NCJ Number
73905
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology Volume: 22 Issue: 4 Dated: (October 1980) Pages: 464-475
Date Published
1980
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The evolution of female criminality in Poland in the last 50 years is reviewed and the sharp decrease in female crime after 1950 is attributed to socioeconomic and cultural influences.
Abstract
Female crime rates in Poland increased during the 1940's and early 1950's over those of the 1920's and 1930's; since then, a dramatic and continued decrease has followed. The earlier increase in female criminality, which consisted of property crimes, can be traced to the ravages of World War II. Women's lifestyles and their societal status evolved simultaneously with their progressively increasing influx into the Polish labor market, where, according to 1977 figures, women now outnumber men in health and human services, insurance and finance, education, science, culture, justice administration, and the sales force. The female/male crime ratio evolved from 1/3 in 1951, 1/4 at the end of the 1950's, 1/5 in the early 1960's, and 1/7 in 1968 to 1/9 in the 1970's. Male crime rates have also been decreasing in Poland, but less dramatically than those of women. This study hypothesizes that this dramatic decrease in Polish female criminality, all the more remarkable when compared to parallel increases in other European countries and in the United States, has many complex social, economic, cultural, and juridical causes. The social status and economic position of women has improved enormously, while their behavior remains controlled by cultural and religious influences. From the juridical standpoint it must be noted that Polish criminal codes are slanted toward controlling male delinquency and deviance, while reflecting a paternalistic attitude toward women, who are seldom, if ever, penalized for such offenses as nonsupport and spouse abuse: female status offenses, such as prostitution, are not criminalized. Shoplifting and infanticide, typically female crimes, are extremely rare in Poland; the only offenses committed by a significant percentage of women are of a verbal nature, such as threat, perjury, and insulting public officials and others. The socioeconomic emancipation of women, while exposing them, on one hand, to increase temptations and occasions of crime, has reduced, on the other hand, the feelings of female powerlessness, dependence, frustration, and perceived victimization which caused such violent female crimes as homicide, infanticide, and aggravated assault. Liberal abortion legislation and increased societal tolerance of unmarried motherhood have practicaly eliminated the causes of illegal abortion and infanticide. Endnotes, which also provide bibliographic references, include a discussion of female crime in the United States and its possible causes.