Gender Biases in Probation Officers: Attributions of Juvenile Delinquency

Abstract

In recent years a controversy has developed over the extent of gender discrimination in the juvenile justice system. This article focuses specifically on how male and female probation officers attempt to explain the reasons for male and female delinquency. Independent observers ranked open-ended responses from probation officers along several causal dimensions. Peer conformity was given as the major explanation for both male andfemale delinquency. However, delinquent girls were seen as rebelling against traditional norms, while delinquent boys were regarded as conforming to gender roles. Both male and female probation officers judged same sex minors as having a lower self-esteem. It is suggested that there is an interactive effect of the sex of the probation officer and the minor on attributions. These interactions may result in differential treatment.

Traffic Citations in Relation to Gender

“…One might argue that issuing a citation to men might sometimes be threatening for women officers, although the professional training provided by the two departments make that factor unlikely. The observation by Sagatun (1989) that both female and male probation officers make more negative remarks about same gender delinquents would be consistent with this explanation. If, on the other hand, we assume that the traffic stop encounter provides a low cost, low threat situation for the officer, then the observation by Piliavin and Unger (1 985) that crossgender help is greater in encounters of this kind, would indicate that both female and male officers contributed to the differences.…”

“…If, on the other hand, we assume that the traffic stop encounter provides a low cost, low threat situation for the officer, then the observation by Piliavin and Unger (1 985) that crossgender help is greater in encounters of this kind, would indicate that both female and male officers contributed to the differences. The observation by Sagatun (1989) that both female and male probation officers make more negative remarks about same gender delinquents would be consistent with this explanation.…”

“…Sarri (1 986), in a review of gender and racial differences in criminal justice proceedings, concluded gender and race must be analyzed as critical variables in studies of arrest. Sagatun (1989) reported a study in which females did not receive more positive treatment from law enforcement officers than did men. In a study by Visher (1983), male officers were likely to be chivalrous at the stage of arrest if women displayed appropriate gender behaviors and characteristics (e.g., apologetic and submissive).…”

“…In addition, traffic stops were excluded from the study because arrests rarely occurred in those encounters. Sagatun (1989) reported a study in which females did not receive more positive treatment from law enforcement officers than did men. In this study both female and male probation officers made remarks indicating that they viewed the delinquency of minors of their own gender as more negative.…”

Laypeople’s decision-making in reporting child maltreatment: Child and family characteristics as a source of bias.

“…However, our results suggest that despite acknowledging the severity of the described situations regardless of gender, laypeople were more likely to report them if the abuse was perpetrated toward a female child. This reflects a well-known gender bias that portraits females as more vulnerable and males as more resilient in research about risk of injury (Morrongiello, Midgett, & Stanton, 2000), child welfare (Risley-Curtiss & Heffernan, 2003), health care delivery environments (Govender & Penn-Kekana, 2008), and attributions of delinquency (Sagatun, 1989). Apparently, this bias operates even in the case of young children and has the potential of leaving male children more at risk than female ones.…”