Abstract:
In this article, the significance of the role of theory to the research process as a prime objective of the social
sciences is focused upon. Theories offer insight and strategies for the helping professions and help researchers
to gain insight into and explain empirical observations, such as why people commit crimes or some commit
more crime than others. It is common cause for the helping professions to integrate interdisciplinary knowledge
to provide meaning and understanding to empirical data. In the current study the ecological systems theory is
used as a platform to induce a criminologically relevant theoretical framework to explain female youth sex
offending. Ecological systems theory is advocated as a result of the fact that the environmental circumstances in
which the young female sex offender finds herself are dynamic and necessitate continuous adaptation to an
ever-changing environment, which is best explained within the context of an ecological approach. The research
was conducted at the “Teddy Bear Clinic” in the Parktown North and Soweto Offices in Gauteng, South Africa.
The research participants were diverted to the Support Programme for Abuse Reactive Children offered by the
Teddy Bear Clinic where purposive sampling was used to select a convenience sample of eight young female
sexual offenders between the ages of 12 and 18 years. Semi-structured interviews, guided by an interview
schedule, were conducted to collect data. The collated data was evaluated in terms of the ecological systems
theory and supportive propositions, to conceive a theoretical framework that aims to explain female youth sex
offending. The purpose of this framework is to guide future research, and inform interventions and policy
development.
