Women and Crime “we feel compelled to break the historical silence surrounding women offenders” Adelburg and Currie, ’87.

Introduction  Historically a lack of attention to the female offender  Considerable attention to the female victim  Why? –Pedestal effect –Chivalry hypothesis  Females rates increasing

 Historical Overview:  One of the 1 st Canadian studies – 1969  Phyllis Haslem ’76 and female offenders no more challenging than male offenders  Efforts of Elizabeth Fry Society  ’86 Feminist Review of Criminal Law  Post 70s female offender gaining attention

 Gender Differences… –Verbal –Visual, aural, and spatial –Science and mathematics –Physically aggressive, dominant, and curious  Social forces vs. biological determinants  …. Political sensitivity  Morally ‘bad’ –Socially prescribed or proscribed (Box 13.5)  “battered wife syndrome”

 A Growing Concern:  Violent and property crime rates –Someone close vs. stranger –Previous history  History of physical and sexual abuse  Aboriginal vs. non-Aboriginal  Importance of personal difficulties and substance abuse…  Interdisciplinary approach

 Serial killers… 10-15% –Modus operandi  But…why fewer violent crimes than males  Aboriginal Women:  Overrepresented  ? “out of protection”  Product of historical socio-economic forces and background factors

 Property Crime:  Theft  Young and poor  Lack education  Changing social opportunities  Changing social roles  White Collar Crime:  Embezzlement  Entering the work force  But… respond differently than men to opportunities

Explanations  Biological positivism: –Biological determinism  Need to give and receive more love?  Impaired health?  Cognitive differences and environmental interaction  Psychological “flaws”:  ? Greater need for love and affection  ? Gender instability (Konopka, ’66)

 ! 2/3 of women seek psychological help vs. 1/3 men… social or “flawed”  Pollack… social roles and readily disguise criminality  Socializiation and Liberation:  !70s and liberation  Liberation hypothesis  Convergence of role expectations  But… linkages were weak

 Feminist Criminology:  Power control theory –Double standard orientation  Gender-based theory (conflict and control theory)  Female offenders ARE different from male offenders (Br. Realism & post- critical criminology)

SUMMARY  Only recently garnering attention  Shift from ‘bad’ and ‘sick’ to social and integrated approaches  Female criminality appears to be increasing  Theoretical explanations diverse and varied  Emergence of special academic journals  ! Needs more research

Fly on out of here…