International Perspective on Women and Criminology (From International Handbook of Contemporary Developments in Criminology, Volume 1, P 99-118, 1983, Elmer H Johnson, ed. - See NCJ-91307)

• NCJ Number: 91313
• Author(s): N K Wilson
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 20 pages
• Sale Source: Greenwood Publishing Group
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The recent impact of female crime on criminology has occurred mainly in the theoretical area, in that the focus on females has the effect of forcing the reassessment of many widely accepted theories.

Abstract

Although theoreticians have predicted broad changes in the female contribution to crime, the empirical evidence indicates a gradual evolution. In the legitimate labor market, women's expanded involvement is mainly in job areas where they have traditionally worked. Similarly, the increased criminal activity of women is mainly in the types of crimes which they have traditionally committed. In addition, the impact of female crime in criminology is only part of a broader intellectual movement in the discipline. Since the mid-1960's, criminology has moved away from positivism and from the medical model it implies and toward an emphasis on structural variables such as status and power. The recognition of these variables as crucial influences in shaping criminality is reflected in criminology's recent openness to such theoretical perspectives as labeling theory and Marxism. This change in criminology has required the rethinking and reconstruction of many theories of criminality. In this sense, the increased visibility of crime among women is a major facet of the developments in criminological theory in general. The examinations of female criminality offer a remarkable opportunity for testing major theories of criminology and for placing issues of female criminality in the mainstream of theoretical consideration. Notes and an annotated bibliography of seven references are provided. (Author summary modified)