The Dynamics and Trends of Female Criminals
Gender is one factor that assists in determining the nature and patterns of crime. It has been traditionally thought that males commit more crimes than males. This has been true throughout history and between cultures from around the world. Criminologists throughout the centuries have sought to understand the reason, patterns, and nature of males who commit certain crimes. However, the importance and interest in the reasons, patterns, and nature of females has been growing rapidly and has been recognized. Data comparing the crimes that are committed by males and females are collected by organizations that include but are not limited to The Uniformed Crime Reports (UCR), The Federal Bureau of Investigation, The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) from The United States Bureau of Justice, Statistics (NJS), etc. Understanding the factors behind the reasons, patterns, and nature of crimes committed by females and males can give insight on how to prevent these crimes in the future. (Steffensmeier, 2002)
The paper also discusses the possible factors and aspects that affect both male and female individuals and cause them to become more vulnerable to committing crimes. These factors and aspects include but are not limited to poor educational performance, alcohol and drug utilization and abuse, history of abusive relationships, lack of resources, etc. The paper also investigates variables measuring the differences between males and females who commit certain crimes and the profiles of females who are likely to commit acts of violence.
The purpose of this paper will be to assess and formulate some reasoning or possible reasoning as to why women commit crimes other than just the sole want. I will be in examining studies from up to 20 years ago to come up with some sort of conclusion as to if there are women who do criminal activities based on history or if there are some that do it based on the sole want of committing criminal acts for their own beneficial factors.
Literature review
Many Authors believe that Women have had some type of child hood stress which causes them to become criminal lifestyles (Rossegger, Wetli, Urbanoik, Elbert,
Cartoni, Endrass 2009; Tamy, Delvanne, Thibaut 2016; Greenfeld, Snell 1999; Thompson 2010; Howell 2010). Most of the authors agree that women would have higher stressful events, that female child- abuser who shares behavioral features with pedophilic men suffered from hyper sexual disorder, about half of women offenders confirmed in state prisons had been using alcohol, drugs, or both at the time of the offense, everyone except Slowikowski (2010) which believed that delinquency for girls remained unclear.
Discussion
The Factors of Delinquency
There are certain factors that can affect the probability that an individual commits a crime. Female juvenile offenders are one population that have certain factors that make them especially vulnerable to committing crimes. These factors include but are not limited to having failed one or more grades in school, having more than one serious arrest, utilized drugs prior to crimes and as part of a daily lifestyle, had acted intentionally, and most often with others in order to commit crimes. There are also shown to be critical factors that appear to inhibit juvenile female offenders from becoming independent and functional adults. These factors include but are not limited to academic deficiencies, siblings who were criminal offenders, special educational needs; substance abuse, dysfunctional relationships, abusive relationships; and few personal resources. (Fejes-Mendoza, K., & Miller, D.,1995)
The argument that gender-neutral theories cannot adequately explain female delinquency is the heart of the gender-specificity debate. It has been asserted that theories should incorporate risk factors that capture females' unique experiences. This study utilizes data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health in order to address the gender generality and gender specificity debate. The analysis of the study includes variables that are not only from traditional criminological theories and the newer life-course approach. The study also includes variables that are taken from the feminist perspective. The results from multivariate analyses shows that there are some similarities in the predictors of male and female delinquency. However, there are differences that also emerged in the predictors of male and female delinquency. The predictors for males and delinquency that are stronger include variables measuring general strain and involvement. The predictors for females and delinquency that are stronger include only attachment to school. There is one feminist theory variable and one life-course variable that exhibits stronger effects in the models for female delinquency. (Miller, D, 1993)
A Case Study of a Female Offender
There are also female victims who later committed crimes themselves. The case of a 14 year old female named Carol Smith who was the youngest child and only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and from a working class family in a rural community in South Texas. Carol Smith was sexually assaulted and a victim of sibling incest and later was convicted as a sex offender. Carol Smith ran away from home after being raped by her sibling and became promiscuous during her adolescence. Going from defender to offender can be a risk for some individuals and not for others. Factors including family history, individual history, available resources and support systems have been shown to greatly affect whether or not individuals who are victims of crimes will commit crimes later in the future. (Higgs, Canavan, & Meyer, 1992)
“Since 2010, the female jail population has been the fastest growing correctional population, increasing by an average annual rate of 3.4 percent.†(Correctional populations,2013) This shows how female now are becoming more and more prone to performing criminal activities because of factors ranging from alcohol abuse to simply abuse at home while growing up whether it physical or sexual. For example the bureau of Justice came up with this conclusion †On every measure of drug use, women offenders in state prison reported higher usage (40 percent) compared to males (32 percent).†(Correctional) The Bureau of Justice also came up with the conclusion about women in jail based on surveys in the prison “Forty-four percent of women under correctional authority reported that they were physically or sexually assaulted at some time during their lives. Sixty-nine percent of women reporting an assault said that it had occurred before age 18. “ Changes in self-reported offending and in female juvenile arrest rates suggest that
girls are becoming more violent, although interpretation of arrest data is complicated
by variations in policy. Some have argued that the changes in gender-role expectations accompanying the progress of the women’s liberation movement have “masculinized†female behavior and thus produced a greater proclivity for physical aggression. The female share of juvenile arrests for some types of violent crimes, such as robbery and murder, remained relatively stable between 1980 and 2003, but the share of female arrests for aggravated assault increased substantially, from 15 percent to 24 percent, and appears to be a primary factor in the overall increase of females’ contribution to the violent crime.
Level of education and mental health
The majority of women involved with the justice system are at least high school graduates. An estimated 60% of those on probation, 55% of those in local jails, 56% of those in State prisons, and 73% of those in Federal prison have completed high school, and 30% – 40% of high school graduates have attended some college or more. (BJS) There was a study that profiled the personalities of 78 women who referred to a domestic violence program by the courts and compared them to a sample of 78 men who were ordered by the court into the same program. The study had found that the women were more likely than the men to have histrionic, narcissistic, and compulsive personality traits. The women were also less likely than the men to have dependent personality traits. The women were also found more likely than the men to have personality disorders. These women were found to exhibit tendencies for a disregard of the feelings of others and a tendency to view others as solely as being there for their benefit and utilization. When individuals do not comply with the needs of these women then they tend to react in socially unacceptable ways. This especially includes physical violence because other methods of expressing their anger and range has failed. (Simmons, C. A., Lehmann, P., Cobb, N., & Fowler, C. R., "Personality Profiles of Women and Men Arrested for Domestic Violence: An Analysis of Similarities and Differences.†2005) Female delinquents have a high frequency of mental health problems, suggesting that effective prevention efforts should target the mental health needs of at-risk females before they lead to chronic behavior problems. Once girls with mental health problems come into the juvenile jus- tice system, says Cauffman, diverting them to community-based treatment programs would not only improve their individual outcomes, but allow the juvenile justice system to focus on cases that present the greatest risk to public safety.
Conclusion
The dynamics and trends of female criminals has amazed and fascinated society and the world for years. This includes information regarding the factors and statistics pertaining to female criminals and their crimes. Factors that can affect whether an individual is vulnerable to committing crimes in the future can include but are not limited to poor educational performance, history of abusive relationships, utilization and abuse of drugs and/or alcohol, lack of resources, etc. There is also wide interest in the comparison of crimes between males and females. This is pertaining to crimes that are including but is not limited to drug and alcohol utilization and abuse, domestic violence, sexual abuse, homicide, etc. These and other aspects of female criminals and their crimes are still topics that must be investigated further