Committing to juvenile delinquency: a gendered experience

Committing to juvenile delinquency: a gendered experience

Through the analysis of three phases - beginning, training and continuing - this contribution examines the differential structuration of girl’s and boy’s delinquent careers. It highlights the gendered process of acquisition (of knowledge, techniques, networks) through which young people become engaged in illicit practices. On the one hand, young men gain access to organized groups, based on the transmission of knowledge and techniques between peers, following a "professionalizing" logic. On the other hand, young women are denied access to learning and are thus "under-equipped", all the while experiencing strong penal control.

Keywords:

• delinquent career
• gender
• juvenile justice
• Social/Penal State