The proposed research is a long term follow-up of a sample of serious female offenders originally interviewed as adolescents. In 1992, interviews were conducted with the entire population (n=127) of Ohio's only institution for girls and a comparable subsample of male institutionalized offenders (n=127). These data were collected in connection with a larger neighborhood study which explored how gender and ethnicity may affect patterns of delinquency (n=942). Because the level of antisocial behavior evidenced by the institutionalized females (and males) greatly exceeds that found among even the most delinquent youth within the neighborhood sample, it is important to attempt to locate and re-interview these more serious offenders, with the following specific objectives: (1) to compare the success of the transitions made by the female in contrast to male serious offenders. A successful transition will be measured by educational and occupational attainment, and life/relationship satisfaction, while a less than successful transition will be measured by continued involvement in criminal behavior, early/unintended pregnancies, and/or psychological distress. (2) to determine those adolescent and adult processes which best predict variation in the kinds of transitions made by the female and male offenders in the sample. Consistent with our interactionist conceptual orientation, emphasis is place on social network qualities and influences as they affect the desistence process; nevertheless we will also include attention to individual level (e.g., adult identities, roles and competencies) and structural level (e.g., economic marginality) variables. (3) to compare the factors associated with desistence in a recent follow- up of the neighborhood sample with those affecting outcomes within this mores seriously delinquent subgroup. (4) to determine the extent to which the long term consequences of delinquency, the likelihood of desistence, and factors associated with desistance are affected by respondent's ethnicity. The body of scientific knowledge relating to female offenders is considerably less well developed than is that focused on males. This disparity in theory/research continues to be justified by the greater prevalence rates among male adolescents. Yet each generation produces a small subgroup of young women whose behavior is sufficiently disruptive and socially injurious to warrant official intervention. We actually know very little about these young women, or the long term course and consequences of these early antisocial tendencies. Findings from the comparative analysis we propose could be useful in the design of more gender (and ethnically) sensitive treatment strategies.
