Why Women Engage In Crime

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Violent offenders are readily one of the most interesting topics of criminal justice. In 2015, there were 1,197,704 estimated violent crimes reported in the United States (cite). Research on violent offenders typically focuses on male offenders, however, emerging research has focused more on violent female offenders. A small amount of studies that have examined violent offenders using an intersectional approach have found that offenders often differ in their acts based on gender, race, class, and other structural factors (Bernard, 2013; Potter, 2013; Baskin & Sommers, 1993; Miller, 1998 add more). These differences could be due to various elements and constructs; however, it is something to further explore as they can relate back to systems …show more content…
In 2015, men accounted for 73.1% of all crime. Furthermore, men are more likely than women to engage in violent crime (cite). However, there are women who do engage in violent crime and little is known about their involvement. There are various theories and researching attempting to understand as to why this difference is and why women engage in crime, many of these theories use feminist approaches which address issues such as inequality, systems of oppression, and more (cite). These reasons are all connected and build on another in explaining female criminality and how it differs by other identities such as race. Thus, focusing on the intersect of race and gender in terms of violent criminal …show more content…
For instance, many believe that women who start offending young is often due to childhood victimization (Baskin & Sommers). Furthermore, Single parenthood is another common factor that leads many women to crime (Basin & Sommers). There are various ways in which this leads women to crime, however little is still known about the pathways women take to violent crime. However, Baskin and Sommers did a study in which they examined the life histories of women arrested for nondomestic violent felony crimes (cite) From their study, they suggest that to understand female criminality one must consider the effects of neighborhood, peer, and addition factors (cite). Furthermore, this constitutes that more research should be done among violent female offenders and their participation and pathways to violent crime. Other studies have also suggested more should be done to expand information on violent female offenders, specifically by using an intersectional approach
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