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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this research by Rosenbaum was to examine the effects of family dysfunction upon later female delinquency.
METHODOLOGY:
The author employed a quasi-experimental retrospective longitudinal design with a non-probability sample of 159 adult women criminals who, as adolescents in the early 1960s, had been sent to the California Youth Authority for participating in juvenile delinquency. All the subjects had participated in an experimental program, the Community Treatment Project, which was designed to assess the effect of keeping delinquent youth within their communities under high levels of supervision, rather than within institutional settings. The researcher obtained adult arrest records and records from the California Youth Authority. Arrest data were coded by two coders, who achieved interrater reliability of 92%. Arrest incidents, rather than convictions, were used for the study, with the most serious charge at each incident being coded. Youth Authority data included reports about home investigations, information gathered on intake, parole discussions, and discharge summaries - all reports written by workers for the Authority, including parole agents, social workers, teachers and chaplains. Three coders rated family information from these reports, with interrater reliability of 88%. Data were gathered concerning family structure, family size, family history of criminal activity, violence within the family, family conflict, parent-child relationships and generational cycles. Analysis involved examination of frequencies and means.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
Initial analysis of the arrest data found that 96% of the subjects had been arrested in adult life, with 70% having at least four arrests after release from the California Youth Authority. Only a small number of arrests were for prostitution or drug offenses, with 82% of subjects being arrested for at least one moderately serious crime. Little variation was found among the family background variables, with all of the subjects coming from seriously troubled homes. Very few of the subjects came from intact families (7%), and by the time the girls were 16 years of age, their mothers had been married an average of four times. The average number of children in each subject's family was 4.3, with children in a single family having been fathered by a number of different men. About one-quarter (24%) of the subjects came from families with no history of criminality, with 76% having at least one other family member with a record of criminal behavior. 30% of the fathers and 32% of the mothers had spent time in the state prison, for offenses ranging from narcotics violations to burglaries and assaults. A total of 37% of the mothers of the subjects had been charged with child abuse and/or neglect, with evidence of violence being present in many of the subjects' homes. 71% of the parents in two-parent families fought on a regular basis about the children, with conflict involving issues of alcohol use being present in 81% of the subjects' homes. 34% of the fathers and 31% of the mothers were known alcoholics, and 29% of the fathers and 27% of the mothers had a psychiatric diagnosis of neurosis or psychosis. Rejection of the subjects was also common among this group, with 53% of the fathers and 47% of the mothers being seen by parole officers as neglecting or rejecting their daughters. Only 22% of the subjects had consistent supervision whilst growing up, with many mothers being described as passive (96%) or irresponsible (67%). Mothers of the subjects tended to marry and have children very young, with 44% having had the subject by the age of 18. The subjects then followed in their mothers' footsteps, also having children at a very early age - 56% had children by the time they had been discharged from the Youth Authority's care. Many of the men in the subjects' lives were similar to their mothers' partners, and were often much older, possessing long criminal records and being physically abusive toward both them and their children. The mothers of the subjects were often socially isolated and distrustful, and they lacked the supports and resources necessary to cope with their lives. They were often passive and inconsistent authority figures, who disregarded enforcement of rules due to other conflicts or difficulties. The author concluded that there was little variability between the subjects on the family dysfunction variables, and that the women were double victims - victims of both their families and of the criminal justice system. It was also concluded that the Community Treatment Project was not successful in preventing further criminal behavior on the part of the participants, perhaps due a lack of understanding of the long-term and deep-rooted problems of the women's family situations.
AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS:
The author suggested that further research on both male and female delinquents would be helpful in understanding the role of family background in behavior, and to examine the potential for being doubly victimized.
EVALUATION:
The author presents an interesting examination of the relationship between family dysfunction and female delinquency. The good sample size allows for confidence in the results, although a more thorough discussion of methodology and of the measurement of variables would have been useful. Whilst few implications of the findings were discussed, the study does provide an important addition to knowledge about the female delinquent and her situation, and should be considered as a useful investigation to add to the field. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - California
KW - Adult Crime
KW - Adult Female
KW - Adult Offender
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - Juvenile Female
KW - Juvenile Delinquency
KW - Juvenile Victim
KW - Female Victim
KW - Female Delinquency
KW - Female Offender
KW - Delinquency Causes
KW - Family Environment
KW - Family Relations
KW - Family Dysfunction
KW - Family History
KW - Family Size
KW - Family Structure
KW - Parent Child Relations
KW - Domestic Violence Victim
KW - Domestic Violence Effects
KW - Crime Causes
KW - Delinquency Causes
KW - Child Abuse Effects
KW - Child Abuse-Delinquency Link
KW - Child Abuse-Crime Link
KW - Child Abuse Victim
KW - Childhood Experience
KW - Childhood Victimization
KW - Family Conflict
Language: en |