Investigating the Relationship Between Women and Crime :: Papers

A consistent feature of the statistics, not single in England and Wales but across Europe and America, is that far few women atomic number 18 convicted of crime than men a fact which has changed little over the geezerhood. young-bearing(prenominal) offenders also show a different pattern of offending world less twisty in violent offences and proportionately more involved in theft. In general close to now accept that girls and women do commit fewer offences than boys. GENDER AND PATTERNS OF CRIME makeup in 1977 sing Smart stated Our knowledge is still in its infancy. In equation with the massive documentation on all aspects of male delinquency and criminality, the cadence of work carried out on the argona of women and crime is extremely limited. Although the years since Smarts study have seen much more quest in the study of female crime and deviance, many general theories in this area continue to neglect gender as a federal agent influen cing criminality. This is despite the fact that official figures suggest that gender is perhaps the most significant single factor in whether an individual is convicted of crime. Any theories which pass to explain this relationship could therefore be seen as inadequate. OFFICIAL STATISTICS, evil AND GENDER Pollak the masked female offender chivalry thesis Writing in 1950, Otto pollak argued that official statistics on gender and crime were highly misleading. He claimed that the statistics seriously under-estimated the extent of female criminality. From an examination of official figures in a number of different countries he claimed to have identified certain crimes that are usually committed by women but are particularly possible to be unreported. Pollak went on to give reasons as to why there should be an under-recording of female crime. 1. He argues that the police, magistrates and other law enforcement officials tend to be men. Brought up to b e chivalrous, they are usually lenient with female offenders so that fewer women appear in the statistics. However, he regards this as only a tiddler factor