6 Facts That An Average Person Would Not Know About Women And Crime

When people think of crime, their thoughts immediately skip over females and go directly to these macho males or the class weirdos that you see in the headlines. It is true that males commit more crimes than females, but it is still an important aspect of our society that needs to be discussed. By learning more about these female offenders, society can have a better chance at preventing these crimes from occurring.

1. Females are punished more harshly than males

This can be explained by the evil women hypothesis provided by Chesney-Lind. She hypothesizes that the male-dominated society will punish women not only for their offense, but also for breaking gender roles which can be seen especially in sex crimes. The idea that males believe that any deviance from conformity to the patriarchal system needs to be corrected through punishment comes into play during the sentencing process and affects the length of a female offender's sentence.

A female who abandoned her child will receive a harsher sentence than a male who abandoned his child would because our society sees females as the gentle caretakers of families while males are the masculine breadwinners with a latent possibility for violence who do not necessarily play a part in childcare. Society has accepted a certain amount of violence from men since "it is in their nature". Since the female did the exact opposite of what was expected of her, society will punish her more than the male.

2. Males are sentenced more harshly than females

This apparent orthodox can be explained by the chivalry hypothesis. Women are seen as fragile and incompetent which causes the criminal justice system to want to protect them. This again relates back to the outdated ideas of society that say that a woman belongs in the home, caring for those around her and making the home presentable while a man belongs out in the world, earning money and making tough decisions because a woman's brain cannot handle anything too taxing or stressful. Because women are seen as so fragile that opening a door for themselves is too taxing on their bodies and minds, how can they be expected to withstand prison and come out sane? The chivalry hypothesis depends on what stage of the criminal system the female is currently in, the severity of the offense, her criminal record, the victim's injury, and their ties to the community. Females often have these ties to the community in the form of social bonds with friends and involvement in churches, schools, and other organizations. Females also have family responsibilities which can lead them to receiving a lesser sentence since they are seen as providing benefits to the community which cannot be done from the inside of a prison. Women do often receive lesser sentences than men, but mostly only the stereotypical females who conform to gender roles.

3. Female offenders tend to be black

Via Brodsky, A. M. "Female Offenders." The Counseling Psychologist http://8.1 (1979): 43. Web.

The females who do offend tend to be young, black mothers. Data shows that females who are black have an incarceration rate three times white females. Many people blame this on the justice system, accusing them of being racist, but there is a logical explanation for this phenomenon: stress. Annette Brodsky states that "offenders tend to be young, mothers of dependent children under the age of 18, predominately black or of ethnic minorities, unemployed, and from impoverished neighborhoods." A young mother is under enough stress without adding on the fact that she is unemployed and broke. Data shows that blacks are more likely to have larger amounts of debt which leads to the young black mothers not receiving financial support from their families like those would are white would. The stress of having to provide for a child when you have no resources can lead many females to resort to crime.

4. There are fewer females than males incarcerated

Via Bennett, Sarah, David P. Farrington, and L. Rowell Huesmann. "Explaining Gender Differences in Crime and Violence: The Importance of Social Cognitive Skills." Aggression and Violent Behavior http://10.3 (2005): 263-88. Web. Cauffman, Elizabeth. "Understan

The United States has a population that is, for the most part, split 50/50 by gender, but 113,000 females compared to 1,500,000 males are incarcerated in state and federal prisons. Some argue that females commit less crime than males because they acquire social cognitive skills earlier in life than males do and because they have better pro-social skills. Many known risk factors for crime can actually be tied into cognitive and pro-social skills such as having no self-control and partaking in antisocial behavior. The brain becomes gendered while still in the mother's uterus which should have an impact on how that individual interacts within its society. Both sexes also display "fight or flight" neuroendocrine responses to stress, but the females tend to alter that into "tend and befriend". This means that a male is more likely to engage in violent behaviors compared to females when exposed to stress.

Another study found that delinquent females had brains that resembled the brain of a nondelinquent male. Females normally have greater left frontal activation, but antisocial females were found to have greater right frontal activation which is what happens in a normal male brain. This means that males are already predisposed to commit crime since their brain activity is similar to delinquent females.

Others blame the gender disparity on the fact that females receive easier sentencing than males do and that is only if the officers actually place the female under arrest. Whatever the reason is, the fact remains that there are far fewer females in prison than males.

5. There are gangs comprised solely of females

youtube.com / Via Laidler, Karen A. Joe, and Geoffrey Hunt. "Violence and Social Organization in Female Gangs." Social Justice http://24.4 (70), Losing a Generation: Probing the Myths & Reality of Youth & Violence (1997): 148-69. JST

It is common knowledge that there are male gangs that have “home girls” who are basically members, but most people are unaware that females can make up a gang all by themselves. While rare, there are in fact two different types of female gangs. There are the auxiliary female gangs that are separate from their male counterparts, but the male gang that they are “paired” with has the final say in the end and then there are independent female gangs where males have no say at all.

Neither type of gang is better, but each type has its own benefits and weaknesses. Auxiliary gangs are made up of women who have bonded together over status and reputation. They tend to have stressful relationships with their families. They are focused on the idea that females can be just as ruthless as males can be which causes violence to be a common occurrence. Violence is also more prevalent due to the fact that they not only have their own enemies, but also the enemies of the male gang that they are associated with. They have male members for back-up and protection, but they also run the risk of being abused or assaulted by those same male members. On the other hand, the independent gangs are comprised of young females, many of who have children, and are formed mostly for protection, support, and as a method to obtain resources. They act as a surrogate family because most of the members do not make contact with their real families and have been on their own since their early teens. They are without male protection and therefore have to use their numbers for safety. Since they are females, they are targeted for robberies and assaults, especially when selling drugs. Violence does occur, but mostly due to selling drugs without protection, other females in gangs, and abusive boyfriends. Most independent gangs also do not practice initiation rituals like the auxiliary gangs do.

6. Yes, female sex offenders do exist

Females do commit sex crimes, just at a much lower rate of occurrence. Our society has just now started to accept the fact that females do have the ability to rape and sexually abuse men and children which was previously thought of as ludicrous. The official definition of rape used by the FBI and UCR also makes it very confusing because it states rape is "the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will". This definition does not allow a female to rape a male, only the other way around. The data surrounding female sex offenders is very inconclusive, mainly due to the fact that there are so few known female sex offenders. What we do know is that many sex offenders have themselves experienced abuse, mostly from family members. There are also some offenders who suffer from psychiatric disorders, depression and/or mental retardation. It seems that they prefer to go after their own children or other family members. The preferred sex of the victim is still debatable due to the fact that different studies conclude different sexes.

No matter which sex the victim is, many have stated that the abuse from a woman was harder to recover from than the abuse from a man was. This may be true due to the fact that second victimization may occur when the victim tells somebody about the event and that person laughs at the victim and does not believe him. This can be especially damaging for a male who not only was sexually abused, but now has to deal with the fact that his status and "manliness" is being questioned.