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Girls and Transgressive Paths: A Case Study of Portuguese Girls in the Juvenile Justice System

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Female Crime and Delinquency in Portugal

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Abstract

This chapter is the result of a qualitative investigation in which the main goal was to understand the problem of feminine juvenile delinquency, by studying the experiences and the meanings of the transgressions in the life paths of girls under educational court orders (executed in a juvenile detention center or within the community) in Portugal. Through the voices of the girls it was possible to create profiles of the transgressive paths that show the heterogeneity of the phenomenon of feminine juvenile delinquency and propose a way of overcoming the victimization-versus-agency dichotomy.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Sábado Magazine, number 370, June 2nd–8th, 2011.

  2. 2.

    Regarding juvenile delinquency and its distribution by gender, statistical dissemination by the Directorate-General for Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP) is the most rigorous observation instrument; however, it refers only to the evolution and nature of the requests made by DGRSP. It does not provide either the extent of crimes reported to the police or the number of the crimes judged in court. Moreover, these statistics are not always systematic and are often disclosed very late to the public, which does not allow a global view of the phenomenon. DGRSP data states young people between 12 and 16 years old who commit a criminal offence can only be subject to educational measures (in the community or under liberty-depriving measures in custodial institutions , called Educational Centers ), as defined by the Educational Guardianship Law (LTE). The age of criminal majority has been maintained at 16 years although the age of civil majority is 18 years. According to DGRSP statistics, the number of girls under liberty-depriving measures in Educational Centers has been growing since 2005 [December 2005: 5.6%; December 2008: 9.4%; December 2010: 10.2%; October 2012: 11.3%; December 2013: 8.7%; December 2014: 12.8%; December 2015: 12.6%].

  3. 3.

    E.g. Shaw and Dubois (1995), Artz (1998), Leschied et al. (2000) in Canada; Campbell (1981), Chesney-Lind (1997), Hoyt and Scherer (1998), Holsinger (2000), Miller (2001), Steffensmeier and Allan (1996), Zahn et al. (2008, 2010) in the USA ; Burman et al. (2001) in Scotland ; Gelsthorpe and Worral (2009), Arnull and Eagle (2009) in England; Assis and Constantino (2001), Abramovay (2010) in Brazil; Matos (2008), Duarte (2012) in Portugal .

  4. 4.

    Funding: The study was funded by the FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal (Grant number SFRH/BD/35752/2007).

  5. 5.

    Who is overly well behaved.

  6. 6.

    For example, Naffine (1987), Carlen (1988), Campbell (1981, 1984), Worrall (1990), Chesney-Lind (1997), Hoyt and Scherer (1998), Belknap (2000), Holsinger (2000), Burman et al. (2001), Miller (2001), Giordano et al. (2002), Alder and Worral (2004), Messerschmidt (2004), Gelsthorp and Sharpe (2006), Matos (2008), Arnull and Eagle (2009), Zahn et al. (2010).

  7. 7.

    The fieldwork took place continuously between September and November of 2008, with occasional visits to the field during the year of 2009.

  8. 8.

    Ethical approval: All procedures performed in the study involving human subjects were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent : Informed consent was obtained from all individual subjects included in the study. Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they had no conflict of interest.

  9. 9.

    Should read: 20 young girls of a total of 27.

  10. 10.

    Should read: 9 young girls of 19 who were interviewed.

  11. 11.

    Qualitative research study, developed among female juvenile cultures and through the processes of preparation for and transition from school to paid work and family responsibilities , conducted with seven girls, between the ages of 15 and 21 years, born and raised in the historic center of Oporto—Sé Neighborhood.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CICS.NOVA Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Vera Duarte

  2. Instituto Universitário da Maia (ISMAI), Maia, Portugal

    Vera Duarte & Ana Margarida Guerreiro

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  1. Vera Duarte
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  2. Ana Margarida Guerreiro
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CICS.NOVA Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Sílvia Gomes

  2. CICS.NOVA Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Vera Duarte

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Duarte, V., Guerreiro, A.M. (2018). Girls and Transgressive Paths: A Case Study of Portuguese Girls in the Juvenile Justice System. In: Gomes, S., Duarte, V. (eds) Female Crime and Delinquency in Portugal. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73534-4_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73534-4_10

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