Women and Crime in the United States: A Marxian Explanation

• NCJ Number: 122544
• Journal: Sociological Spectrum Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Dated: (1990) Pages: 105-131
• Author(s): P F Radosh
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 27 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the Third International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women, July 1987, Dublin, Ireland.

Annotation

This paper reviews the principal theories of female crime causation that were proposed in the 20th century and offers an alternative, Marxist-oriented theoretical approach.

Abstract

Using existing theoretical and empirical research, this explanation accounts for the means by which women are defined as criminal, the class relationship between the general population of women and female criminals, and the system which legitimizes control over both the general population of women and female criminals. The paper also suggests the relationship between the victimization of women and the opportunity structure is class-based. 10 footnotes, 63 references. (Author abstract modified)