Female Victims in the Criminal Law

Abstract

There is no obvious reason why females should be victims in the general criminal law any more often than males. Indeed, in certain offences, there is little doubt that males are more highly represented in the victim group.¹ It may, therefore, seem unnecessary to treat females as a special category of victim, since liability to become a victim seems rather randomly spread, and is, apparently, not genderspecific.² However, gender does have a relevance to the criminal law, not only in the methods by which female offenders are treated,³ but also in certain types of offences — notably those involving sexual activities. Of obvious importance in such offences are the crimes of rape and incest which have, by definition in the case of rape, and by practice in the case of incest, a predominantly female victim group.