Guest Editor's Introduction to Special Issue

• Author: Leah E. Daigle
• Published date: 01 July 2007
• Date: 01 July 2007
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1541204007301311
• Published By: Sage Publications, Inc.
• Subject Matter: Articles

Guest Editor’s Introduction

to Special Issue

Examining Emerging Issues in

Female Delinquency

Although in the past two decades scholars have begun to investigate not only the causes

of female delinquency but also the effects of such involvement, much remains to be dis-

covered. In fact, with recent trends indicating that females are increasingly involved in delin-

quency and crime, it is imperative that the causes and consequences of such involvement be

studied. This special issue is devoted to just such an investigation. The articles included in

the issue address three broad areas of study: the development of risk factors across gender,

predictors of delinquency for males and females, and key issues relevant for female delin-

quency. In the first article,Chapple and Johnson examine differences across gender in impul-

sivity—a risk factor for delinquency. What is particularly interesting is that the authors take

an approach that is just recently emerging in criminology—to determine if the development

of risk factors is dissimilar for males and females. Their findings suggest that gender plays

a role in the ways in which impulsivity arises. Knowing how risk factors emerge can aid in

the development of early intervention programs that are gender responsive.

The second set of articles deals with the etiology of delinquency for males and females.

Both articles use split-gender models to determine if the same set of predictors can explain

delinquent involvement for both genders. Haynie, Steffensmeier, and Bell’s piece is focused

on friendship networks and how sex composition of these networks may differentially

influence male and female serious violence. Not only do the authors show that exposure to

opposite sex friends increases risk for females while decreasing risk of involvement for

males, they provide a theoretically based explanation of their findings. The other article

dealing with gender differences in predictors of delinquency is a comprehensive test of

three theoretical perspectives—feminist theory, traditional criminological theory, and the

life-course perspective. In their article, Daigle, Cullen, and Wright address the generality-

specificity debate and find that although there are some similarities, differences in predic-

tors in overall, nonviolent, and violent delinquency for males and females exist.

To conclude the special issue, the final three articles deal with emerging issues that

are relevant to female delinquency. Cauffman, Lexcen, Goldweber, Shulman, and Grisso

explore mental health symptoms in males and females. Their unique approach involves

using both detained and community youth to compare symptomology not only across gen-

der but also across setting. Their results indicate that institutionalized female youth exhibit

the greatest levels of mental health symptoms, suggesting that the special needs of detained

female youth should be given special attention. In addition to the importance of mental

health, Kempf-Leonard and Johansson show that running away is another important issue

for young females. By examining risk factors for runaway for both boys and girls, they

show that the pathway to running away may indeed be gendered. They also add to the

Youth Violence and

Juvenile Justice

Volume 5 Number 3

July 2007 219-220

© 2007 Sage Publications

10.1177/1541204007301311

http://yvj.sagepub.com

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