Understanding Girls Pathways to Violence and Aggression

1
Understanding Girls Pathways to Violence and
Aggression

• Lisa Pasko
• University of Denver

2
This presentation

• Scope of girls violent offending
• Theoretical explanations for violence
• Pathways to girls aggression
• Conclusions/programming

3
Girls arrests for violent offenses
4
Person offenses of girls in residential
placement, United States, 1997-2001
5
Overall

• Girls arrests for simple assaults have gone up
  by nearly 1/5 over the past ten years, while
  boys arrests have gone down.
• Girls commitments for simple assault have gone
  up by 40.

6
Theorizing girls violence

• Biology/psychology
• Prefrontal dysfunction
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Chronic childhood stress
• Maternal substance abuse and trauma during
  pregnancy
• Low levels of serotonin lead to impulsivity and
  aggression
• Internalizing/externalizing strain/stress

7
Theorizing girls violence

• Environment
• Exposure to violence/victimization
• Hard wiring of the brain due to constant
  exposure to violence
• Negative emotionality (no consistent response
  from care givers)
• Impulsiveness
• Sensation seeking (need extreme emotions)
• Violence as survival strategy

8
Violence highest among groups

• Who do not believe in a legal system to protect
  them
• Who do not involve formal authority in order to
  handle disputes
• Who experience high concentrations of poverty
• Who use violence as a means of gaining honor,
  respect, and status
• Girls in the gang/on the street part of this
  subculture of violence, but in a different way.

9
Girl world

• Girl fighting meanness as relational aggression
• In/exclusion dominate peer interaction
• Sarcasm, ridicule, gossip, name-calling, silent
  treatment
• Cultural images (TV, magazines) reinforce this
  girl world the focus on body image, sexuality,
  popularity, and meanness. Female empowerment
  equates aggression and a willingness to fight.
• This form of bullying can lead some girls to
  avoid school and on pathway to street life.

10
Understanding girls violent offending

• Pathways perspective to girls violence
• This approach attempts to determine life
  experiences, particularly childhood ones, that
  place one at risk of violent offending.

11
Overall, girls pathways to delinquency

• Girls are more likely than boys to come from
  fragmented families, to have chemically dependent
  and/or criminally involved parents, and to suffer
  from sexual and physical abuse in their homes.
• These experiences precipitate running away (their
  escape strategy) and increase exposure to
  criminal opportunities and sexual victimization
  on the streets.

12
Overall, girls pathways

• In particular, sexual abuse affects girls'
  ability to form attachment bonds needed to deter
  delinquency and anti-social behavior.
• It increases the likelihood of depression,
  suicide attempts, problematic substance use, self
  injury, violence, eating disorders, delinquent
  peer groups, and risky lifestyles.

13
Overall, girls pathways

• School forms yet another atmosphere of oppression
  and alienation for many female juvenile
  offenders.
• Several studies have shown that girl offenders
  have high rates of truancy, suspensions for
  nonattendance, and overall low school attachment.

14
For the most part

• When girls commit crime, they often do it for
  instrumental reasons (running away, shoplifting).
• They rarely risk physical injury. In comparison
  to boys, they infrequently engage in violent one
  on one competition.
• When considering the rise in girls assaults, it
  is equally important to note changes in law
  enforcement and school policies and procedures.

15
Research study

• Data drawn from a quasi-random sample of 112 case
  files of girls who had been on probation during
  2004 calendar year.
• Data also enhanced by focus groups with girl
  probationers and probation officers.
• Average age was 15.5.
• First juvenile court referral
• Girls with a history of violence (n71) 34 were
  referred for a violent offense (second 32 were
  referred for running away)
• Girls without a record of violence (n41) 46
  referred for running away (second 24 for theft)

16
Differences between violent and nonviolent female
juvenile offenders

• Violent girls are twice as likely to claim gang
  involvement as are girls with no history of
  violence.
• 89 of girls who reported using violence have an
  assault arrest in their record.
• Of those girls arrested for assault, 67 have
  also been arrested for a property offense and 15
  have been arrested for drug offenses.

17
Mental health/medical factors

• 44 of nonviolent girls have had treatment for
  mental health issues before probation, with
  nearly 75 having access to health insurance and
  early childhood health care.
• Only 26 of violent girls have had some form of
  mental health treatment prior to probation
  (usually for suicide attempt) less than 40 had
  health insurance/childhood health care at any
  point during their lives.
• However, 56 of violent girls had at least one
  recorded suicide attempt in their records, as
  opposed to 50 of nonviolent girls, and violent
  girls reported four times as many medical
  problems (notably, STDs, asthma and stomach
  problems).

18
Family factors

• 2/3 of violent girls have been exposed to
  domestic violence, as opposed to 46 of
  nonviolent girls.
• Violent girls are 25 more likely than nonviolent
  girls to have experienced physical abuse.
• Sex abuse (overall, 2 out of 5 report sexual
  abuse)
• Nonviolent girls dad/stepdad, brother, uncle,
  and boyfriend are common perpetrators
• Violent girls more likely to be assaulted by a
  stranger, person in authority, or moms
  boyfriend. They are also more likely to have had
  more than one perpetrator.

19
Family factors

• Violent girls also have more records of
• Witnessing the death of a significant other (20
  of violent girls versus 12 of nonviolent)
• Having a parent in prison (66 versus 47)
• Having a parent who uses drugs or alcohol (68
  versus 58)
• Having no contact with their father (60 versus
  48)
• Experiencing childhood neglect (31 versus 19)

20
Sexual behavior

• All of the girls in the sample who had been
  arrested for prostitution also had arrests for
  assaults.
• However, nonviolent girls (44) had more records
  of running away to an older boyfriend (37) (at
  least ten years their senior).
• Of these 37 of violent girls who said they had
  an older boyfriend, 80 also said they could
  consider him a pimp.

21
School factors

• 2/3 of both violent and nonviolent girls had
  failed at least one semester.
• For violent girls, their failure began at an
  earlier age (elementary versus middle-school).
• Violent girls are more likely to be assessed as
  needing special education.

22
Alcohol

• Alcohol
• Both nonviolent (85) and violent (76) girls
  reported using alcohol at some point before
  probation.
• Violent girls reported frequent and episodic use
  while nonviolent girls reported experimental and
  episodic drinking.

23
Crystal methamphetamine

• 42 of violent girls had tried crystal
  methamphetamine.
• Of that 42, 68 report frequent use. (average
  age first tried 13.1)
• 55 of nonviolent girls reported ever trying
  meth.
• Of that 55, 55 also reported frequent use.
  (average age first tried 14.2)

24
Marijuana

• 68 (n48) of violent girls and 82 (n34) of
  nonviolent girls report trying marijuana in their
  lifetimes.
• Average age of first use for both 12.5.
• 44 of violent girls report frequent marijuana
  use, versus 25 of nonviolent girls.

25
Whom are girls assaulting?

• Number
• parent (mother) 19
• female peer 24
• male peer 3
• staff/teacher 8
• stranger 1
• siblings 8
• police 1
• grandparent 1

26
Girls direct violence primarily at

• Other girls
• Mothers, women in authority (staff, teachers)
• Other intimates (siblings)
• Reasons gender loathing, resentful of those
  who could have saved them for abuse, hit hardest
  against those they feel betrayed trust

27
Three key starting points

• Grade school (age 11 and younger) (serious,
  repetitive violence, on-going street survival,
  anti-social)
• Failing out of school at an early age
• Limited resources (no health insurance)
• Empty and/or violent families
• Middle school-early high school (age 12-15)
  (propensity for aggressive romantic
  relationships)
• Bullied, truant, low level delinquency
• High school (age 15) (group-influenced violence)
• Violence performed in groups, rarely chronic but
  potentially severe

28
Lethal violence and girls
Ashley Rios (gang)
Kelly Ellard (girlfighting)
Tammy Damm (mother, boyfriend-assisted)
29
Girls who kill

• The rate of girls who commit murder in the U.S.
  is higher than that of other countries, e.g.,
  Japan and Austria.
• Usually suffer from overt depression
• Likely kill in the context of a relationship
• Often kill in concert with a male perpetrator
• Those who kill alone resemble the violent male
  teenager who kills alone

30
Summary

• To understand the rise to girls violence, one
  must look at changes in girls worlds, cultural
  representations, as well as formal justice
  statistics.
• Must consider all factors playing into her
  violence biology, psychology, and environment.
• The violent female juvenile offender
• Less access to early medical and mental health
  care
• More frequent drug use
• More gang involvement
• Risky sexual behavior
• More likely to have a parent who uses drugs, is
  in prison, or is absent

31
Responding to girls violence

• Girls programs must provide a respectful and
  safe forum for girls to openly discuss their
  experiences with abuse, victimization, and
  personal safety issues.
• It must provide an acceptable space for girls to
  explore their physicality.
• For the girl offender, programming also needs to
  create services that assist girls in living
  independently building career and work options
  experiencing more visible avenues to power and
  control reducing harmful girlfighting and
  embracing meaningful friendships with other
  girls.
• Early childhood medical and mental health care is
  of key importance.

32
For more information or a copy of the
presentation

• Lisa Pasko
• 2000 E. Asbury Ave., Sturm Hall 446
• Department of Sociology and Criminology
• University of Denver
• Denver CO 80208
• 303.871.2049
• Lisa.Pasko_at_du.edu