Subtypes of Girls Who Engage in Serious Delinquency and Their Young Adult Outcomes

Abstract

Girls are increasingly becoming involved with the juvenile justice system; however, what brings girls to engage in delinquency or what obstacles these girls face later in life resulting from adolescent criminal behavior is understudied. In the present study, we used latent class analysis to identify subtypes of risks among adolescent girls ( N = 1,174) who have engaged in delinquent behaviors and mixture modeling to determine what distal psychological, social, educational, and economic outcomes in young adulthood are associated with each subtype. Four adolescent subtypes were identified, which were distinguished primarily based on the severity of their self-reported victimization experiences and mental health concerns. Classes with higher levels of victimization experiences tended to report more engagement with delinquent behavior in adolescence and had a larger proportion of Black and Hispanic girls than lower-victimization classes. Identified classes differed from each other on distal (i.e., young adulthood) measures of economic instability, educational attainment, drug use, depression, and adult arrests. Generally, latent classes which were characterized by higher rates of victimization and mental health concerns and lower educational performance in adolescence fared worse in young adulthood. Implications for those who care for girls who engage in delinquency, including suggestions for using trauma and culture informed screening, prevention, and intervention services, and directions for future research are discussed. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/0361684320918243 .

The UN Sustainable Development Goals and Provision of Security, Responses to Crime and Security Threats, and Fair Criminal Justice Systems

“…Girls are statistically more inclined toward non-aggressive delinquent behaviours, such as minor property crimes or substance use, while boys are more inclined toward violent and aggressive delinquent acts (Liu & Miller, 2020). Smith et al (2020) examined the varying degrees of girls' involvement in delinquency, identifying four distinct subtypes distinguished by the severity of their self-reported victimisation experiences and mental health issues. They found that girls with higher levels of victimisation tended to report increased engagement in delinquent acts.…”

Relationship between Sexual Abuse and Juvenile Delinquency among Girls in Kirigiti Girls Rehabilitation and Training Center, Kiambu County, Kenya

“…Roe-Sepowitz and Hickle (2011) noted that girl arsonists more often reported a history of childhood abuse, higher scores on a suicide ideation scale and that they were more likely to set fire at school due to other abuses like drug abuse which is less in our study population. Smith et al (2020), on a review of literature, established that girls are increasingly becoming involved with the juvenile justice system because of the crimes they commit. The girl's involvement in criminality came out clearly from the findings represented in 2020) which also added smoking as an act of children's offenses.…”

“…According to a study by Smith et al (2020), juvenile justice involvement among girls is rising due to the crimes they commit. The data presented in table 3 showed that as sexual abuse increases, juvenile delinquency also increases positively.…”