Modern theories and female criminality

Abstract

In this chapter I shall look at modern studies of deviance and, while picking out one or two studies which feature women, show that most ignore them. I shall try to explain why I think this happened. It may seem strange in a book on women and crime to devote a section to their absence from the stage, but I believe there are several crucial issues involved. First I want to show that traditional and, even more, ‘new’ criminology could not incorporate an adequate approach to women within its framework and hence a feminist criminology had to be invented. Second, I assume that most readers of this book will not only study crime and women at some point, but will meet crime in other contexts and be puzzled by the lack of ‘fit’ between analysis of female and of male crime. Finally, a central theme of many modern feminist contributions on female crime has been the comparative neglect of the topic (Heidensohn, 1968; Smart, 1977; Shacklady Smith, 1978, p. 74; Naffin, 1981, p. 70). Many of these contributors offer explanations for this neglect and these in turn — they include the low rate of female crime and the lack of public pressure — have had their impact on ‘feminist’ criminology. I believe that these explanations are inadequate and that it is important to try to understand the complex reasons which for so long limited the proper study of female crime.