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A Quantitative Exploration of Gendered Pathways to Crime in a Sample of Male and Female Juvenile Offenders

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Feminist Criminology

Published online on

Abstract

Feminist (gendered) pathways theorists maintain that female criminality is largely survival-based, and tied to a constellation of factors including early trauma, ensuing mental health issues, and poverty. Based on items drawn from the Youth Assessment and Screening Instrument, multidimensional scaling was performed to elucidate the respective thematic structure of background and offending characteristics of 663 female and 1,175 male juvenile offenders under community supervision in New York State. Although the gendered pathways theme emerged exclusively for females, a theme closely resembling the traditional antisocial pathway depicted in mainstream correctional literature was also evident among females. Theoretical integration is therefore recommended.