Conceptualisation of a criminological theoretical framework to elucidate female youth sex offending

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.