NCJ Number
219138
Date Published
2006
Length
28 pages
Annotation
Using data from the 2003 British Crime and Justice Survey, a self-report measure of the prevalence of offending and drug use in England and Wales, this study examined shifts in the gender gap in offending over time by dividing respondents into age groups (ages 16-29, 30-45, and 46-66).
Abstract
The analysis found no consistent pattern over time in the aggregate gender gap, but did find both increases and decreases in the gender gap for certain groups of people. This suggests that research should investigate groups of women and men who are likely to be differentially influenced by changes in society and who are also differentially likely to offend. The focus should be on offending as influenced over time by class, race, economy, and ecology and the way these interact with gender to produce gender differences in offending. In the current study, when the gender gap within the age cohorts was broken down by educational level, clear differences in the gender gap in offending emerged over time for different educational groups. For those with few education qualifications, the gender gap was smaller for the youngest group and increased across the age groups. For the most educated group, on the other hand, the gender gap was greatest for the younger group and declined with age. The only explanatory variable that predicted increased probability of offending for all age and education groups was drug-taking; however, its effect varied significantly across the different groups, ranging from increasing the probability of offending by 26 to 45 percentage points depending on age and education level. The 2003 Crime and Justice Survey provided information on 10,085 core individuals ages 10 to 65, as well as an additional 1,886 respondents from ethnic minority groups. 3 tables, 3 notes, and 66 references