NCJ Number
143567
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1992) Pages: 77-103
Date Published
1992
Length
27 pages
Annotation
Arrest statistics for 1960-85 in the United States were used to examine rival explanations of trends in the female share of offenses in property crimes since 1960, with emphasis on the gender equality or "liberation" thesis, which asserts that greater gender equality brings about changes in the quantity and quality of female crime.
Abstract
The alternative explanations examined focused on trends in the economic marginality of females and trends in formal policing. Data came from a variety of sources providing aggregate measures of each of the alternative explanations. Findings did not support the traditional liberation thesis. Instead, they revealed that trends in the female share of offenses are largely a function of trends in formal policing, and less so of trends in the economic marginalization of females. These findings are also consistent with other research using cross-national data. Results suggested that three or four main sets of variables may explain variations in the female share of property crimes across space and time, although adequate data to test this theory fully are not currently available. Tables, footnotes, and 87 references