Kim Pate

Girls are not committing greater amounts of gang violence, maintains Kim Pate in the following viewpoint. She notes that girls do sometimes commit violent crimes but asserts that it is often in reaction to violence done against them. Pate argues that the Canadian criminal justice system ignores the needs of young women and asserts that inaccurate claims about female violence fuel panic and legitimize the belief that women need to be controlled. Pate is the executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, which works with women and girls involved with the justice system.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Pate, when did law enforcement begin to acknowledge crimes committed by women?
2. How are young women disproportionately disadvantaged, in the author’s opinion?
3. According to the author...