Female Gang Delinquency: A Search for "Acceptably Deviant Behavior"

Abstract

This paper explores tile forms of female gang delinquency through an analysis of ambiguous deviance norms operating within the gang structure. Caught within competing behavioral norms, female gang members are forced to "fine tune" their deviant behavior in order to make it "acceptable" to their unique position as females within a delinquent gang. The resulting behavior is a "typical" Jonn of female delinquency which is deviant enough for gang membership but not so deviant as to be seen as a contradiction to jenJale character expectations. The explanatory framework and coinciding specific forms of "acceptable deviance" are examined in light of the sexual promiscuity, drug use, aggressive or violent behavior, and motherhood of female gang members.