Looking Out a Broken Old Window: Community Safety, Gendered Crimes and Victimizations

• NCJ Number: 224210
• Journal: Crime Prevention & Community Safety Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Dated: 2008 Pages: 207-225
• Author(s): Pamela Davies
• Date Published: 2008
• Length: 19 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

In illustrating some features of gender-related patterns in crime and victimization, this article focuses on two main themes: gender-related risks, and the conception of invisible locations (public versus private spaces).

Abstract

Based upon a large body of research, it is clear that being female or being male is a significant factor in patterns of crime and victimization as well as the harm done and experienced in scenarios of crime and victimization. For some crimes, women are generally subjected to criminal victimization at a higher rate and with more severe consequences than White males. Women tend to be more at risk for victimization hidden from public view. Large numbers of crimes committed by nonstrangers against women are not reported to police; women are more vulnerable to domestic violence from current or former partners; women-on-women incidents are more common in acquaintance violence than in any other type. Perpetrators of violence are most often males, and so are the victims of violence, and this can include sexual violence. Black males have the highest rate of violent victimization and White females the lowest. In essence, women and men are at risk for being offenders and victims for different types of crimes that occur in different settings. These differing patterns are related not only to biology but also to gender-related socioeconomic behavioral and status patterns. Community crime prevention programs have erred in focusing too much on stranger-to-stranger crimes that occur in relatively public locations while failing to give equal attention to crimes and victimizations that are committed by offenders known to victims and that occur in the more hidden domains of gender-related crimes. Community crime prevention programs must be comprehensive and attentive to all types of crime and victimization in order to avoid gender bias. 3 notes and 125 references