Investigating the Relationship Between Women and Crime

A consistent feature of the statistics, not only in England and Wales

but across Europe and America, is that far fewer women are convicted

of crime than men – a fact which has changed little over the years.

Female offenders also show a different pattern of offending being less

involved in violent offences and proportionately more involved in

theft. In general most now accept that girls and women do commit fewer

offences than boys.

GENDER AND PATTERNS OF CRIME

Writing in 1977 Carol Smart stated:

Our knowledge is still in its infancy. In comparison with the massive

documentation on all aspects of male delinquency and criminality, the

amount of work carried out on the area of women and crime is extremely

limited.

Although the years since Smart’s study have seen much more interest in

the study of female crime and deviance, many general theories in this

area continue to neglect gender as a factor influencing 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 fail to explain this

relationship could therefore be seen as inadequate.

OFFICIAL STATISTICS, CRIMINALITY 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 likely 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 be chivalrous, they are

usually lenient with female offenders so that fewer women appear in

the statistics. However, he regards this as only a minor factor