Chapter.7 – Exam Questions – Canadian Girls And Crime In The

CHAPTER 7

Canadian Girls and Crime in the Twenty-First Century

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Canada, Barron and Lacombe (2005) argue that recent public concern suggesting that girl violence is increasing is ________.
   1. supported by official statistics
   2. largely the product of a moral panic
   3. reflected in self-report data but not official statistics
   4. reflected in higher arrest rates for girls
   5. supported by reports made by schools
2. Whereas in the early 1980s in Canada, one in 10 cases in youth courts was against girls, in the mid-2000s, this ratio was ________.
   1. one in six
   2. one in five
   3. one in 4.5
   4. one in 3.5
   5. one in two
3. Of all total number of criminal court cases in Canada in 2012, cases involving youth accounted for ________.
   1. 33 per cent
   2. 25 per cent
   3. 16 per cent
   4. 12 per cent
   5. 8 per cent
4. Some criminologists have argued that the apparent increase in officially-recorded female youth crime in the 1990s can be explained at least in part by changes in ________.
   1. law enforcement
   2. youth justice policy
   3. employment rates
   4. All of the above
   5. Both a and b
5. Data show that in Canada the most frequent charge resulting in a court appearance for girls is ________.
   1. minor assault
   2. theft
   3. fraud
   4. administrative offences
   5. violent offences
6. Under the YCJA, the violation of administrative orders can include ________.
   1. failure to comply with a curfew
   2. failure to comply with a detention order
   3. failing to attend mandated programs
   4. All of the above
   5. Both a and c
7. Compared with boys, girls are typically given ________ conditions they are required to follow upon their release from remand and custody.
   1. fewer
   2. more
   3. different
   4. the same
   5. None of the above
8. In 2011–2012, Indigenous female youth represented ________ of all female youth sentenced to custody in Canada.
   1. 23 per cent
   2. 46 per cent
   3. 57 per cent
   4. 85 per cent
   5. 91 per cent
9. Before the 1970s, when females were considered in criminology, the focus was generally on ________.
   1. the socialization of girls
   2. the gender gap
   3. psychological determinants of crime
   4. explaining female violent crime
   5. sexual orientation
10. In early literature, criminologists attempted to explain differences in male and female crime rates by developing theories that focused on ________.
    1. biological differences
    2. gender role socialization
    3. the masculinization of women
    4. All of the above
    5. Both a and b
11. The argument that women who became criminal were biologically inferior was popular ________.
    1. in the nineteenth century
    2. well into the twentieth century
    3. only among physical anthropologists
    4. only among Lombroso and his followers
    5. only among biological criminologists
12. Current research on biology and crime suggests that ________.
    1. aggression is a natural behaviour that one learns to control
    2. aggression and violence must be unlearned
    3. variability in early aggression is due, at least in part, to genetic effects
    4. All of the above
    5. Both a and b
13. Researchers who advance biopsychosocial models of chronic antisocial and delinquent behaviour have shown that for both girls and boys biological pre-dispositions can be mediated positively or negatively in a child’s life by ________.
    1. psychological variables
    2. psychiatric variables
    3. educational variables
    4. socio-cultural context variables
    5. gender-related variables
14. Researchers have found few consistent gender differences with regard to the effects of family factors on the socialization of children except in the area of ________.
    1. family conflict
    2. harsh and coercive parenting
    3. exposure to crime by family members
    4. sexual abuse
    5. divorce
15. ________ is supported by research that indicates that females who have frequent contact with other deviant youth appear to engage in deviant behaviour to a greater degree than those who do not.
    1. Labelling theory
    2. Differential association theory
    3. Power-control theory
    4. Gender role theory
    5. Strain theory
16. ________ is linked to power-control theory.
    1. Patriarchy
    2. Gender socialization
    3. Risk-taking behaviour
    4. All of the above
    5. Both a and b
17. Power-control theory suggests that delinquency is more common among girls raised in ________.
    1. patriarchal families
    2. egalitarian families
    3. single-parent families
    4. blended families
    5. same-sex families
18. Which of the following emerged as a theoretical concept in the 1980s and is now widely popular in feminist criminology?
    1. Oppression
    2. Patriarchy
    3. Intersectionality
    4. Feminization
    5. Masculinization
19. According to feminist criminologists, attending to demographic intersections involves ________.
    1. discontinuing the use of stereotypes and overly simplistic theories
    2. providing girls with more humane types of punishment
    3. giving girls a stake in conformity and more equal opportunities
    4. All of the above
    5. Both a and b
20. Of the following responses identified in Chapter 7, ________ recognizes that the pathways to criminal involvement and the needs of female offenders are different than those of male offenders?
    1. gender-sensitive
    2. gender-neutral
    3. feminist
    4. humanist
    5. functionalist
21. The phenomenon described by Stoneman as ________ occurs when youth who have been diverted struggle to access adequate resources.
    1. systematic failure
    2. resource narrowing
    3. inaccessibility
    4. net narrowing
    5. net widening
22. ________ are the main sociological approaches to crime and delinquency that fit with a gender role analysis and theory.
    1. Strain theories
    2. Differential association or social learning theories
    3. Social control theories
    4. Both a and b
    5. All of the above
23. ________ refers to a movement away from thinking categorically and toward thinking about the connections and crossroads between social facets.
    1. intersectionality
    2. net narrowing
    3. power control theory
    4. gender role theory
    5. reversal theory
24. A 2011 study by Gretton and Clift show that ________ females and ________ males in British Columbia youth institutions show signs of at least on mental disorder.
    1. 100 per cent; 92 per cent
    2. 90 per cent; 85 per cent
    3. 92 per cent; 100 per cent
    4. 55 per cent; 75 per cent
    5. 65 per cent; 85 per cent
25. In 2015-16 what percentage of young girls’ cases were withdrawn, dismissed, or stayed by the court?
    1. 17 per cent
    2. 28 per cent
    3. 36 per cent
    4. 51 per cent
    5. 71 per cent

True or False Questions

• • • 1. Only 3 per cent of all Canadians charged and brought to court in 2012 were girls.
      2. Although the causes of the increase in youth crime in Canada in the 1990s remain unclear, it is widely agreed that the statistics illustrate an explosion of female crime.
      3. In Canada, the rates of female youth charged by police started to decline late in the 1990s, and the comparable rate for male youth began to drop even more.
      4. In Canada, in the period from 2011 to 2012, female youth were charged with minor theft at nearly twice the rate of young males.
      5. Incarcerating youth for nonviolent offences is not permitted under the YCJA.
      6. Girls who commit nonviolent offences are less likely to receive counselling and treatment orders that those who commit violent offences.
      7. Since the introduction of the YCJA in 2003, there has been an undeniable decrease in charges, guilty findings, and custodial sentences for both boys and girls.
      8. The proportion of Indigenous female youth in sentenced custody compared to non-Indigenous female youth has increased since the introduction of the YCJA.
      9. On average, Indigenous girls make up a greater proportion of youth on remand and serving sentences of probation than Indigenous boys do.
      10. Female youth are admitted to correctional services at a much higher rate than male youth.
      11. Current research on biology and crime suggests that fetal exposure to testosterone plays a role in how easily a child learns to control his or her emotions.
      12. In recent years, research on biopsychological factors, gender, and delinquency has found that, for girls, the most salient biological disposition and vulnerability for delinquency appears to be late pubertal maturation.
      13. Research on family influences on youth delinquency and crime shows that girls suffer the negative consequences of family conflict more than boys do.
      14. Recent research on peer influences and crime shows that girls generally spend more time in structured social activities than boys do.
      15. Research and intervention approaches that treat delinquent females as a homogeneous group have done little to further our knowledge about delinquent females.
      16. Intersectionality refers to a movement away from thinking categorically and toward thinking about the connections and crossroads between social facets.
      17. According to the authors of Chapter 7, punitive approaches are inhumane and violent and merit no place in a civil society.
      18. Compensatory practices assume that girls require different but equal treatment.
      19. Despite changes to youth justice policy, evidence still shows that girls are disproportionately charged with “status-like” administrative charges.
      20. According to feminist criminologists, greater self-determination and full equality pose a criminogenic risk for girls and women.
      21. According to the research, the Safe Streets and Communities Act ignored the continual drop in youth crime rates and toughened responses to youth crime.
      22. According to Table 7.1, the majority of youth court cases involved theft.
      23. The most common sentence or disposition for girls, like boys, is probation.
      24. Indigenous girls, many of whom are intergenerational survivors of the residential school system, are the fastest growing population in youth custody.
      25. Trauma Theory is one that is applied to understand the trauma faced by the family members of young offenders.

Short Answer Questions

1. What are some of the reasons for the apparent increase in female youth crime in Canada in the 1990s?
2. How did Steffensmeier et al. (2005) try to explain why the officially reported upward trend of girls’ offending behaviour could not be replicated using unofficial longitudinal sources?
3. What is problematic about the often-heard argument that girls are “catching up” to boys in their commission of criminal offences?
4. Why is it important to exercise caution in interpreting changes in female youth crime rates represented by percentage-based quantitative statistics?
5. Why is it important to exercise caution when interpreting data on “violent” youth crime?
6. What are administrative offences? How do rates of administrative offences for girls compare to rates for boys since the enactment of the YCJA?
7. What reasons have been given for the increase in charging of girls with technical administrative violations under the YOA in the 1990s?
8. What is the concern described by a professional in the youth service field in Box 7.1?
9. Why are a greater proportion of female youth typically given more conditions upon their release from remand and custody compared with male youth?
10. Why are Canada’s current youth justice practices especially problematic for Indigenous girls?
11. What do criminologists mean when they refer to “the gender gap”?
12. What did Cesare Lombroso argue as to why females became criminals?
13. What have the findings of recent research on biopsychological factors, gender, and delinquency revealed about the relationship between delinquency and female pubertal maturation?
14. What are gender role theories?
15. What is one of the major conclusions of Kruttschnitt and Giordano’s (2009) “state of the art” analysis of the research on family and delinquency in girls?
16. What does Giordano’s (2009) assessment of the current literature on delinquency suggest about girls who are more vulnerable to negative peer influences?
17. What is problematic about the way in which power-control theory treats victimization?
18. What is intersectionality?
19. What are the three directions for activism and policy change that can be pursued as part of the effort at attending to demographic intersections?
20. What is compensatory practice?
21. What is net narrowing?
22. What is meant by the term intersectionality?
23. Discuss what is meant by Administration charges as they specifically relate to young females.

Essay Questions

1. How are changes in law enforcement and youth justice policy tied to changes in official charge rates for offences committed by female youth?
2. What are the concerns criminologists have raised about charging girls with administrative offences under the YCJA? Do you agree with the concerns that have been raised? Why?
3. How has biologically-related research and theorizing relevant to understanding female criminality changed over the course of the twentieth and early twenty-first century?
4. What is power-control theory and what are the major criticisms of this theory? Do you agree with these criticisms? Why?
5. What do feminist criminologists mean when they discuss the need for “attending to demographic intersections”? How can attending to demographic intersections help address the problems faced by girls both in the youth justice system and in society more generally?
6. How has the implementation of the YCJA contributed to net narrowing? How has net narrowing created conditions that allow serious criminal behaviour to be desirable?
7. Explain what is meant by a growing body of research reflects on how bail and probation terms under the YCJA contribute to the perpetuation of bias.
8. Discuss Trauma Theory.