explanation for female violence

Increased female violence has sparked debates about its causes, with various perspectives provided:

• Debates on Causes

  • Net widening shift in policy leading to more arrests of girls for behaviors previously overlooked.

  • Gender equality shifts in social and legal policies mean women are policed more than before.

  • Others suggest a narrowing of the gender gap in violent offending, possibly linked to decreases in male violence.

  • Acknowledgment that female violence is a serious issue deserving attention.

• Gang Violence

  • Jody Miller's research highlights that most gang girls engage in rare violent acts (e.g., hitting, weapon attacks).

  • Young women utilize gender as a resource in gang crime and drug sales while modulating their involvement in violence.

• Domestic Violence Offending

  • Majority of domestic violence (DV) offenders are men, but a proportion are women.

  • Female DV offenders often face physical retaliation from male victims.

  • Such violence tends to be less planned, often occurring in self-defense or retaliation using weapons, though less likely to involve strangling, punching, or kicking.

• Risk Factors for Female Delinquency

  • Howell (2003) proposed five interrelated risk factors for female chronic offending:

  1. Child abuse

  2. Mental health problems

  3. Running away from home

  4. Gang involvement

  5. Juvenile justice involvement

  • Recent research in 2021 with 1,118 incarcerated women identified similar factors:

  • Childhood victimization

  • Intergenerational trauma

  • Early criminal justice contact (first arrest by age 18)

  • Ongoing criminal justice involvement

  • Substance use.

• Impact of Parenthood

  • Parenthood viewed as a turning point for desistance in offending;

  • For women, first-time motherhood leads to a 93% reduction in gang membership, demonstrating the age-crime curve where crime rates typically decrease post-marriage or parenthood.

  • Effects of motherhood are enduring, reducing general offending.

  • For males, results vary, with residential fathers experiencing some reduction in gang membership, but not as significant or enduring as seen in mothers.

  • Non-residential fathers show no benefits from parenthood regarding gang involvement.

• Conclusion

  • Emphasis on the need to explore these themes in tutorials for deeper understanding.

  • Encouragement for students to reach out with questions for further clarification.