Middle-Aged Women Picking Up Slack Of Less Violent Youth

Are girls becoming more violent? Everything you see in the news would lead you to say yes. But a women’s studies professor and a researcher with the suspicious sounding name of Mike MALES say no.

We have examined every major index of crime on which the authorities rely. None show a recent increase in girls’ violence; in fact, every reliable measure shows that violence by girls has been plummeting for years. Major offenses like murder and robbery by girls are at their lowest levels in four decades. Fights, weapons possession, assaults and violent injuries by and toward girls have been plunging for at least a decade.

So who’s doing all the ladyviolence? “Among women ages 35 to 54, F.B.I. reports show, felony assault arrests rocketed from 7,100 in 1981 to 28,800 in 2008.” Good work, older women! At least you broads are trying to keep things even.