This article constitutes an attempt to explain at least some of the dramatic differences in levels of criminal involvement between girls and boys. The analysis proceeds from a study of co-offending conducted among all youths suspected of criminal offences in Stockholm between 1991 and 1995 and their co-offenders. The study population comprises a total of 22,091 individuals (Sarnecki 2001). The article presents a number of new analyses based on this material, whose objective is to chart differences in the choices of co-offender made by young males and females suspected of criminal offences. The article also examines the character of co-offending networks containing males and females respectively.
The findings indicate that whilst boys tend to choose their co-offenders from among other boys of the same age, the girls, particularly as they become older, tend more often to choose boys who are both older and more criminally experienced than themselves. In general the girls were found to be less deeply embedded in the delinquent networks than their male counterparts. This was true even for girls presenting similar levels of delinquent involvment to the boys in question. If embeddedness in delinquent networks increases the risk for involvement in crime, then the weaker network ties presented by girls may be one of the factors explaining their lower levels of delinquency.