Rates of self-reported delinquency among Western Australian male and female high school students: the malefemale gender gap

The Adapted Self-Report Delinquency Scale (ASDS) was administered to 328 adolescents (174 males and 154 females) from eight high schools in Perth, Western Australia. The ages of the sample ranged from 13 to 17 years. Males reported a greater percentage level of involvement than females in 36 of 40 individual delinquent behaviours comprising the ASDS. A between-subjects multivariate analysis of variance using a Bonferroni adjusted alpha revealed a significant multivariate main effect of gender, F(6, 318) = 3.98, p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.08. No significant main effect of age was evident. Univariate F-tests revealed that males scored significantly higher than females on only one of seven delinquent factors (physical aggression). These data are discussed in light of established evidence showing male predominance in delinquency, recent reports suggesting a male-female gender gap, and theories that have attempted to explain this disparity in offending among males and females

Formal System Processing of Juveniles: Effects on Delinquency

Justice practitioners have tremendous discretion on how to handle juvenile offenders. Police officers, district attorneys, juvenile court intake officers, juvenile and family court judges, and other officials can decide whether the juvenile should be “officially processed” by the juvenile justice system, diverted from the system to a program, counseling or some other services, or to do nothing at all (release the juvenile altogether). An important policy question is which strategy leads to the best outcomes for juveniles. This is an important question in the United States, but many other nations are concerned with the decision to formally process or divert juvenile offenders. There have been a number of randomized experiments in the juvenile courts that have examined the impact of juvenile system processing that should be gathered together in a systematic fashion to provide rigorous evidence about the impact of this decision on subsequent offending by juveniles. Our objective is to answer the question: Does juvenile system processing reduce subsequent delinquency? Based on the evidence presented in this report, juvenile system processing appears to not have a crime control effect, and across all measures appears to increase delinquency. This was true across measures of prevalence, incidence, severity, and self-report. Given the additional financial costs associated with system processing (especially when compared to doing nothing) and the lack of evidence for any public safety benefit, jurisdictions should review their policies regarding the handling of juveniles

Mental problems and sociodemographic characteristics in children driven to committing crimes and the preparation of forensic reports

Objective: In children referred for forensic reports by juvenile courts, particularly as psycho-sexual maturation starts in the initial phases of adolescence, actions defined as criminal by society may be expected to have been committed. These actions, which are frequently the results of unconscious impulses and sometimes affectations, are crimes in the general sense for this reason; great care is required when determining the presence of the ability of children to perceive the legal meaning and consequences of crimes that they commit and their ability to channel their behaviors. The aim of this present study is to examine the mental problems in children driven to committing crimes and the preparation of forensic reports in a Turkish forensic sample. Methods: Children referred by courts to Van Regional Training and Research Hospital Outpatient Clinics of Pediatric Psychiatry between 2013 and 2014 for forensic expert reports evaluating their ability to perceive the legal meaning and consequences of criminal behavior, and their ability to control their behaviors. Seventy-four children were evaluated retrospectively, with interviews of approximately 45 minutes on The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in order to determine psychiatric diagnosis. Results: After evaluations, 26% of children and adolescents were found to possess the ability to perceive the legal meaning and consequences of the crime they had committed and have the ability to control their behaviors, while 27% could perceive the legal meaning and consequences but could not control their behavior, and 47% did not have the ability to perceive the legal meaning and consequences of the crime they had committed and to control their behaviors. Conclusions: The ability to perceive the meaning and consequences of crime and to direct one’s behaviors are affected by pathologies related with the family and the child