Juvenile Delinquency

Female juvenile delinquency is still a mystery. After all these centuries and theories, we still can't seem to figure out why females are delinquent. Is it because some are sexual deviants, sexually abused, mimicking boys bad behavior, finding equal opportunity in criminal pursuits, treated differently by the criminal justice system? What is it? Hmmm, why so mysterious?

I am going to suggest that it does not really matter why females are delinquent, just that some of them are...same as boys...some of them are delinquent... no matter what society does or does not do; no matter what social systems we put in place to divert behavior, treat criminals, punish them, etc. Some people are simply bad and will behave badly; male & female. This will always be the case. But what about the others that are not really bad people, but are just making bad decisions based on their circumstances or lack of resources? Let's help these kids.

How do we do it? We put systems in place to give these kids options, direction, supervision, hope. For example, what about having a local Boys & Girls Club that kids can attend with a great program and kids their own ages? This would give them a sense of belonging and a place to spend some of their time...time that might otherwise be spent in deviant behavior due to lack or supervision, lack of a place to go, or lack of belonging.

The boys & girls club or similar programs are just one way that we can help these kids. I'm just talking about the good kids that make some mistakes. I completely believe that some people simply cannot be helped. They are just genetically encoded with the BAD behavior gene and there is nothing we can do except catch them and punish or incarcerate them when they are caught.