questions
7.1–7.8 on the Juvenile

Delinquency: The Core 2e Web site.

battered child syndrome
Nonaccidental physical injury of
children by their parents or
guardians.

as an accident, can be found. Child abuse is generally seen as a pattern of behavior
rather than a single act. The effects of a pattern of behavior are cumulative. That is,
the longer the abuse continues, the more severe the effect will be.77

Although the terms child abuse and neglect are sometimes used interchange-
ably, they represent different forms of maltreatment. Neglect refers to deprivations
children suffer at the hands of their parents (lack of food, shelter, health care, love).
Abuse is a more overt form of aggression against the child, one that often requires
medical attention. The distinction between the terms is often unclear because, in
many cases, both abuse and neglect occur simultaneously.

Physical abuse includes throwing, shooting, stabbing, burning, drowning, suf-
focating, biting, or deliberately disfiguring a child. The greatest number of injuries
result from beatings. Physical neglect results from parents’ failure to provide adequate
food, shelter, or medical care for their children, as well as failure to protect them
from physical danger.

Emotional abuse or neglect is manifested by constant criticism and rejection of
the child.78 Those who suffer emotional abuse have significantly lower self-esteem as
adults.79 Emotional neglect includes inadequate nurturing, inattention to a child’s
emotional development, and lack of concern about maladaptive behavior.

Sexual abuse refers to the exploitation of children through rape, incest, and mo-
lestation by parents, family members, friends, or legal guardians. Finally, abandon-
ment refers to the situation in which parents leave their children with the intention
of severing the parent-child relationship.80

Regardless of how it is defined, the effects of abuse can be devastating. Children
who have experienced some form of maltreatment possess mental representations
characterized by a devalued sense of self, mistrust of others, a tendency to perceive
hostility in others in situations where the intentions of others are ambiguous, a ten-
dency to generate antagonistic solutions to social problems, and a suspicion of close
relationships.81

166 C H A P T E R 7

In 1874 Henry Bugh and Etta
Angell Wheeler persuaded a
New York court to take a child,
Mary Ellen, away from her
mother on the grounds of child
abuse. This is the first recorded
case in which a court was used
to protect a child. Mary Ellen is
shown at age 9 when she ap-
peared in court showing bruises
from a whipping and several
gashes from a pair of scissors.
The other photograph shows her
a year later.

Am
er

ic
an

H
um

an
e

So
ci

et
y

child abuse
Any physical, emotional, or sexual
trauma to a child, including ne-
glecting to give proper care and
attention, for which no reasonable
explanation can be found.

neglect
Passive neglect by a parent or
guardian, depriving children of
food, shelter, health care, and love.

abandonment
Parents physically leave their
children with the intention of
completely severing the parent-
child relationship.

Sexual Abuse Sexual abuse can vary in content and style. It may range from
rewarding children for sexual behavior that is inappropriate for their level of devel-
opment to using force or the threat of force for the purposes of sex. It can involve
children who are aware of the sexual content of their actions and others too young to
have any idea what their actions mean. It can involve a variety of acts, from inappro-
priate touching to forcible sexual penetration.

Sexual abuse too can have devastating effects. Abused children suffer disrupted
ego and personality development.82 Guilt and shame are common. The ego of the
victim may be overwhelmed by rage and horror over the incident, and the experi-
ence can have long-lasting repercussions.

Research indicates a correlation between the severity of abuse and its long-term
effects: the less serious the abuse, the more quickly the child can recover.83 Children
who are frequently abused over long periods and suffer actual sexual penetration
are most likely to experience long-term trauma, including post-traumatic stress syn-
drome (PTSD), precocious sexuality, and poor self-esteem.84 Some victims find
themselves sexualizing their own children in ways that lead them to sexual or physi-
cal abuse. Several studies have found a close association between sexual abuse and
adolescent prostitution.85 Girls who were sexually and physically abused as children
are more often suicidal as adults than the nonabused.86

The Extent of Child Abuse
It is almost impossible to estimate the extent of child abuse. Many victims are so
young that they have not learned to communicate. Some are too embarrassed or
afraid to do so. Many incidents occur behind closed doors, and even when another
adult witnesses inappropriate or criminal behavior, the adult may not want to get
involved in a “family matter.”

Some indications of the severity of the problem came from a groundbreaking
1980 survey conducted by sociologists Richard Gelles and Murray Straus.87 Gelles
and Straus estimated that between 1.4 and 1.9 million children in the United States
were subject to physical abuse from their parents. This abuse was rarely a onetime
act. The average number of assaults per year was 10.5, and the median was 4.5. Gelles

T H E FA M I LY A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 167

What is the line separating
reasonable discipline from child
abuse? Kathi Herren, shown
here in a Michigan juvenile
court, was convicted of a mis-
demeanor and sentenced to
two years probation for slap-
ping her fourteen-year-old
daughter after catching her with
cigarettes. Should parents have
the right to physically punish
their children?

and Straus also found that 16 percent of the couples in
their sample reported spousal abuse; 50 percent of the
multichild families reported attacks between siblings;
20 percent of the families reported incidents in which
children attacked parents.88

The Gelles and Straus survey was a milestone in
identifying child abuse as a national phenomenon. Sur-
veys conducted in 1985 and 1992 indicated that the inci-
dence of severe violence toward children had declined.89

One reason was that parental approval of corporal pun-
ishment, which stood at 94 percent in 1968, decreased to
68 percent by 1994.90 Recognition of the problem may
have helped moderate cultural values and awakened
parents to the dangers of physically disciplining children.
Nonetheless, more than one million children were still
being subjected to severe violence annually. If the defini-
tion of “severe abuse” used in the survey had included
hitting with objects such as a stick or a belt, the number
of child victims would have been closer to seven million
per year.

Monitoring Abuse Not all child abuse and neglect
cases are reported to authorities, but those that are be-
come the focus of state action. A number of organizations
have been collecting data on reported child abuse. The
Department of Health and Human Services conducts an
annual survey of child protection services (CPS) agencies
to determine the number of reported child abuse victims.
In 2001 (the latest data available), an estimated three
million referrals concerning the welfare of approximately
five million children were made to child protective ser-
vices agencies throughout the United States. Of these,
approximately two-thirds (67 percent) were screened in
for further investigation and one-third (33 percent) were
screened out. Of the cases that were investigated, more
than one-quarter (28 percent) resulted in a finding that

the child was maltreated or at risk of maltreatment. In all, approximately 903,000
children were found to be victims of child maltreatment, including neglect, physical
abuse, sexual abuse, and psychological maltreatment. As Figure 7.3 shows, the 2001
victimization rate of 12.4 per 1,000 children in the population is quite a bit lower
than the abuse rates of a decade earlier. It is uncertain why child abuse rates are in
decline. One position is that anti-abuse programs are working and there is simply
less abuse. A second vision is that cutbacks in funding have limited the government’s
ability to investigate and process cases.

Who Are the Victims of Abuse? Younger children are the most likely
to be abused and neglected; children in the age group of birth to three years account
for 28 percent of all victims. Abuse cuts across racial and gender lines: males and fe-
males have almost equal abuse rates; half of all victims were White (50 percent); one-
quarter (25 percent) were African American; 15 percent were Hispanic. American
Indian/Alaska Natives accounted for 2 percent of victims, and Asian/Pacific Islanders
accounted for 1 percent of victims. Approximately 1,300 of these child victims died
of abuse or neglect during the year 2001, a rate of 1.81 children per 100,000 children
in the population.

Attempts to determine the extent of sexual abuse indicate that perhaps one in
ten boys and one in three girls have been the victims of some form of sexual exploita-

168 C H A P T E R 7

Every year, millions of children are the victims of abuse and
neglect. Some pay with their lives. Sophia Mendoza, shown
here, was charged with murder in October 2002, when police
entered her home and found one of her children dead and
another gravely malnourished. She had given birth to five
children by the time she was twenty. What can be done to
provide troubled young mothers like Mendoza with the help
they need to care for their children properly?

Preventing child abuse before
it occurs is the aim of Prevent
Child Abuse America. Visit its
site by clicking on Web Links
under the Chapter Resources
at http://cj.wadsworth.com/
siegel_ jdcore2e.ht

tp
:

tion. Richard J. Estes and Neil Alan Weiner, two researchers at the School of Social
Welfare at the University of Pennsylvania, found that the problem of child sexual
abuse is much more widespread than was previously believed or documented. Their
research indicated that each year in the United States 325,000 children are subjected to
some form of sexual exploitation, which includes sexual abuse, prostitution, use in
pornography, and molestation by adults. Most are White and middle-class. Equal
numbers of boys and girls are involved, but the activities of boys generally receive less
attention from authorities. Many of these kids are runaways (more than 120,000)
while others have fled mental hospitals and foster homes. More than 50,000 are
thrown out of their home by a parent or guardian.91

Although sexual abuse is still quite prevalent, the number of reported cases has
been in significant decline. After a fifteen-year increase, substantiated child sexual
abuse cases in the United States dropped 31 percent between 1992 and 1998.92 These
data may either mean that the actual number of cases is truly in decline or that social
service professionals are failing to recognize abuse cases because of overwork and
understaffing.

Causes of Child Abuse and Neglect
Maltreatment of children is a complex problem with neither a single cause nor
a single solution. It cuts across racial, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic lines.
Abusive parents cannot be categorized by sex, age, or educational level.

Of all factors associated with child abuse, three are discussed most often: (1) par-
ents who themselves suffered abuse tend to abuse their own children; (2) the pres-
ence of an unrelated adult increases the risk of abuse; and (3) isolated and alienated
families tend to become abusive. A cyclical pattern of violence seems to be perpetu-
ated from one generation to another. Evidence indicates that a large number of
abused and neglected children grow into adulthood with a tendency to engage in
violent behavior. The behavior of abusive parents can often be traced to negative
experiences in their own childhood—physical abuse, emotional neglect, and incest.
These parents become unable to separate their own childhood traumas from their
relationships with their children. Abusive parents often have unrealistic perceptions
of normal development. When their children are unable to act appropriately—when

T H E FA M I LY A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 169

Figure 7.3 Child Abuse Rates, 1990–2001

Reporting year

1990 1991 1996 1997 1998 1999 20001992 2001

18
8
10
12

16
6
4
2

0
1994 19951993

Number of victims per 1,000 children

Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children & Families. www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/
publications/cm00/figure3_2.htm.

they cry or strike their parents—the parents may react in an abusive manner.93

Parents may also become abusive if they are isolated from friends, neighbors, or
relatives.

Many abusive parents describe themselves as alienated from their extended fami-
lies, and they lack close relationships with persons who could provide help in stress-
ful situations.94 The relationship between alienation and abuse may be particularly
acute in homes where there has been divorce or separation, or in which parents have
never actually married; abusive punishment in single-parent homes has been found
to be twice that of two-parent families.95 Parents who are unable to cope with stress-
ful events—divorce, financial stress, recurring mental illness, drug addiction—are
most at risk.96

Substance Abuse and Child Abuse Abusive families suffer from severe
stress, and it is therefore not surprising that they frequently harbor members who
turn to drugs and alcohol. Studies have found a strong association between child
abuse and parental alcoholism.97

In addition, evidence exists of a significant relationship between cocaine and
heroin abuse and neglect and abuse of children. Because this relationship is so
important, it is explored further in the Focus on Delinquency feature, “Relation-
ship Between Substance Abuse and Child Maltreatment.”

Stepparents and Abuse Research indicates that stepchildren share a
greater risk for abuse than do biological offspring.98 Stepparents may have less emo-
tional attachment to the children of another. Often the biological parent has to choose
between the new mate and the child, sometimes even becoming an accomplice in
the abuse.99

Stepchildren are overrepresented in cases of familicide, mass murders in which
a spouse and one or more children are slain. It is also more common for fathers who
kill their biological children to commit suicide than those who kill stepchildren, an
indication that the latter act is motivated by hostility and not despair.100

Social Class and Abuse Surveys indicate a high rate of reported abuse
and neglect among people in lower economic classes. Children from families with a
household income of less than $15,000 per year experience more abuse than children
living in more affluent homes. Child care workers indicate that most of their clients
either live in poverty or face increased financial stress because of unemployment and
economic recession. These findings suggest that parental maltreatment of children
is predominantly a lower-class problem. Is this conclusion valid?

One view is that low-income families, especially those headed by a single par-
ent, are often subject to greater environmental stress and have fewer resources to
deal with such stress than families with higher incomes.101 A relationship seems
to exist between the burdens of raising a child without adequate resources and the
use of excessive force. Self-report surveys do show that indigent parents are more
likely than affluent parents to hold attitudes that condone physical chastisement
of children.102

Higher rates of maltreatment in low-income families reflect the stress caused by
the limited resources that lower-class parents have to help them raise their children;
in contrast, middle-class parents devote a smaller percentage of their total resources
to raising a family.103

This burden becomes especially onerous in families with emotionally and physi-
cally handicapped children. Stressed-out parents may consider special-needs chil-
dren a drain on the families’ finances with little potential for future success; research
finds that children with disabilities are maltreated at a rate almost double that of
other children.104

170 C H A P T E R 7

familicide
Mass murders in which a spouse
and one or more children are slain.

T H E FA M I LY A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 171

Relationship Between
Substance Abuse
and Child Maltreatment
The relationship between parental alcohol or other drug
problems and child maltreatment is becoming increasingly
evident. It is a serious problem because substance abuse is so
widespread: an estimated fourteen million adult Americans
abuse alcohol, and there may be more than twelve million
illicit drug users. With more than six million children under
the age of eighteen living in alcoholic households, and an
additional number living in households where parents have
problems with illicit drugs, it is evident that a significant
number of children in this country are being raised by
addicted parents.

Do Parental Alcohol or Other Drug
Problems Cause Child Maltreatment?
Research clearly indicates a connection between substance
abuse and child abuse. Among confirmed cases of child mal-
treatment, 40 percent involve the use of alcohol or other drugs.
This suggests that, of the 1.2 million confirmed victims of
child maltreatment each year, an estimated 480,000 children
are mistreated by a caretaker with alcohol or other drug prob-
lems. In addition, research suggests that alcohol and other
drug problems are factors in a majority of cases of emotional
abuse and neglect. In fact, neglect is the main reason why
children are removed from a home in which parents have
alcohol or other drug problems. Children in these homes
suffer from a variety of physical, mental, and emotional health
problems at a greater rate than do children in the general
population. Children of alcoholics suffer more injuries and
poisonings than do children in the general population. Alco-
hol and other substances may act as disinhibitors, lessening
impulse control and allowing parents to behave abusively.
Children in this environment often demonstrate behavioral
problems and are diagnosed as having conduct disorders. This
may result in provocative behavior. Increased stress resulting
from preoccupation with drugs on the part of the parent
combined with behavioral problems exhibited by the child
increases the likelihood of maltreatment. Frequently, these
parents suffer from depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem.
They live in an atmosphere of stress and family conflict. Chil-
dren raised in such households are themselves more likely to
have problems with alcohol and other drugs.

In What Ways Are Children Affected?
Children of alcoholics are more likely than children in the
general population to suffer a variety of physical, mental, and
emotional health problems. They often have feelings of low
self-esteem and failure and suffer from depression and anxi-
ety. It is thought that exposure to violence in both alcohol-
abusing and child-maltreating households increases the
likelihood that the children will commit, and be recipients
of, acts of violence. The effects don’t end when these children

reach adulthood; they may have difficulty coping with and
establishing healthy relationships as adults. In addition to
suffering from all the effects of living in a household where
alcohol or child-maltreatment problems exist, children whose
parents abuse illicit drugs live with the knowledge that their
parents’ actions are illegal. Although the research is in its in-
fancy, clinical evidence shows that children of parents who
have problems with illicit drug use may suffer from an inabil-
ity to trust legitimate authority because of fear of discovery
of a parent’s illegal habits.

As they mature, many fall victim to the same patterns
exhibited by their parents. Those who have been severely
physically abused often have symptoms of post-traumatic
disorder and dissociation. Individuals suffering from mental
health disorders may use alcohol and illicit drugs to decrease
or mitigate their psychological distress. Research suggests
that adults who were abused as children may be more likely
to abuse their own children than adults who were not abused
as children.

Can child maltreatment, when alcohol or other drugs
are a problem, be successfully treated? Research has shown
that when families exhibit both of these behaviors, the prob-
lems must be treated simultaneously in order to ensure a
child’s safety. Although ending the drug dependency does
not automatically end child maltreatment, very little can be
done to improve parenting skills until this step is taken. The
withdrawal experienced by parents who cease using alcohol
or other drugs presents specific risks. The effects of with-
drawal often cause a parent to experience intense emotions,
which may increase the likelihood of child maltreatment.
During this time, lasting as long as two years, it is especially
important that resources be available to the family.

CRITICAL THINKING

1. Considering the substance abuse–child abuse associa-
tion, should the government be proactive in removing
kids from homes where parents are known substance
abusers?

2. Does the substance abuse–child abuse link support
or contradict the view that delinquent behavior is
inherited?

INFOTRAC COLLEGE EDITION RESEARCH
To learn more about the problems faced by abused kids

and their parents, go to InfoTrac College Edition and read
Anna Lau and John Weisz, “Reported Maltreatment Among
Clinic-Referred Children: Implications for Presenting Prob-
lems, Treatment Attrition, and Long-Term Outcomes,” Journal
of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
42:1327–1334 (2003).

Source: The Relationship Between Parental Alcohol or Other Drug
Problems and Child Maltreatment (Chicago: Prevent Child Abuse
America, 2000).

Focus on Delinquency

The Child Protection System:
Philosophy and Practice
For most of our nation’s history, courts have assumed that parents have the right to
bring up their children as they see fit. In the 2000 case Troxel v. Granville, the Supreme
Court ruled that the due process clause of the Constitution protects against government
interference with certain fundamental rights and liberty interests, including parents’
fundamental right to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their
children.105 If the care a child receives falls below reasonable standards, the state may
take action to remove a child from the home and place her or him in a less threatening
environment. In these extreme circumstances, the rights of both parents and children
are constitutionally protected. In the cases of Lassiter v. Department of Social Services and
Santosky v. Kramer, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the child’s right to be free from
parental abuse and set down guidelines for a termination-of-custody hearing, including
the right to legal representation.106 States provide a guardian ad litem (a lawyer ap-
pointed by the court to look after the interests of those who do not have the capacity
to assert their own rights). States also ensure confidentiality of reporting.107

Though child protection agencies have been dealing with abuse and neglect
since the late nineteenth century, recent awareness of the problem has prompted
judicial authorities to take increasingly bold steps to ensure the safety of children.108

The assumption that the parent-child relationship is inviolate has been challenged.
In 1974 Congress passed the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA),
which provides funds to states to bolster their services for maltreated children and
their parents.109 The act provides federal funding to states in support of prevention,
investigation, and treatment. It also provides grants to public agencies and nonprofit
organizations for demonstration programs.

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act has been the impetus for the
states to improve the legal frameworks of their child protection systems. Abusive par-
ents are subject to prosecution under statutes against assault, battery, and homicide.

Investigating and Reporting Abuse Maltreatment of children can easily
be hidden from public view. Although state laws require doctors, teachers, and others
who work with children to report suspected cases to child protection agencies, many
maltreated children are out of the law’s reach because they are too young for school or
because their parents do not take them to a doctor or a hospital. Parents abuse their
children in private, and even when confronted, often accuse their children of lying or
blame the children’s medical problems on accidents. Social service agencies must find
more effective ways to locate abused children and handle such cases once found.

All states have statutes requiring that persons suspected of abuse and neglect be
reported. Many have made failure to report child abuse a criminal offense. Though
such statutes are rarely enforced, teachers and nurses have been criminally charged
for failing to report abuse or neglect cases.110

Once reported to a child protection agency, the case is screened by an intake
worker and then turned over to an investigative caseworker. In some jurisdictions, if
child protective services substantiates a report, the case will likely be referred to a law
enforcement agency that will have the responsibility of investigating the case, collect-
ing evidence that can later be used in court proceedings. If the caseworker determines
that the child is in imminent danger of severe harm, the caseworker may immediately
remove the child from the home. A court hearing must be held shortly after to ap-
prove custody. Stories abound of children erroneously taken from their homes, but it
is much more likely that these “gatekeepers” will consider cases unfounded and take
no action. Among the most common reasons for screening out cases is that the re-
porting party is involved in a child custody case despite the research showing that the
risk of abuse increases significantly in the aftermath of divorce.111

Even when there is compelling evidence of abuse, most social service agencies
will try to involve the family in voluntary treatment. Case managers will do periodic

172 C H A P T E R 7

The Children’s Bureau (CB),
the oldest federal agency for
children, is located in the U.S.
Department of Health and
Human Services’ Administra-
tion for Children and Families,
Administration on Children,
Youth and Families. It is re-
sponsible for assisting states
in the delivery of child welfare
services, services designed
to protect children and
strengthen families. The
Web site can be accessed
by clicking on Web Links
under the Chapter Resources
at http://cj.wadsworth.com/
siegel_ jdcore2e.

follow-ups to determine if treatment plans are being followed. If parents are uncoop-
erative, or if the danger to the children is so great that they must be removed from
the home, a complaint will be filed in the criminal, family, or juvenile court system.
To protect the child, the court could then issue temporary orders placing the child in
shelter care during investigation, ordering services, or ordering suspected abusers to
have no contact with the child.

The Process of State Intervention Although procedures vary from
state to state, most follow a similar legal process once a social service agency files a
court petition alleging abuse or neglect.112 This process is diagrammed in Figure 7.4.

If the allegation of abuse is confirmed, the child may be placed in protective cus-
tody. Most state statutes require that the court be notified “promptly” or “immediately”
if the child is removed; some states, including Arkansas, North Carolina, and Pennsyl-
vania, have gone as far as requiring that no more than twelve hours elapse before offi-
cial action is taken. If the child has not been removed from the home, state authorities
are given more time to notify the court of suspected abuse. For example, Louisiana and
Maryland set a limit of thirty days to take action, whereas Wisconsin mandates that
state action take no more than twenty days once the case has been investigated.

When an abuse or neglect petition is prosecuted, an advisement hearing (also
called a preliminary protective hearing or emergency custody hearing) is held. The
court will review the facts of the case, determine whether permanent removal of the
child is justified, and notify the parents of the charges against them. Parents have the
right to counsel in all cases of abuse and neglect, and many states require the court to
appoint an attorney for the child as well. If the parents admit the allegations, the
court enters a consent decree, and the case is continued for disposition. Approxi-
mately one-half of all cases are settled by admission at the advisement hearing. If the
parents deny the petition, an attorney is appointed for the child and the case is con-
tinued for a pretrial conference.

T H E FA M I LY A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 173

Should we blame an overworked
child protection system for its
failures to protect youth? Is it
realistic to assume these agen-
cies can effectively monitor the
behavior of troubled families?
Here, Division of Youth and
Family Services union members
participate in a rally in Camden,
New Jersey, November 3, 2003.
The rally was held in response to
the firing of seven DYFS workers
after a Collingswood couple was
accused of allegedly starving
their four adopted sons. Union
officials said the case has put
too much focus on that family’s
problems and not enough on
longstanding problems in the
Division of Family and Youth
Services.

advisement hearing
A preliminary protective or tem-
porary custody hearing in which
the court will review the facts and
determine whether removal of the
child is justified and notify parents
of the charges against them.

pretrial conference
The attorney for the social services
agency presents an overview of the
case, and a plea bargain or negoti-
ated settlement can be agreed to in
a consent decree.

At the pretrial conference, the attorney for the social service agency presents an
overview of the case and the evidence. Such matters as admissibility of photos and
written reports are settled. At this point the attorneys can negotiate a settlement of
the case, in which the parents accept a treatment plan detailing:

■ The types of services that the child and the child’s family will receive, such as par-
enting classes, mental health or substance abuse treatment, and family counseling

■ Reunification goals, including visitation schedules and a target date for a child’s
return home

■ Concurrent plans for alternative permanent placement options should reunifica-
tion goals not be met

About three-fourths of the cases that go to pretrial conference are settled by a
consent decree. About eighty-five out of every one hundred petitions filed are settled
at either the advisement hearing or the pretrial conference.

Of the fifteen remaining cases, five are generally settled before trial. Usually no
more than ten cases out of every one hundred actually reach the trial stage of the
process. This is an adversarial hearing designed to prove the state’s allegations.

174 C H A P T E R 7

Figure 7.4 The Process of State Intervention in Cases of Abuse and Neglect

Intake
Case reported to child
protection service.

50% of reported cases
deemed “unfounded.”

Case referred to social
service agency; no
court intervention.

Child can be removed
into protective custody.

Abuse or neglect
petition filed.

Parents admit
allegations.
Court enters
consent decree.

Disposition
50% of cases
settled at this
stage.

Parents deny
allegations.
Attorney appointed
for child.

Complaint filed in
criminal, family, or
juvenile court system.

Parents have right to
counsel.

either

either or

Advisement Hearing
• Reviews facts of case.
• Determines whether
removal is justified.
• Notifies parents of
charges.

Case continued
for pretrial
conference.

Pretrial Conference
• Evidence reviewed.
• Attorney may be
appointed for parents.

• Attorneys can plea
bargain.

More than 3/4 of all
petitions filed are settled
during advisement
hearing or pretrial
conference.

Trial
• Court decides whether
allegations of abuse are
supported by evidence.
• Adversarial process.

No more than 10 of
every 100 cases reach
this stage.

Disposition
• Social service agency
makes recommendations.
• Agreement: parents
commit to following
state orders.

1/2 to 2/3 of convicted
offenders serve time.
1/2 assigned to counseling.

Review Hearing
• Determines whether conditions
are being met.
• Parents who fail to cooperate
warned that they might lose
parental rights.

Disposition The most crucial part of an abuse or neglect proceeding is the dis-
position hearing. The social service agency presents its case plan, which includes
recommendations such as conditions for returning the child to the parents, or a visi-
tation plan if the child is to be taken permanently from the parents. An agreement is
reached by which the parents commit themselves to following the state orders. Be-
tween one-half and two-thirds of all convicted parents will be required to serve time
in incarceration; almost half will be assigned to a form of treatment. As far as the
children are concerned, some may be placed in temporary care; in other cases,
parental rights are terminated and the child is placed in the custody of the child pro-
tective service. Legal custody can then be assigned to a relative or some other person.
In 2001, approximately 275,000 children were removed from their homes.

In making their decisions, courts are guided by three interests: the role of the
parents, protection for the child, and the responsibility of the state. Frequently, these
interests conflict. In fact, at times even the interests of the two parents are not in
harmony. The state attempts to balance the parents’ natural right to control their
child’s upbringing with the child’s right to grow into adulthood free from harm.
This is referred to as the balancing-of-the-interests approach.

Periodically, review hearings are held to determine if the conditions of the case
plan are being met. Parents who fail to cooperate are warned that they may lose their
parental rights. Most abuse and neglect cases are concluded within a year. Either the
parents lose their rights and the child is given a permanent placement, or the child
is returned to the parents and the court’s jurisdiction ends.

The Abused Child in Court
One of the most significant problems associated with abuse cases is the trauma a
child must go through in a court hearing. Children get confused and frightened and
may change their testimony. Much controversy has arisen over the accuracy of chil-
dren’s reports of family violence and sexual abuse, resulting in hung juries in some
well-known cases, including the McMartin Day Care case in California.113

State jurisdictions have instituted procedures to minimize the trauma to the
child. Most have enacted legislation allowing videotaped statements, or interviews
with child witnesses, taken at a preliminary hearing or at a formal deposition to be
admissible in court. Videotaped testimony spares child witnesses the trauma of testi-
fying in open court. States that allow videotaped testimony usually put some restric-
tions on its use: some prohibit the government from calling the child to testify at
trial if the videotape is used; some states require a finding that the child is “medically
unavailable” because of the trauma of the case before videotaping can be used; some
require that the defendant be present during the videotaping; a few specify that the
child not be able to see or hear the defendant.114

Most of the states now allow a child’s testimony to be given on closed-circuit
television (CCTV). The child is able to view the judge and attorneys, and the court-
room participants are able to observe the child. The standards for CCTV testimony
vary widely. Some states, such as New Hampshire, assume that any child witness
under age twelve would benefit from not having to appear in court. Others require
an independent examination by a mental health professional to determine whether
there is a “compelling need” for CCTV testimony.

In addition to innovative methods of testimony, children in sexual abuse cases
have been allowed to use anatomically correct dolls to demonstrate happenings that
they cannot describe verbally. The Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 allows chil-
dren to use these dolls when testifying in federal courts; at least eight states have
passed similar legislation.115 Similarly, states have relaxed their laws of evidence to
allow out-of-court statements by the child to a social worker, teacher, or police offi-
cer to be used as evidence (such statements would otherwise be considered hearsay).
Typically, corroboration is required to support these statements if the child does not
also testify.

T H E FA M I LY A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 175

The American Bar Association
maintains a Web site with
information on legal rights of
children in abuse cases. The
Web site can be accessed by
clicking on Web Links under
the Chapter Resources at
http://cj.wadsworth.com/
siegel_ jdcore2e.

ht
tp
:

disposition hearing
The social service agency presents
its case plan and recommenda-
tions for care of the child and
treatment of the parents, including
incarceration and counseling or
other treatment.

balancing-of-the-interests
approach
Efforts of the courts to balance the
parents’ natural right to raise a
child with the child’s right to grow
into adulthood free from physical
abuse or emotional harm.

review hearings
Periodic meetings to determine
whether the conditions of the case
plan for an abused child are being
met by the parents or guardians of
the child.

hearsay
Out-of-court statements made by
one person and recounted in court
by another; such statements are
generally not allowed as evidence
except in child abuse cases wherein
a child’s statements to social work-
ers, teachers, or police may be
admissible.

The prevalence of sexual abuse cases has
created new problems for the justice system.
Often accusations are made in conjunction
with marital disputes. The fear is growing that
children may become pawns in custody bat-
tles; the mere suggestion of sexual abuse is
enough to affect the outcome of a divorce
action. The justice system must develop tech-
niques that can get at the truth without creat-
ing a lifelong scar on the child’s psyche.

Legal Issues A number of cases have
been brought before the Supreme Court test-
ing the right of children to present evidence at
trial using nontraditional methods. Two issues
stand out. One is the ability of physicians and
mental health professionals to testify about
statements made to them by children, espe-
cially when the children are incapable of testi-
fying. The second concerns the way children
testify in court.

In a 1992 case, White v. Illinois, the
Supreme Court ruled that the state’s attorney
is required neither to produce young victims
at trial nor to demonstrate the reason why
they were unavailable to serve as witnesses.116

White involved statements given by the child
to the child’s baby-sitter and mother, a doctor,
a nurse, and a police officer concerning the
alleged assailant in a sexual assault case. The
prosecutor twice tried to call the child to
testify, but both times the four-year-old ex-
perienced emotional difficulty and could not
appear in court. The outcome hinged solely
on the testimony of the five witnesses.

By allowing others to testify as to what the
child said, White removed the requirement
that prosecutors produce child victims in
court. This facilitates the prosecution of child
abusers in cases where a court appearance by a

victim would prove too disturbing or where the victim is too young to understand
the court process.117 The Court noted that statements made to doctors during med-
ical exams or those made when a victim is upset carry more weight than ones made
after careful reflection. The Court ruled that such statements can be repeated during
trial because the circumstances in which they were made could not be duplicated
simply by having the child testify to them in court.

In-Court Statements Children who are victims of sexual or physical abuse
often make poor witnesses. Yet their testimony may be crucial. In a 1988 case, Coy v.
Iowa, the Supreme Court placed limitations on efforts to protect child witnesses in
court. During a sexual assault case, a “one-way” glass screen was set up so that the child
victims would not be able to view the defendant (the defendant, however, could view
the witnesses).118 The Iowa statute that allowed the protective screen assumed that
children would be traumatized by their courtroom experience. The Court ruled that
unless there is a finding that the child witness needs special protection, the Sixth
Amendment of the Constitution grants defendants “face-to-face” confrontation with

176 C H A P T E R 7

A counselor shows a doll to a victim of child abuse. Children in sexual
abuse cases may use anatomically correct dolls to demonstrate happen-
ings that they cannot describe verbally. The Victims of Child Abuse Act
of 1990 allows children to use dolls when testifying in federal courts;
at least eight states have passed similar legislation.

oe
l G

or
do

their accusers. In her dissenting opinion, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor suggested
that if courts found it necessary, it would be appropriate to allow children to testify
via CCTV or videotape.

Justice O’Connor’s views became law in Maryland v. Craig.119 In this case a day-
care operator was convicted of sexually abusing a six-year-old child; one-way CCTV
testimony was used during the trial. The decision was overturned in the Maryland
Court of Appeals on the grounds that the procedures used were insufficient to show
that the child could only testify in this manner because a trial appearance would be
too traumatic. On appeal, the Court ruled that the Maryland statute that allows
CCTV testimony is sufficient because it requires a determination that the child will
suffer distress if forced to testify. The Court noted that CCTV could serve as the
equivalent of in-court testimony and would not interfere with the defendant’s right
to confront witnesses.

Disposition of Abuse and Neglect Cases
There is considerable controversy over what forms of intervention are helpful in
abuse and neglect cases. Today, social service agents avoid removing children from
the home whenever possible and instead try to employ techniques to control abusive
relationships. In serious cases, the state may remove children from their parents and
place them in shelter care or foster homes. Placement of children in foster care is
intended to be temporary, but it is not uncommon for children to remain in foster
care for three years or more.

Ultimately, the court has the power to terminate the rights of parents over their
children, but because the effects of destroying the family unit are far reaching, the
court does so only in the most severe cases. Judicial hesitancy is illustrated in a Vir-
ginia appellate case in which grandparents contested a father’s being awarded cus-
tody of his children. Even though he had a history of alcohol abuse, had already been
found to be an unfit parent, and was awaiting appeal of his conviction for killing the
children’s mother, the trial court claimed that he had turned his life around and
granted him custody.120

Despite such occurrences, efforts have been ongoing to improve the child pro-
tection system. Jurisdictions have expedited case processing, instituted procedures
designed not to frighten child witnesses, coordinated investigations between social
service and law enforcement agencies, and assigned an advocate or guardian ad litem
to children in need of protection.

ABUSE, NEGLECT, AND DELINQUENCY
Because the effects of child abuse are long-term, delinquency experts fear that abused
kids will experience mental and social problems across their life span. For example,
victims of abuse are prone to suffer mental illness such as dissociative identity disor-
der (DID), formerly known as multiple personality disorder (MPD); research shows
that child abuse is present in the histories of the vast majority of DID subjects.121

One particular area of concern is the child’s own personal involvement with
violence. Psychologists suggest that maltreatment encourages children to use aggres-
sion as a means of solving problems and prevents them from feeling empathy for
others. It diminishes their ability to cope with stress and makes them vulnerable to
the violence in the culture. Abused children have fewer positive interactions with
peers, are less well liked, and are more likely to have disturbed social interactions.122

The link between maltreatment and delinquency is also supported by a number
of criminological theories. For example:

■ Social control theory. By disrupting normal relationships and impeding socializa-
tion, maltreatment reduces the social bond and frees individuals to become in-
volved in deviance.

✔ Checkpoints

T H E FA M I LY A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 177

Checkpoints
✔ Although the maltreatment of

juveniles has occurred throughout
history, the concept of child abuse
is relatively recent.

✔ C. Henry Kempe first recognized
battered child syndrome.

✔ We now recognize sexual, physical,
and emotional abuse, as well as
neglect.

✔ More than one million confirmed
cases of abuse occur each year.

✔ The number of sexual abuse cases
has declined.

✔ There are a number of suspected
causes of child abuse, including
parental substance abuse, isolation,
and a history of physical and
emotional abuse.

✔ A child protection system has been
created to identify and try abuse
cases.

✔ The courts have made it easier for
children to testify in abuse cases,
by using CCTV, for example.

To quiz yourself on this
material, go to questions
7.9–7.18 on the Juvenile

■ Social learning theory. Maltreatment leads to delinquency because it teaches chil-
dren that aggression and violence are justifiable forms of behavior.

■ General strain theory. Maltreatment creates the “negative affective states” that are
related to strain, anger, and aggression.

A significant amount of literature suggests that abuse may have a profound ef-
fect on behavior in later years. Exposure to abuse in early life provides a foundation
for violent and antisocial behavior.123 Delinquent behavior is the means by which
many abused children act out their hostility toward their parents. Some join gangs,
which furnish a sense of belonging and allow pent-up anger to be expressed in
group-approved delinquent acts.

Clinical Histories Studies of juvenile offenders have confirmed that between
70 and 80 percent may have had abusive backgrounds. Many of these juveniles report
serious injury, including bruises, lacerations, fractures, and being knocked uncon-
scious by a parent or guardian.124 Likewise, several studies reveal an association
between homicide and maltreatment in early childhood.125 Among children who kill
or who attempt murder, the most common factor is a child’s tendency to identify
with aggressive parents and imitate their behavior.126 One study of murder and
murderous assault by juveniles indicated that in all cases “one or both parents had
fostered and condoned murderous assault.”127

Cohort Studies These findings do not necessarily prove that maltreatment
causes delinquency. It is possible that child abuse is a reaction to misbehavior and not
vice versa. In other words, it is possible that angry parents attack their delinquent and
drug-abusing children and that child abuse is a result of delinquency, not its cause.

One way of solving this dilemma is to follow a cohort of youths who have been
reported as victims of abuse and compare them with a similar cohort of nonabused
youths. A classic study conducted by Jose Alfaro in New York found that about half
of all children reported to area hospitals as abused children later acquired arrest
records. Conversely, a significant number of boys (21 percent) and girls (29 percent)
petitioned to juvenile court had prior histories as abuse cases. Children treated for
abuse were disproportionately involved in violent offenses.128

Cathy Spatz Widom followed the offending careers of 908 youths reported as
abused from 1967 to 1971 and compared them with a control group of 667 non-
abused youths. Widom found that the abuse involved a variety of perpetrators, in-
cluding parents, relatives, strangers, and even grandparents. Twenty-six percent of
the abused sample had juvenile arrests, compared with 17 percent of the comparison
group; 29 percent of those who were abused had adult criminal records, compared
with 21 percent of the control group. Race, gender, and age also affected the proba-
bility that abuse would lead to delinquency. The highest risk group was composed
of older Black males who had suffered abuse; about 67 percent of this group went
on to become adult criminals. In contrast, only 4 percent of young, White, non-
abused females became adult offenders.129 Her conclusion: being abused increases
the likelihood of arrest both as a juvenile and as an adult.130

Widom also tested the hypothesis that victims of childhood violence resort to
violence themselves as they mature. The children in her sample who suffered from
physical abuse were the most likely to get arrested for violent crimes; their violent
crime arrest rate was double that of the control group. More surprising was the dis-
covery that neglected children maintained higher rates of violence than children in
the comparison group. Clearly, family trauma of all kinds may influence violence.

Child Victims and Persistent Offending Widom also interviewed five
hundred subjects twenty years after their childhood victimization. Preliminary
analysis of this sample indicates that the long-term consequences of childhood vic-
timization continue throughout life. Potential problems include mental health con-

178 C H A P T E R 7

cerns, educational problems, health problems, and occupational difficulties. In a
more recent analysis, Widom and Michael Maxfield found that by the time they
reached age thirty-two, the abused children had a higher frequency of adult offend-
ing than the nonabused. People who began their offending careers as adults were also
more likely to have been abused as children. Widom and Maxfield conclude that
early intervention may be necessary to stop this cycle of violence.131

Sexual Abuse Cohort research shows that sexually abused youths are much
more likely to suffer an arrest than nonabused children. The risk is greatest if the
abuse took place when the child was less than seven years of age and the offense was
committed by a male.132 Sexually abused girls share a significant risk of becoming
violent over the life course. There is also evidence that sexual abuse victims are more
likely to abuse others, especially if they were exposed to other forms of family vio-
lence.133 Self-report studies also confirm that child maltreatment increases the likeli-
hood of delinquency. The most severely abused youths are at the greatest risk for
long-term serious delinquency.134

The Abuse-Delinquency Link
These findings do not necessarily mean that most abused children become delin-
quent. Many do not, and many delinquent youths come from what appear to be
model homes. Though Widom found that more abused than nonabused children in
her cohort became involved in delinquency, the majority of both groups did not.135

Although these studies suggest an abuse-delinquency link, others find that the
association is either nonsignificant or inconsistent (for example, having a greater
influence on girls than boys).136 However, some recent research by Timothy Ireland
and his associates indicates that the abuse-delinquency link may be a function of
when the abuse occurred: kids who were maltreated solely during their early child-
hood are less likely to later engage in delinquent acts than (a) those mistreated when
they were older or (b) those whose abuse occurred first in childhood and then per-
sisted into later adolescence.137 Ireland speculates that adolescents who have expe-
rienced persistent and long-term maltreatment are more likely to have families
suffering an array of other social deficits, including poverty, parental mental illness,
and domestic violence, which may make children more likely to engage in antisocial
behavior. Persistent maltreatment also gives the victims little opportunity to cope or
deal with their ongoing victimization. Because it is suspected that child abuse leads
to a cycle of violence, there are programs designed to help abusive parents refrain
from repeating their violent episodes.

T H E FA M I LY A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 179

• Poor family relationships have been linked to juvenile
delinquency.

• Early theories viewed the broken home as a cause of
youthful misconduct, but subsequent research found
that divorce and separation play a smaller role than
was previously believed.

• However, contemporary studies now show that parental
absence may have a significant influence on delinquency
because it is more difficult for one parent to provide the
same degree of discipline and support as two.

• The quality of family life also has a great influence on
a child’s behavior. Families in conflict produce more
delinquents than those that function harmoniously.

• Families who neglect their children are at risk for
delinquency. Inconsistent discipline and supervision
have also been linked to juvenile crime.

• Parental and sibling misconduct is another factor that
predicts delinquent behaviors.

• Concern over the relationship between family life and
delinquency has been heightened by reports of wide-
spread child abuse.

• Cases of abuse and neglect have been found in every
social class and racial group.

• It has been estimated that there are three million re-
ported cases of child abuse each year, of which almost
one million are confirmed by child welfare investigators.

SUMMARY

To quiz yourself on this
material, go to questions
7.19–7.20 on the Juvenile

180 C H A P T E R 7

• Two factors are seen as causing child abuse. First, par-
ents who themselves suffered abuse as children tend to
abuse their own children. Second, isolated and alien-
ated families tend to become abusive.

• Local, state, and federal governments have attempted
to alleviate the problem of child abuse. All fifty states
have statutes requiring that suspected cases of abuse
be reported.

• There is a complex system of state intervention once
allegations of child abuse are made. Thousands of
youths are removed from their homes every year.

• A number of studies have linked abuse to delinquency.
They show that a disproportionate number of court-
adjudicated youths had been abused or neglected.

• Although the evidence is not conclusive, the data sug-
gest that a strong relationship exists between child
abuse and delinquent behavior.

• To make it easier to prosecute abusers, the Supreme
Court has legalized the use of CCTV in some cases.
Most states allow children to use anatomically correct
dolls when testifying in court.

nuclear family, p. 156
broken home, p. 159
blended families, p. 159
intrafamily violence, p. 160
resource dilution, p. 164
battered child syndrome, p. 165

child abuse, p. 166
neglect, p. 166
abandonment, p. 166
familicide, p. 170
advisement hearing, p. 173
pretrial conference, p. 173

disposition hearing, p. 175
balancing-of-the-interests approach,

p. 175
review hearings, p. 175
hearsay, p. 175

KEY TERMS

1. What are the meanings of the terms child abuse and
child neglect?

2. Discuss the association between child abuse and delin-
quency. Give two different explanations for the positive
relationship between abuse and antisocial behavior.

3. What causes parents to abuse their children?

4. What is meant by the child protection system? Do
courts act in the best interest of the child when they
allow an abused child to remain with the family?

5. Should children be allowed to testify in court via CCTV?
Does this approach prevent defendants in child abuse
cases from confronting their accusers?

6. Is corporal punishment ever permissible as a discipli-
nary method?

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

You are an investigator with the county bureau of social
services. A case has been referred to you by a middle
school’s head guidance counselor. It seems that a young
girl, Emily M., has been showing up to school in a dazed
and listless condition. She has had a hard time concentrat-
ing in class and seems withdrawn and uncommunicative.
The thirteen-year-old has missed more than her normal
share of school days and has often been late to class. Last
week, she seemed so lethargic that her homeroom teacher
sent her to the school nurse. A physical examination re-
vealed that she was malnourished and in poor physical
health. She also had evidence of bruising that could only
come from a severe beating. Emily told the nurse that she
had been punished by her parents for doing poorly at
school and failing to do her chores at home.

When her parents were called to school to meet with
the principal and guidance counselor, they claimed to be
members of a religious order that believes children should
be punished severely for their misdeeds. Emily had been
placed on a restricted diet as well as beaten with a belt to
correct her misbehavior. When the guidance counselor
asked them if they would be willing to go into family ther-
apy, they were furious and told her to “mind her own busi-
ness.” It’s a sad day, they said, when “God-fearing American
citizens cannot bring up their children according to their
religious beliefs.” The girl is in no immediate danger be-
cause her punishment has not been life-threatening.

The case is then referred to your office. When you go to
see the parents at home, they refuse to make any change in
their behavior, claiming that they are in the right and you

APPLYING WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

T H E FA M I LY A N D D E L I N Q U E N C Y 181

represent all that is wrong with society. The “lax” discipline
you suggest leads to drugs, sex, and other teenage problems.

• Would you get a court order removing Emily from her
house and requiring the parents to go into counseling?

• Would you report the case to the district attorney’s
office so it could take criminal action against her par-
ents under the state’s child protection act?

• Would you take no further action, reasoning that
Emily’s parents have the right to discipline their child
as they see fit?

• Would you talk with Emily and see what she wants to
happen?

Before you answer these questions, use “child abuse” and
“reporting child abuse” in key word searches on InfoTrac
College Edition. To further help you answer these ques-
tions, click on Web Links under the Chapter Resources
at http://cj.wadsworth.com/siegel_jdcore2e. You’ll find
information from Child USA and the National Clearing-

house on Child Abuse and Neglect Information to help you
understand the issues surrounding child abuse.

Pro/Con discussions and Viewpoint Essays on some of the topics
in this chapter may be found at the Opposing Viewpoints Resource
Center: www.gale.com/OpposingViewpoints.

DOING RESEARCH ON THE WEB

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