Abstract
The study examined gender differences in risk factors for violence in a sample of 213 male and female youths held in Youth Justice Centres in Victoria, Australia. Although violence risk factors are considered to be commensurate across gender, a growing body of international literature is categorizing gender-specific criminal trajectories. The study aimed to investigate this concept in an Australian juvenile context. Through the use of a widely validated youth violence risk assessment inventory, the prevalence of salient risk items was compared across gender. Young female offenders were found to present with higher levels of family dysfunction, peer rejection and self-injurious behavior reflecting international female offending pathways literature.
Highlights
Youth offending rates are at least double those in adulthood and those who offend as youths are more likely to experience problematic criminal life trajectories (Australian Institute of Criminology [AIC], 2009; Chen, Matruglio, Weatherburn, & Hua, 2005; Richards, 2011)
This study examined gender differences in risk markers of violent offending using the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) in a sample of Australian youth offenders in custody
The study contributes to extant literature on risk factors for youth violence risk, though undertaken in a unique Australian youth justice context
Summary
The ensuing traumas are connected to truancy, substance abuse, economically motivated delinquency, mental illness, self-injurious behavior, prostitution, and further victimization (Chesney-Lind, 1997; Gavazzi et al, 2006; ; Logan & Blackburn, 2009; Loxley & Adams, 2009; Teplin, Abram, & McClelland, 1996; TimmonsMitchell et al, 1997; Vincent, Grisso, Terry, & Banks, 2008; Wasserman & McReynolds, 2011). Reports indicate the high rates of mental illness among female offenders compared with their nonoffending female counterparts and male offenders (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2012a; Butler & Allnutt, 2003; Cauffman, Lexcen, Goldweber, Shulman, & Grisso, 2007; Loxley & Adams, 2009; Vincent et al, 2008). The omission of crucial gender-specific factors for delinquency could have repercussions for treatment strategies that require an understanding of the etiological issues that prompt female criminality
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