After reading all sources please respond to the following questions:

1. How have women's roles changed over the past 100 years? How has the response by the criminal justice system changed for women as offenders, victims, and professionals over the past 100 years?

2. Compare and contrast the feminist movement in the United States and worldwide.

3. Given what you may know at this point about women as offenders, victims, and professionals, what policies do you think are needed right now to assist them?

SOURCES:

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/offense-definitions

https://www.tutor2u.net/sociology/reference/statistics-on-gender-and-crime

Instructions for your tutor:

Uniform Crime Reports for the United States 1996 USGPO, Washington, DC Walker S, Spohn C, DeLone M 1996 The Color of Justice: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America. Wadsworth, Washington, DC T. L. Meares Crime and Gender One of the most consistent and strong findings in criminology is that females commit much less crime and juvenile delinquency than males. This gender gap in law-violation is found using data on arrests, convictions, self-reported crime, and victims' reports about offenders. It also appears to exist across nations and over time. Yet, until the 1980s, gender differences in crime received scant attention. In the 1970s, feminist cri- tiques of criminology called attention to the neglect of females (e.g., Smart 1976). Since that time, there has been a trend toward taking more seriously the issue of female offending and the gender gap in crime and delinquency. This article summarizes the research on gender and crime that has been conducted since these critiques. It first identifies some of the major issues that have emerged in this research, and identifies three typical approaches to the study of gender and crime. It then discusses key findings and arguments in research taking each of these approaches. Note that space limitations restrict the scope of this essay to research on the causes of gender differences in offending; it does not address the literatures on gender and victimization, or gender and criminal justice processing. For a review of this literature, see Kruttschnitt (1996). 1. Approaches to Studying Gender, Crime, and Delinquency A major issue in research on gender and offending centers on the level of analysis. One line of research focuses on the macro-leel of analysis, emphasizing patterns of crime over time and space, and seeking to explain these as the outcomes of broad social patterns. Specifically, this line of research examines changes in the gender gap in crime over time, and reports some convergence between female and male crime rates since the 1950s and 1960s in various nations, including England and Wales, Canada, and the United States (Box and Hale 1983, Fox and Hartnagel 1979, Steffen- smeier 1993). At some times during this period, the increase in female crime rates has exceeded the increase in male rates; at other times, male crime rates have declined more than have female rates. Both of these patterns have resulted in some narrowing of the gender gap in crime, although male offending exceeds female 2918 offending throughout the period. This pattern holds for most types of serious crime, except murder (Heimer 2000); however, it is more pronounced during some periods for certain property crimes, such as larceny and fraud (Steffensmeier 1993). Almost all existing research on changes in the gender gap uses annual arrest or conviction rates, aggregated to the national level. The typical explanations offered for the changes include women's liberation and economic circum- stances. Another line of research on gender differences in offending uses individual-level data and proposes social-psychological explanations. This research typi- cally is based on quantitative data from self-report surveys administered to large samples. These surveys show that males are more likely than females to commit minor, as well as serious, law violations. However, the gender gap is most pronounced for the most serious offenses (see Smith and Visher 1980). Individual-level research has focused on how social- psychological factorssuch as family processes, be- liefs, and attitudescontribute to the gender gap in law-violation. A second major issue in the study of gender and crime is the type of methodology employed. Whereas the two lines of research discussed above rely mostly on quantitatie methods, a third line of research uses qualitatie methods, such as the analysis of open- ended interviews and ethnographic techniques. This research most often focuses on either male or female offenders, and thus addresses differences in crime among groups of females or groups of males rather than the comparison of offending across gender. The remainder of this essay briefly reviews the three lines of research identified above. It then, discusses attempts to bridge the macro- and individual-levels of analysis. Finally, it suggests that fruitful avenues for future research are continuing to bridge levels of analysis, and moving toward greater synthesis of quantitative and qualitative research findings. 2. Research on the Narrowing of the Gender Gap Oer Time Research on the narrowing of the gender gap in crime rates over time proposes three explanationswomen's liberation, economic marginalization, and the decline in chivalry. The liberation hypothesis argues that women's crime rates increased during the 1960s and 1970s because women gained increased economic and social independence from men. One variant proposes that a convergence in gender roles led to a convergence in the gender gap in all types of crime (Adler and Adler 1975). Another variant proposes that women's in- creased labor-force participation created new oppor- tunities for crime in the workplace (Simon 1975). Both variants have been criticized for assuming that labor-force participation and improved economic conditions increase crime by females, whereas these conditions reduce crime by males (Chesney-Lind 1997). Moreover, the narrowing of the gender gap is most pronounced for crimes that are consistent with women's preliberation rolesincluding larceny (theft), fraud, and forgery (see Steffensmeier 1993). Perhaps not surprisingly, therefore, empirical research provides little evidence that women's labor-force participation increases their crime (e.g., Box and Hale 1983; for review, see Steffensmeier and Allan 1996). Consequently, contemporary studies often focus on the economic marginalization hypothesis, which pro- poses that the increased financial hardship of women relative to men has contributed to the narrowing gender gap in crime (Box 1987, Steffensmeier 1993). Very few studies have assessed this hypothesis empiri- cally, and existing studies use restricted measures of economic marginalization. A review of these studies argues that future research needs to address the interplay between the specific elements of women's poverty that affect their crime rates, including in- creasing rates of single motherhood, persistent gender inequality in wages, and changes in social welfare policies (Heimer 2000). A third explanation of the narrowing of the gender gap in crime is the decline of chialry hypothesis, which proposes that the observed changes are due in part to changing attitudes among law enforcement personnel. Specifically, the gender gap in arrest rates reflects the chivalry of law enforcement personnel toward women (e.g., hesitation to arrest women), and the narrowing of the gap reflects a decline in this attitude over the years (Steffensmeier 1993). Empirical evidence sug- gests that the decline of chivalry likely has had some effect on changes in the gender gap in crime, although economic factors are at least as important (Box and Hale 1983, Steffensmeier and Allan 1996). However, there remains debate over the veracity of the chivalry hypothesis, with some researchers arguing that females are treated more harshly than males for some types of offenses (Chesney-Lind 1997). 3. Qualitatie Research on Women's Offending Consistent with the economic marginalization hypo- thesis, most ethnographic and qualitative studies of women's crime highlight structural disadvantages. These studies typically focus on women offenders only and do not address directly the gender gap in offend- ing. Instead, they conduct an in-depth analysis of the factors that are associated with chronic offending among women. As a group, these studies suggest that poverty, unemployment, and single motherhood com- bine to create conditions of extreme economic hard- ship, which in turn are associated with events and conditions of women's lives that increase the chances of a life of crime (Miller 1986, Carlen 1988, Daly 1994, Maher 1997, Baskin and Sommers 1998). For instance, Crime and Gender several studies emphasize the connections between abuse during childhood, economic hardships, and criminal careers among women (Daly 1994, Maher 1997). Other studies show how living in a marginalized community facilitates entry into criminal networks and peer groups, which play an important role in initiating women into lives of crime and sustaining these lifestyles in the future (Miller 1986, Baskin and Sommers 1998). Finally, several studies suggest that turning to crime is a rational attempt to support children and other family members when confronted with severe economic hardship (e.g., Miller 1986, Carlen 1988). These studies offer rich insight into the social world of female chronic offenders and, as we note in Sect. 5, open the door for the development of theories that can address macro-level as well as social- psychological processes. 4. Self-Report Research on Gender and Juenile Delinquency Most research based on self-report surveys focuses on juvenile delinquency, especially common and less serious forms of delinquency. The emphasis is on understanding the social-psychological mechanisms that contribute to the gender gap in delinquency. Recent research on these mechanisms suggests that the gender gap reflects both gender differences in exposure to factors that make law violation more likely, as well as gender differences in the impact of these factors. The social-psychological mechanisms that have received the most attention in research on gender and delinquency occur within the family. Specifically, some research shows that part of the gender gap in de- linquency is explained by the greater exposure of girls than boys both to direct parental controls, such as supervision and monitoring, and to indirect controls, such as emotional bonding (e.g., Jensen and Eve 1979, Hagan et al. 1985, 1987). Other research shows that the gender gap is not the simple outcome of girls being subject to higher levels of familial controls, but also reflects the differential impact of these controls on girls versus boys. For instance, even though girls are more closely supervised, boys' delinquency appears to be influenced more strongly by supervision and moni- toring; by contrast, girls' delinquency is influenced more strongly by emotional bonds to their families (Heimer and De Coster 1999; see also Hagan 1989). In short, it may be that parents control girls' misbehavior through subtle, covert control mechanisms (e.g., emotional bonding), whereas controlling boys' misbehavior requires more direct, overt strategies (e.g., supervision). Another individual-level factor that has received attention is gender roles. The argument, related to the liberation thesis discussed above, is that feminine roles restrain delinquency more than masculine roles do (e.g., Shover and Norland 1979). Many studies of 2919 Crime and Gender gender roles and delinquency appeared in the late 1970s. However, the empirical research was inconsis- tent, perhaps because gender roles were operation- alized in diverse ways across studies, often including traits, attitudes, and familial controls as well as behav- ioral expectations or roles. The more recent trend has been to focus on cultural definitions of gender or hegemonic gender definitions, which are widely-accepted beliefs and attitudes that support the subordination of females to males under patriarchy. Hegemonic gender definitions depict a feminine ideal that includes a high capacity for nurturance, passivity, connectedness to others, and physical weakness; by contrast, the masculine ideal emphasizes competitiveness, aggressiveness, indepen- dence, and strength. Definitions of femininity thus are more inconsistent than definitions of masculinity with victimizing others physically or taking their property. Some empirical research shows that acceptance of these gender definitions is an important contributor to the gender gap in law violation (Simpson and Elis 1995, Heimer and De Coster 1999). Other research suggests that boys who have internalized hegemonic definitions of masculinity are more likely to engage in crime and violence (Messerschmidt 2000). A third individual-level factor that has received attention in the literature on gender and delinquency is attitudes toward risk-taking. The hypothesis here is that youths who develop a taste for risk will be more likely than others to engage in thrill-seeking behavior, including delinquency. The power-control theory of gender and delinquency, discussed below, proposes that one reason males are more likely than females to be delinquent is that males are socialized to prefer risk- taking (Hagan 1989). 5. Bridging Leels of Explanation To date, most research on gender and criminal offending has focused on either the macro-level or social-psychological explanations discussed above, and rarely has pursued links between the two. One notable exception is Hagan's power-control theory, which argues that parents' positions in the workplace shape their parenting practices, including their super- vision of children, emotional bonding with children, and the inculcation of taste for risk in children (Hagan et al. 1985, 1987). More specifically, when fathers have more power than mothers in their work or professional lives, mothers experience paternalistic control within the family. They then reproduce this arrangement with their children by subjecting their daughters to higher levels of control and by encouraging taste for risk more among their sons. When parents have more equal power in their work lives, female and male children are treated more equally. Thus the gender gap in delinquency will be smaller in the latter type of family. Research supports many of these arguments, although there is some debate over some of the specific 2920 predictions (e.g., Jensen and Thompson 1990, Morash and Chesney-Lind 1991). Another emerging perspective on gender and crime with the potential to bridge levels of analysis is the work of Messerschmidt (e.g., 1993, 2000). He argues that males may attempt to display masculinity through crime and violence when legitimate channels for claiming their gender are blocked by structural barriers, such as unemployment and poverty (Messer- schmidt 1993). Messerschmidt (2000) further explores links between structural barriers and social-psycho- logical mechanisms in his analysis of boys' violence. He argues that much of this violence is a result of the interplay between patriarchal structures, social class, and social-psychological processes, such as alienation at school, victimization, body image, and hegemonic masculine ideals. Although this line of work does not address female offending, it moves toward bridging levels in analyzing masculinity and crime, and suggests a pathway for a similar analysis addressing femininity and crime. Some of the qualitative research discussed in Sect. 3 also could serve as a springboard for the development of theories that bridge the macro- and social-psycho- logical levels of analysis. Many of these studies examine how economic hardship and cultural contexts influence individuals' perceptions and decisions about crime (e.g., Miller 1986, Maher 1997, Baskin and Sommers 1998). The next step would be to account for these findings by specifying a theory of the links between the macro- and individual-level mechanisms leading to women's crime, and then broaden this explanation to address gender differences in crime. 6. Directions for Future Research Up to the end of the twentieth century the strands of research discussed above have remained relatively isolated from one another. In addition, research has been aimed more at uncovering empirical relationships than at building comprehensive theories of gender, crime, and delinquency. Future research will need to develop rigorous theoretical arguments that link levels of analysis, drawing links between the mechanisms identified by macro-level research on changes in the gender gap and individual-level survey research. Moreover, research must bridge the divide between quantitative and qualitative research, combining find- ings from both to generate more complete explana- tions of gender, crime, and delinquency. See also: Crime and Ethnicity (Including Race); Crime, Geography of; Crime: Sociological Aspects; Crime, Sociology of; Criminology: Psychopathological Aspects; Delinquency, Sociology of; Gender and the Law; Gender, Class, Race, and Ethnicity, Social Construction of; Gender Differences in Personality and Social Behavior; Gender-related Development; Personality and Crime Bibliography Adler F, Adler H M 1975 Sisters in Crime. McGraw-Hill, New York Crime, Geography of Smith D A, Visher C A 1980 Sex and involvement in deviance crime: a review of the empirical literature. American Socio- logical Reiew 45: 691-701 Steffensmeier DJ 1993 National trends in female arrests: 1960-1990: assessments and recommendations for research. Journal of Quantitatie Criminology 9: 411-41 Steffensmeier D, Allan E 1996 Gender and crime: toward a gendered theory of female offending. Annual Reiew of Sociology 22: 459-87 K. Heimer and S. De Coster Copyright 5 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Crime, Geography of Crime is a form of deviance that involves the in- fringement of rules or laws that a specific society has created; both the act of a crime and the behavior of the criminal are therefore socially defined. The geographic study of crime draws a distinction between the geography of offences, where crimes are committed, and the geography of offenders, where criminals live. Different offences have different geographies. The places where shoplifting, robbery, and residential burglary occur are all different: the teenage mugger is likely to come from a different kind of neighborhood than the tax fraud. This diversity has stimulated study of the geography of crime at a variety of scales. Environmental criminology, with its focus on the places at which crimes occur, offers one organizing framework; the problematic concept of the 'crime area' another. 1. Origins The origins of the geography of crime are found in early nineteenth century interest in cartographic crimi- nology. A French statistician, Guerry (1833), pro- duced maps showing the regional concentrations of crime. His observation that crimes of violence were disproportionately represented in the south of France led him to link criminal behavior and climate. In England, the social reformers such as Mayhew (1861- 62) noted the strong clusters of crimes and criminals in specific areas of cities. Mayhew described the 'rook- eries' of London where children were 'born and bred to the business of crime.' The Chicago studies of Shaw and McKay (1942) established a social science basis perspective on crime or delinquency areas, urban spatial patterns, and gradients and a set of 'theories' that underpinned the ecology of crime in the city. The basic premises were that crime had a spatial order; it was not distributed randomly but showed strong and persistent trends to cluster in poorer, disadvantaged environments. Subsequent studies have shown a rema- rkable persistence of these basic qualities of a geog- 2921 Baskin D R, Sommers I B 1998 Casualties Disorder. Westview Press, Boulder, CO of Community Box S 1987 Recession, Crime and Punishment. MacMillan Education, London Box S, Hale C 1983 Liberation and female criminality in England and Wales. British Journal of Criminology 23: 35-49 Carlen P 1988 Women, Crime and Poerty. Open University Press, Milton Keynes, UK Chesney-Lind M 1997 The Female Offender: Girls, Women and Crime. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA Daly K 1994 Gender, Crime, and Punishment. Yale University Press, New Haven Fox J, Hartnagel T F 1979 Changing social roles and female crime in Canada: a time series analysis. Canadian Reiew of Sociology and Anthropology 16: 96-104 Hagan J 1989 Structural Criminology. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ Hagan J, Gillis A R, Simpson J 1985 The class structure of gender and delinquency: toward a power control theory of common delinquent behavior. American Journal of Sociology 90: 1151-78 Hagan J, Simpson J, Gillis A R 1987 Class in the household: a power control theory of gender and delinquency. American Journal of Sociology 92: 788-816 Heimer K 2000 Changes in the gender gap in crime and women's economic marginalization. In: Criminal Justice 2000. Vol. 1. The Nature of Crime: Continuity and Change. National Institute of Justice, Washington, DC, pp. 427-83 Heimer K, De Coster S 1999 The gendering of violent de- linquency. Criminology 37: 277-317 Jensen G J, Eve R 1979 Sex differences in delinquency: an examination of popular sociological explanations. Criminology 13: 427-48 Jensen G F, Thompson K 1990 What's class got to do with it? A further examination of power-control theory. American Journal of Sociology 95: 1009-23 Kruttschnitt C 1996 Contributions of quantitative methods to the study of gender and crime, or bootstrapping our way into the theoretical thicket. Journal of Quantitatie Criminology 12: 135-61 Maher L 1997 Sexed Work: Gender, Race, and Resistance in a Brooklyn Drug Market. Clarendon Press, New York Messerschmidt J W 1993 Masculinities and Crime: Critique and Reconceptualizan of Theory. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD Messerschmidt J W 2000 Nine Lies: Adolescent Masculinities, the Body and Violence. Westview Press, Boulder, CO Miller E M 1986 Street Woman. Temple University Press, Philadelphia Morash M, Chesney-Lind M 1991 A reformulation and partial test of the power-control theory of delinquency. Justice Quarterly 8: 347-77 Shover N, Norland S 1979 Sex roles and criminality: science or conventional wisdom? Sex Roles 4: 111-25 Simon R 1975 Women and Crime. Lexington Books, Lexington, MA Simpson S S, Elis L 1995 Doing gender: sorting out the caste and crime conundrum. Criminology 33: 47-81 Smart C 1976 Women, Crime and Criminology: A Feminist Critique. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences ISBN: 0-08-043076-7 Describe the characteristics of the modernday female offender. Summarize the types of crimes that women commit and how their involvement in crime may be similar to or different from males. Identify and describe criminological theories that may explain why women commit crime. Introduction The zip code 90210 may elicit immediate thoughts of Hollywood, excess behaviors such as the use of drugs or alcohol, wild late night parties involving sexual escapades, and perhaps even images from Aaron Spelling's television show by the same name, which launched many young actors' careers. You may also think of prostitution on Hollywood Boulevard, which Julia Roberts portrayed almost as a fairytale life in her 1990 movie Pretty Woman. More recently, the Lifetime television show called The Client List, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, perhaps might add to your perceptions that prostitution is not always occurring on the streets but that it occurs in other establishments such as massage parlors. You may not immediately think of Heidi Fleiss, a young Caucasian woman in her twenties, born and raised in Los Angeles, and the daughter of a pediatrician, as fitting into the female offender role. However, Fleiss became a household name in the 1990s when her role in the illegal sex industry became public. In fact, she still surfaces in the media: her most recent appearance was in 2009 on the VH-1 television show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. The path that would later pave her involvement in criminal activity began in the late 1980s, when Fleiss had a chance meeting with Madam Alex, the owner of an exclusive prostitution ring in Los Angeles. Fleiss began managing Madam Alex's prostitution ring in the late 1980s and, by the early 1990s, she broke away from managing for Madame Alex and started her own business. Under her management, the business flourished immediately and Fleiss earned millions with her elite call girl service, serving rich and powerful men from Hollywood and around the world. By 1993, however, Fleiss' luck ran out and she was arrested for pandering (i.e., a person who solicits another for prostitution; also referred to as a pimp). Her arrest catapulted her into the spotlight of the media, which dubbed her the "Hollywood Madam." She was eventually convicted of pandering, but the charge was later overturned on an appeal. Charged by the federal government with tax evasion and money laundering, she was convicted and sentenced to a seven-year prison term (Hubler 1997) (Figure 2.1). Fleiss only served approximately three years of her sentence and spent the remainder of her sentence on supervised release. While on release, she violated one of her Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, crime, and justice : Balancing the scales. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from uma on 2022-02-17 22:17:36. Copyright 2016. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. supervising conditions by using methamphetamine and was later sent to a drug rehabilitation center. Figure 2.1 Accused "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss sits in court during closing arguments in her pandering trial, November 28, 1994. Source: STR New/Reuters. While Fleiss' involvement in crime was rather transparent, other criminal acts committed by women offenders may not be. It appeared to be a typical summer Sunday in July of 2009 in New York as 36-year-old mom, Diane Schuler, made her way home from a campground with her children and three nieces in her minivan. While Schuler was driving, one of her nieces called her mother to say, "There is something wrong with Aunt Diane." Schuler spoke to her brother and told him she was disoriented. He told her to pull over, but she didn't. She had been driving in the wrong direction on the freeway for almost 2 miles. Shortly after that phone call, she crashed into oncoming traffic, killing herself, her daughter, her three nieces, and three passengers in another car (Figures 2.2a and Figures 2.2b). Only her son survived (Baker and Kovaleski 2009). Due to the shocking and horrific circumstances, the crash made the national headlines. How did this happen? What was wrong with Aunt Diane? Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, crime, and justice : Balancing the scales. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from uma on 2022-02-17 22:17:36. Copyright 2016. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Figure 2.2a and Figure 2.2b Diane Schuler's charred minivan after a head-on collision, July 26, 2009, on the Taconic State Parkway in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Eight people - Schuler, her daughter, three nieces and three men - died in the crash. Source: Alan Zale/The New York Times/Redux/eyevine; (b) Daniel Schuler held a press conference at his lawyer Dominic Barbara's office. He spoke out about the toxicology reports that revealed that his wife, Diane Schuler, was drunk and high when she crashed her car on the Taconic Parkway, killing herself and her daughter, Erin Schuler, along with her three nieces, Alyson Hance, Kate Hance, and Emma Hance. She had a blood alcohol count of .19, more than twice the legal limit, as well as THC, indicating that she had smoked marijuana as recently as an hour before the crash. Schuler drove her minivan down the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway and crashed into a SUV. Also killed were father and son Michael Bastardi, 81, and Guy Bastardi, 49, of Yonkers, and a family friend, Daniel Longo. Schuler's son, 5-year-old Brian Schuler, was hospitalized but survived. Source: Polaris/eyevine. At first, there was speculation that possible medical conditions, such as diabetes or a tooth abscess that was bothering her earlier in the day, may have somehow incapacitated her while she was driving. However, as the investigation began to unfold, it was found that Schuler was in fact a criminal. She, like Fleiss, was not the typical criminal you may see portrayed on the news or in the movies. Typically, in the major news outlets, criminals have been portrayed as women of color or women that have committed violent attacks. But Schuler was Caucasian, considered a loving wife and mother, and had not committed any violent assault. Then, how Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, crime, and justice : Balancing the scales. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from uma on 2022-02-17 22:17:36. Copyright 2016. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. does she "fit" into this pre-described role of the "typical" female criminal? While Schuler was not formally defined as a criminal by the criminal justice system prior to the accident, she had engaged in criminal behavior. When officers arrived at the scene, they found a broken Absolut vodka bottle in her vehicle, raising their suspicions that Shuler was driving under the influence. Toxicology reports later revealed that not only was her blood alcohol level .19, well above the .08 legal limit, but she had high levels of THC, the key ingredient of marijuana, in her body as well (Baker and Kovaleski 2009). Understanding the true nature of female criminality and crime trends can be obfuscated by the role of the media, which often distorts and embellishes women's criminal involvement and the types of crime they may commit. On the surface, both Heidi Fleiss and Diane Schuler did not appear to be the type of criminal we might expect a female offender to be. Over the past few decades and even more recently media coverage of cases has provided countless reports on female offenders alleged to have committed homicide, such as Susan Smith, Andrea Yates, Amanda Knox, Casey Anthony, and Jodi Arias. In some cases, the media has used these females' sexuality to garner public interest in their cases. For example, Amanda Knox, a University of Washington student, was convicted in 2009 of killing her roommate while studying abroad in Italy - although her conviction was overturned in 2015. Throughout her Italian trial and subsequent appeals, Amanda has been referred to as "Foxy Knoxy" by the press in the United States and Europe (Johnson 2009). Hollywood films are equally guilty in misguiding the public about portrayals of female offenders. Movies such as Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, Kill Bill, Jennifer's Body, and American Mary characterize the female perpetrator as a beautiful white woman who is also murderous, again distorting the picture of female criminality. In this chapter, we break down the stereotypical images of female offenders and provide a detailed account of the modern-day female offender. Specifically, we begin with an explanation of law and how it is defined in the United States. Next, we will provide a description of female offenders in regard to their race, class, and age, and will review the predominant types of crimes that female offenders commit. Finally, we will focus on the reasons why women commit crime, by presenting several theoretical perspectives, including feminist perspectives, on the nature of female criminality. Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, crime, and justice : Balancing the scales. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from uma on 2022-02-17 22:17:36. Copyright 2016. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. CASE STUDY: Rosemary West One of the most famous female offenders in the United Kingdom is Rosemary West. Rosemary, along with her husband, Fred, raped and sexually assaulted dozens of young girls and women throughout the 1970s until the late 1980s. West also participated in the killings of many of these young women - including her own daughter and step-daughter (Wright 2014). The authorities did not catch wind of the atrocities occurring at the West home until five children were removed from their home by Child Protective Services in the early 1990s due to sexual abuse allegations (Hunt 2013). Once removed from the home, the children recounted a "family joke" about the whereabouts of their missing sister, Heather. The children kept mentioning that the missing girl was "under the patio" (Hunt 2013). This "joke" blew the case wide open and authorities began to investigate the married couple. Through their investigation, the authorities learned that the Wests had sexually abused, tortured, and mutilated perhaps 30 young women. Some of the dismembered remains of their victims were found buried on their property. Fred West committed suicide before his trial, but Rosemary was tried and convicted for 10 murders in 1995. She is currently serving a life sentence for the murders (Wright 2014). Defining crime Before delving into the modern-day portrait of the female offender, it is first necessary to define crime and examine the role of Western law in determining what behaviors and actions constitute crime - an illegal act. One of the most frequent definitions of crime that is utilized in the literature was put forth by Tappan (1947). Tappan (1947, 100) has defined crime as "an intentional act in violation of the criminal law committed without defense or excuse, and penalized by the state." Thus, for a particular act to be defined as criminal, it must first be defined as such. How do actions become defined as criminal in the first place? Who is making the decisions in defining what acts are criminal? Historically and even today, those who hold the power define what is criminal in Western law. Who are these powerful individuals? Within US society, those who hold the power are non-minority males from upper socioeconomic backgrounds. From a historical perspective, the Jim Crow laws prevented African-Americans from participating in activities afforded to male Caucasians, such as voting. Similarly, women were unable to vote until 1920. These laws clearly demonstrate those with power exerting their influence over the powerless. Denying African-Americans and women the right to vote ensured that those who held powerful positions within the state and federal government would remain in power. Additionally, because definitions of crimes sometimes encompass the sexuality of women, they can adversely impact them. For example, prostitution can still be defined as a criminal act by those in power (i.e., men). The only exception occurs in Nevada where select counties license brothels such as The Moonlite Bunny Ranch. Because men predominately own and operate these brothels, there are jurisdictional variations as to what Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, crime, and justice : Balancing the scales. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from uma on 2022-02-17 22:17:36. Copyright 2016. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. acts may be defined as crimes. In the case of sexual exchanges in Nevada, men define prostitution and where it is criminal (e.g., streets of Las Vegas) and where sex can be paid for legally (i.e., licensed brothels). In the case of Fleiss, her brothel/call girl service was defined as illegal in California, but had she been running her operation in Nevada, she would have been immune from prosecution. Besides the actual definitions of crimes, those in power also set the penalties for acts defined as criminal. Women are much more likely to engage in prostitution as compared to men, and their clients are more likely to be men. While solicitation of prostitution may be illegal too, the punishments for both are not necessarily similar. These offenses (prostitution, solicitation) are misdemeanors, or less serious crimes, meaning that they carry lower levels of punishment. However, in various states, penalties for these offenses which are also set by those in power (i.e., men) have distinct differences. In the state of California, for instance, if a person is convicted of prostitution, he/she has to register as a sex offender but those convicted of solicitation do not. Besides the differences in power due to gender, race, and even social class in the United States, as well as in other countries, culture, religion, sexual orientation, and nationality also affect definitions of crime as well as punishment. In 2007, a 19-year-old gang rape victim in Saudi Arabia was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail. While she was the victim of a horrific gang rape, she violated a law requiring segregation of the sexes (Clarion Project 2013). Religion and the Old Testament of the Bible in particular have often set the foundation for definitions of crime and criminal acts. In the United States, for example, sodomy laws, laws that prohibit deviant sexual acts such as anal intercourse, stem from a religious foundation. Since sodomy inhibits procreation, many religious faiths encouraged the formation of such laws in the United States as well as in approximately 80 other countries across the globe (Hepple 2012). These laws, while not specific to homosexuals, were often enforced against homosexuals. Further, laws prohibiting abortion were rooted in religious traditions and have impacted women across race and social class. However, legal and social definitions of crime can change over time. As mentioned earlier, Jim Crow laws ended in the 1960s and the US Supreme Court ruling, Roe v. Wade (1973), lifted many state and federal restrictions on abortions. Moreover, the US Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas (2003) that state statutes criminalizing sodomy were unconstitutional. Despite this ruling, the Uniform Code of Military Justice - Article 125, a federal law, still prohibits consensual sex between gay/lesbian enlisted service members (Serwer 2013). Additionally, federal legislation passed in 1969 banning hate crimes, crimes directed at another based on their race, color, religion, or national origin, was recently expanded in the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009 to include gender, sexual orientation, gender orientation (i.e., transgendered), and those with disabilities. Currently defined laws do impact women and cut across race, ethnic, and social class lines. A more detailed examination of laws and how they impact women differentially will be presented in Chapter 4. The next section examines how crime is measured in the United States, with a specific focus on the nature and extent of crimes that women commit. Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, crime, and justice : Balancing the scales. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from uma on 2022-02-17 22:17:36. Copyright 2016. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. SPECIAL LEGAL ISSUES: Differences in the definitions of crime While there are global similarities in the types of criminal offenses that females may commit (e.g., property crimes, prostitution), there are distinct differences in the types of crimes that are defined as criminal for females. This is due to the fact that the types of crimes defined as criminal for females are often intertwined with cultural and religious values and controls on the sexuality of women. For instance, in many Middle Eastern countries, such as Iran and Afghanistan, female offenders are defined as criminal for committing moral crimes. Examples of moral crimes include: adultery; lesbianism; or running away to escape domestic violence or an impending marriage (Human Rights Watch 2012). Like the sodomy laws in the United States, while not directly written to inhibit lesbian and gay relationships, laws covering moral crimes were written, in part, to prohibit lesbianism. In other instances, females are defined as criminal after reporting that they have been raped. It is not uncommon for the victim to be charged with the crime of zina - voluntary sexual intercourse between a man and a woman as extramarital sex or premarital sex (Human Rights Watch 2012). Over 400 girls and women are currently imprisoned in Afghanistan for moral crimes such as zina, lesbianism, or leaving their husbands (Human Rights Watch 2012). Thus, the legal definitions of crime can vary across the world and often are infused with social and cultural values that may influence the types of crimes females are officially reported to engage in most often. The roles of cultural traditions and the sexuality of women cannot be ignored when reflecting on how criminal definitions may impact females across the world. Measuring crime Because assumptions about female criminality are often influenced by the media, they may not be accurate when actual statistics are considered. Media portrayals of women who commit crime starkly contrast with the reality of the types of crimes that women commit. Additionally, the media can distort the race/ethnicity of the violent or dangerous female offender. Perhaps you can recall a recent homicide case reported on in the media where the perpetrator was a female. Did race/ethnicity or sexual orientation play a role in the case? Research has revealed that media depictions of lesbian female offenders often portray these offenders as demons or try to masculinize these offenders in some way (Brennan and Vandenberg 2009; Cecil 2007; Farr 1997; Farr 2000). Media portrayals of female offenders in Hollywood films exemplify this practice well. For instance, in 2003, the movie Monster was released, starring Charlize Theron, which depicted the serial killer Aileen Wuornos. While the crimes Wuornos committed were serious, the film was more entertainment at face value, and, in fact, the actress Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, crime, and justice : Balancing the scales. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from uma on 2022-02-17 22:17:36. Copyright 2016. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. who played Aileen Wuornos, Charlize Theron, won an Academy Award for her performance. The movie did depict some of the abuse Aileen experienced as a child, but it failed to peel back the complex layers of abuse and trauma that she experienced during her childhood and how these experiences contributed to her commission of crimes. Rather, the movie centered on Wuornos' physical appearance, the crimes she committed, and her lesbian relationship - this was much of what the news media was focused on when reporting her case at the time. How lesbian offenders are portrayed in the media is of concern. Martin (2010) suggests that social media can be the hidden force at jury trials. If the women are portrayed as evil, how might potential jurors consuming the reports be affected? Some scholars have suggested that since women were liberated in the 1970s from their subservience to men and the role of domestic engineer in their homes, they have embraced this new-found "equality" and entered both legal and illegal forms of employment. In fact, some scholars would suggest that the liberation movement resulted in a significant increase of female involvement in crime (Adler 1975). Perhaps another result of the movement is that the media began to pay closer attention to the crimes that women were committing and reports began to suggest that women were now committing crimes at an alarming rate. Yet, is that the case? To ascertain an accurate answer to that question, it is necessary to inspect crime statistics. There are two crime statistics tools that researchers use to understand female and male criminality: (1) official statistics, such as the Uniform Crime Reports, and (2) self-report surveys. The Uniform Crime Reports are published each year by the FBI and report on the number of arrests, as reported to police, for Index I crimes (i.e., murder, sexual assault, robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, larceny-theft, arson, and motor vehicle theft). Self-report surveys, administered by researchers, ask respondents about the number of crimes that they committed over a specific time period. Inspection of crime statistics for female offenders demonstrate that there are inaccuracies in media reporting on female crime trends as well as some similarities and differences between female and male offenders. Offender characteristics Who is the modern-day female offender? Let's first examine official statistics in order to help understand this. Overwhelmingly, women are not only less likely to be arrested than males but they are also less likely to commit serious offenses (FBI 2014). Specifically, females were arrested for approximately 27% of Index I crimes, with males being arrested for approximately 73% of index crimes (FBI 2014). One might argue that official crime statistics which rely on arrest data may not reflect the reality of female offending. However, researchers have also discovered that females self-report less criminal involvement than males and are more likely to self-report criminal behavior that is non-violent (Chesney-Lind 1989). Steffensmeier and Haynie (2000) state that males offend at a rate of approximately five to ten times higher than females. This finding was supported regardless of whether the researchers were inspecting official or self-report data. Thus, the finding by the FBI (2014) that women commit fewer serious crimes should quickly dispel the myth put forth by the media in news reports and on truTV trial coverage that women are cold and calculating killers. The fact is that women are more likely to be arrested for committing property crimes, or the Index crimes of larceny-theft, Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, crime, and justice : Balancing the scales. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from uma on 2022-02-17 22:17:36. Copyright 2016. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. robbery, and burglary (FBI 2014). Their involvement in less serious crimes is what sets women offenders apart from their male counterparts. The idea that women are out of control and committing crime in record numbers has not been substantiated with official data. According to the Uniform Crime Reports (FBI 2014) the overall arrest trends for both adult females (i.e., 9.6%) and juvenile females (i.e., 49.8%) have decreased since 2005. Upon closer examination of the data for adult females arrested in 2014 compared to adult females arrested in 2005, adult females were arrested at a higher rate for burglary, robbery, and larceny-theft (FBI 2014). Advances in technology (i.e., internet fraud; printers to create bad checks; small, expensive, lightweight, portable items that are easy to steal) may account for the increase in arrests for adult women. Technology can make it easier, or more tempting, for adult women to commit crime. Law enforcement officers may also arrest women for crimes they might have committed in an effort to make enforcement of laws more equal across the genders. With the news showing Caucasian women (e.g., Casey Anthony) to be the likely perpetrators of homicides, and fictional crime television shows, movies, and video games often portraying persons of color as being responsible for other serious crimes such as robbery or assault (e.g., Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas), let's consider how race fits into the description of the modern-day female offender. The FBI (2014) indicates that 69% of women and men arrested were White, 27% were Black, and the remaining percentages were other races (i.e., American Indian/Alaskan Native, or Asian/Pacific Islander). Additionally, African-Americans had a higher percentage of arrests for serious crimes such as homicide and robbery than Caucasians. While Caucasian offenders were arrested more for Index I offenses, there were disproportionate numbers of African-Americans arrested given their population numbers in the United States. According to the US Census Bureau (2010), African-Americans represent approximately 12% of the total US population. Thus, with 27% of all arrests being attributed to African-Americans in 2014, their arrest rate is not proportionate with their population numbers. Unfortunately, the official crime reports in 2014 do not further break down the percentage of arrests by both gender and race. Self-report surveys can help shed some light on how gender and race intersect, thereby aiding our understanding of crime. Historically, findings from self-report criminal surveys do not support the official statistics that African- Americans are consistently committing more crimes and at higher rates than Caucasians. Results of self-report criminal surveys reveal that Caucasians and African-Americans report similar levels of involvement in criminality regardless of gender - particularly for less serious offenses (Chambliss and Nagasawa 1969; Gould 1969; Piquero and Brame 2008; Tracy 1987; Walker, Spohn, and DeLone 2011). That is, women offenders, regardless of their race, commit similar types of crimes and at the same rates. The disproportionality of arrests for persons of color may stem from bias in the US culture towards minorities or the fact that there are poorer minority women and men residing in urban areas where more law enforcement officers are hired to patrol. Thus, in urban areas, both men and women of color may be more likely to be captured for offenses than those living in rural areas who are not subjected to as much surveillance. In regard to examining social class as it relates to female offending, there are no official statistics that report on the social class that female offenders belong to. Thus, researchers have Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, crime, and justice : Balancing the scales. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from uma on 2022-02-17 22:17:36. Copyright 2016. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. relied on self-report data to uncover the relationship between social class and offending. Results from studies using self-report data have generally found that criminal involvement for females and males is similar across the classes (i.e., upper, middle, and lower) and that no one social class is responsible for crimes committed (violent or property) (Dunaway et al. 2000; Hirschi 1969; Jensen and Thompson 1990). However, when examining women in the criminal justice system, women who are poor end up serving sentences in prison more than women from upper socioeconomic backgrounds. Finally, in regard to age, the majority of those arrested in 2013 were over the age of 18 (FBI 2014). Specifically, arrests in 2014 for those over age 18 were approximately 7.9 million versus 804,000 for those under the age of 18. This finding is consistent with previous research. Researchers have long identified an age-crime curve, where those who commit crimes are more likely to be between the ages of 16 and 24, with criminal involvement tapering off thereafter over the life course (Hirschi and Gottfredson 1983). The relationship between age and crime is consistent for both genders, demonstrating that women and men are more likely to commit crime in early adulthood. Gender differences in type and extent of criminal behaviors Apart from the differences in the actual crime trends for women and men gleaned from official and self-report data, there are some distinctions in the crimes the two groups may commit. Homicide While females commit less serious offenses, they are certainly capable of committing serious crimes. According to the most recent Uniform Crime Reports (FBI 2014), less than 10% of all homicides committed in the United States are committed by women. When females commit a violent crime, such as homicide, it is typically directed at a relative or intimate, such as a child or spouse, and the female acts alone in the commission of the crime (Browne and Williams 1989; Gauthier and Bankston 1997; Gauthier, Chaudoir, and Forsyth 2003). Thus, for the commission of homicide, there is a distinct difference between women and male offenders. For instance, men are more likely to commit homicide with a weapon, and their victims of homicide may be intimates, acquaintances, or strangers. On the other hand, when women kill a child, it is more likely their own and they do so more often with their own hands than with the use of a weapon. One infamous case was that of Susan Smith, who in 1994 allowed her car to roll into a lake in South Carolina with her two young boys strapped in their car seats. Her two sons died (Bragg 1995). Rather than admit to the murders, she fabricated a story that an African-American man had carjacked her and stolen her children and asserted her pleas for the boys' safe return across national media outlets. She was later sentenced to life in prison (Bragg 1995). In another infamous case, which occurred in 2001, Andrea Yates, a housewife in Texas, methodically drowned each of her five children in a bathtub one by one with her bare hands (Denno 2003). Yates had a history of suicide attempts, and, had a history of postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis. Her final pregnancy exacerbated her psychological Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, crime, and justice : Balancing the scales. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from uma on 2022-02-17 22:17:36. Copyright 2016. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. problems. On that fateful day, her husband left for work and figured that the hour gap between his departure and Yates' mother's arrival at the home would not result in any catastrophic event. Yates was later found not guilty by reason of insanity (Denno 2003). Much of the violent crime perpetrated by females is directed at intimate males, as opposed to strangers or other females. In many cases, the male victim had been previously victimizing them (e.g., physically and/or sexually). Women who kill their abuser tend to do so after suffering and enduring long periods of abuse, often over years, and will engage in lethal force in an effort to defend their own lives. Unlike women who kill their children using their hands, women who kill their abuser may resort to the use of a gun or knife. In 2008, Barbara Sheehan shot and killed her husband, a former police sergeant, due to years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband. Sheehan claimed it was self-defense, and she was later acquitted of his murder in 2011 (Bilefsky 2011). When examining female intimate partner homicides where males are the victims, situational factors, factors surrounding the event, have emerged that may explain their use of lethal force. Research has indicated that the presence of a history of violence, the location of the incident (e.g., the home), time of day (e.g., evening), and the presence of a weapon (e.g., a gun) are associated with female intimate partner homicide (Campbell et al. 2007; Jurik and Winn 1990; Mann 1998; Riedel and Best 1998; Swatt and He 2006). Robbery Although women are less likely than men to commit robbery, they are certainly not incapable of committing this offense. Women express the same motivations as men for committing the act (e.g., money, material possessions) and are also likely to select women as victims. However, the selection of a weapon is a chief difference between the groups. Men who commit robbery almost always use a gun regardless of the gender of the victim, while women are less likely to use a weapon - although women will use force when necessary (Rennison and Melde 2014). Women who use a weapon tend to use a knife either to complete the commission of the robbery act or out of fear that a male victim might overpower them. Women who rob female victims may work with other females, but when they rob male victims, women most often work with other men (Miller 1998). One female robber recalls her act of robbery: This was at a little basketball game. Coming from the basketball game. It was over and we were checking her out and everything and she was walking to her car. I was, shit fuck that, let's get her motherfucking purse. Said let's get that purse. So I walked up to her and I pulled out the knife. I said "up that purse." And she looked at me. I said "shit, do you think I'm playing? Up that purse." She was like "shit, you ain't getting my purse. Do what you got to do." I was like "shit, you must be thinking I'm playing." So I took the knife, stabbed her a couple of times on the shoulder, stabbed her on the arm and snatched the purse. Cut her arm and snatched the purse. She just ran, "help, help." We were gone. (Miller 1998, 52) While male robbers do not discriminate in their selection of robbery victims, female robbers tend to be a bit more selective and are much more likely to rob a female (Rennison & Melde 2014). Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, crime, and justice : Balancing the scales. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from uma on 2022-02-17 22:17:36. Copyright 2016. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Situational factors such as the neighborhood context, peers, and addictions contribute to female commission of crimes such as robbery or assault, and these factors are identical to factors influencing male offenders of such crimes (Bennett and Brookman 2009; Rennison and Melde 2014; Sommers and Baskin 1993). Committing a robbery may be a method for earning respect in one's neighborhood. Laura, an offender in the United Kingdom, explains: "I think that's why I've got respect, because I've been in and out of jail, survived. If you're a survivor, stupid things like fighting. I got respect when I did that street robbery and then when I got charged with Section 18, stabbing" (Bennett and Brookman 2009, 628). Besides neighborhood conditions oriented towards crime that may foster a propensity towards crime by its residents, a neighborhood can contribute to criminality in other ways. If men and women are situated in poor, urban areas of a city where education is not valued and there are no legal employment opportunities, then the environment creates a catalyst for crime. If there are no legal means of gaining income, individuals will resort to crime to obtain the necessary resources for survival (e.g., food) and perhaps the "extras" we are told that we need by the greater US culture (e.g., jewelry, nice clothes). Further, if the woman robber associates with other robbers, then she is more likely to engage in robbery. In the female robber's account above, she might not have engaged in robbery had she not been with another female who was also entrenched in the female robbery lifestyle. Gangs Another serious type of crime that women are involved in is gangs. Generally a gang is defined as a group of three or more individuals that share an identity and often engage in criminal activity. The National Gang Threat Assessment (FBI 2011) reports that female entry into male-dominated gangs has burgeoned in the United States, with members coming from all different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. For the most part, female gangs are racially and ethnically exclusive. Additionally, there exists a mixture of female-exclusive gangs as well as male-dominated gangs with female members. Some female gangs are highly organized in the United States and engage in crimes that generate a profit (e.g., property crimes, drug selling), or engage in violence for turf protection or to establish neighborhood boundaries, or for ethnocentric reasons (i.e., pride in their race/ethnicity) (Miller, 2001). However, female gang members are more likely to engage in property offenses as part of a gang as opposed to violent crimes (Joe and Chesney-Lind 1995). Overall, gangs in the United States are predominately male. In those gangs where women are permitted to be members alongside males, women take on subservient roles to the males or perhaps as a means to fit in. In a comparative study of female gang members in St Louis and Columbus, Miller (2001) found that female gang members who were members of a predominately male gang would try to distinguish themselves from the other female gang members and would try to fit in as "one of the guys." More often than not, a female member of a male gang is exploited, as her role is to support male gang members at any cost; and this often results in the female becoming a victim. This may be perhaps why Miller (2001) found that female gang members yearned to fit in - to avoid being victimized. For instance, many male gang members rape female gang members or use female gang members for prostitution or Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, crime, and justice : Balancing the scales. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from uma on 2022-02-17 22:17:36. Copyright 2016. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. sex trafficking (Miller 2001). One former female gang member of a male gang recalls the sexual exploitation of the female gang members by the males: "They [male gang members] used to tell me, 'I don't have any homegirls - just ho-girls'" (Vigil 2008, 61). Thus, if the male gang member is not exploiting the female gang member for his own sexual interests or to demonstrate his power over her, he exploits her to others outside the gang to earn money for the gang. Despite the risks of victimization or violence inflicted on them, female gang members may view their role with a sense of empowerment - as a method to attain gender equality or gain some form of control of their lives (Miller 2001). Female gangs are not exclusive to the United States and examples of female participation in gangs can be found throughout the world (see Covey 2010). A common characteristic among most international female gangs is that many members are impoverished, marginalized, less educated, come from broken families, experienced inequality, and are of a minority status (Covey 2010). Like their US counterparts, international female gang members may engage in profit crimes or violence to defend their reputation or turf. Female gang members in the United Kingdom called the Peckham Girls, for example, will engage in aggression or violence to defend their reputation or territory (see Archer 1995). In some countries, such as Guatemala or New Zealand, female gang membership is small and they do not run their own gang enterprise (Covey 2010; Eggleston 2007). Moreover, like female gang members in the United States, many international female gang members experience physical and sexual victimization from their male gang associates (Eggleston 1997). Property crimes When inspecting the types of property crimes that female offenders were arrested for most often in 2014, both larceny-theft and fraud were the most common offenses (FBI 2014). In fact, women were more likely to be arrested for these types of crimes than male offenders. Women have become increasingly involved in white-collar crime offenses such as insider trading, medical fraud, and embezzlement (Dodge 2008). White-collar crimes refer to crimes committed in the course of white-collar occupations (e.g., banking, corporate offices) within the workplace. Historically, white-collar crimes have been predominately committed by males; however, more recently, women have been increasingly engaging in these crimes. Embezzlement, one type of white-collar crime that women are more likely than males to commit, is described as the stealing of funds from an account that a person has been entrusted to oversee, such as a financial account for a school, business, or the government. In 2013, Rita Crundwell, a former city comptroller in the town of Dixon, Illinois, was sentenced to over 19 years in prison for embezzling approximately $54 million from the city over a 22-year period to fund a horse-breeding operation. This is the largest case of embezzlement in the history of the United States (Jeneco 2013). There are some differences between male and female white-collar crime criminals. One difference is that male offenders tend to commit their crimes in higher positions within an organization (e.g., CEO) whereas female offenders may commit these crimes in clerical positions such as clerks or administrative assistants. Male and female offenders also differ in motives for the crime. Male white-collar criminals may commit these crimes more out of Gunnison, E., Bernat, F. P., & Goodstein, L. (2016). Women, crime, and justice : Balancing the scales. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from uma on 2022-02-17 22:17:36. Copyright 2016. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. "greed" while female white-collar criminals may commit these crimes mo