NCJ Number
88047
Journal
International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1982) Pages: 25-37
Date Published
1982
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study analyzes Interpol statistics on female crime for the 1963-1970 period for a sample of Western nations with the purpose of testing two popular explanations of female criminality.
Abstract
Six measures of female economic participation in society were correlated with female proportional involvement in overall crime rates, theft, fraud, murder, and robbery/burglary. It was found that women's contribution to the overall arrest rate is neither directly proportional to their employment in the commercial work force, nor to the degree in which their jobs are comparable to those of males. The analysis of the crimes of theft and fraud provided support for the 'opportunity' version of emancipation theory. Adler's 'aggressive' variant of the emancipation hypothesis was only partly borne out by the data for murder and not supported for robbery and burglary. (Publisher abstract)