GIRLS AND CRIME

The rate of rising in the number of women finding themselves in the justice system has for a time be on the rise. This is an aspect that is new because the justice system used to record high numbers of men than women.  The 80s till the mid-nineties saw a decrease in the level of crimes in the country, but this was mostly for adult crimes. However juvenile cl\rimes when high on a rate of up to 70 percent rise and people started to ask questions. The high number of crimes committed by the youths developed to become an epidemic. The reason behind this rise has been explained by many as a cause of the use of guns to solve issues that transcended from increased drug activities especially in inner cities cause by the rise of the crack cocaine market in the country. As young people dealing with drugs solved their conflicts using guns, so did many others at schools. However, for boys, the rates of crimes began to decline in the mid-1990s, but for girls, it went up. According to statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the rate of arrests made for girls went high by 6.4 percent while the rate for boys went down by 16.4 percent. This show a great difference between the two genders (CRIME IN THE UNITED STATES, 2003). The rates for aggravated assault also went high by 7 percent for girls and for boys it went down by more than 29 percent. These statistics show a rise in the rates of arrest for girls and a reduction for boys. It also shows the high relation between the arrest for girls and their association with violence. In addition to these arrests, the rates of referrals of girls to juvenile courts as well as various forms of detention went up (Chesney-Lind, 2004).

Despite the fact that figures show a high rise in the arrest of girls based on crimes, the numerical information has been insufficient to link the arrest to increased violence by girls. Survey s carried out by whereby girls took part in self-reporting shows a reduction in the involvement of girls in violent crimes. The question now falls to why are there such high figures about the rates of arrest of girls. Some of the reasons include relabeling which includes the considerations of activities and behaviors considered as status offenses as violent offenses. This means that policies changes on domestic violence have increased arrest of on girls. Some of the crimes girls are arrested for were not considered criminal but have now been relabeled and culprits mostly girls are being arrested and the crimes being termed as violent. This is an aspect that came up in the 90s as a result of the change in policies on domestic security. It has led to the increase in arrests for girls (CRIME IN THE UNITED STATES, 2003). The next reason is rediscovery which is associated with the previous perception that girls are nonviolent, weak and passive but this has been found to be wrong, and girls have been found to be very violent. Change in policies has shed light on such violence by girls and instead of trivializing it as before they are now criminalized, and that is why the rates of arrest have gone up. The other reason is up-criming, and this one has associated zero tolerance on crime and especially those associated with women. Up-criming has led to increases in penalties for some forms of crime that was previously not criminalized. It is, therefore, important to understand that the reasons for the high rates of arrests. The rates are not factors of increased violence by girls (Chesney-Lind, 2004).