NCJ Number
98975
Date Published
1984
Length
7 pages
Annotation
The interrelationships among sex, race, and crime are discussed with reference to Freda Adler's (1975) analysis of female criminality and the patterns of male and female, black and white crime found by the National Crime Survey.
Abstract
Adler posits that female crime patterns differ by race because of differential opportunities historically available to offenders. She speculates that the current pattern of black female crime is indicative of the pattern of white female crime because of increasing sex-role convergence among whites associated with the emergence of the women's liberation movement. Victimization data indicate that black and young women tend to be disproportionally involved in crime and delinquency. However, contrary to Adler's hypothesis, the ratio between the volume of crime for black and white females was not greater than that between black and white males, nor were the patterns of criminal behavior of black males and females more similar than those for white males and females. Finally, the hypothesis that black female crime patterns would be more similar to white male than to white female patterns was supported only for multiple-offender victimizations. Black and white female offenders were similar in their involvement in personal victimizations, but differed in the group context of their victimizations. Differences by race appear to be related to differences in offenses and offender characteristics. In general, results fail to support Adler's hypothesis and suggest that the the phenomenon of female crime and race is of considerable complexity. Six notes and six references are provided.