Assessing gender differences and co-offending patterns of a predominantly "male-oriented" crime: a comparison of a cross-national sample of juvenile boys and girls arrested for a sexual offense.
This study examines male-female differences of juveniles arrested for a sex offense. A cross-national sample of juvenile boys (n = 177) and a population of juvenile girls (n = 177) arrested for a sex offense are utilized for this analysis. It is hypothesized that (1) boys and girls differ substantially in their offending patterns. Based on Moffitt's social-amplification hypothesis, it is also hypothesized that (2) juveniles who act with a co-offender commit more serious offenses (i.e., more likely to be arrested for rape and have more victims) compared to those who act alone. The results show boys differ from girls: juvenile girls are slightly younger, more likely to be White, more likely to have a co-offender, less likely to commit rape, and be processed formally by law enforcement. The results yielded indicated social amplification appears to occur when girls offend with a co-offender, but not when boys acted with a co-offender.
Department of Criminal Justice, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA. vandiver@txstate.edu
Donna M
DM
Vandiver
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003416:Criminal Law; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D012737:Sex Factors; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology