Most Common Crimes Women Commit

Throughout our nation's history, female offenders have been largely forgotten by a criminal justice system that was designed to control and rehabilitate men. Some experts argue that gender is the best predictor of criminal behavior. Overall, women have lower arrest rates for nearly all crime classifications except prostitution. Since the 1960s, the amount of female arrests has typically been less than 15% for homicide and aggravated assault and less than 10% for serious property crimes such as burglary and robbery.

The National Crime Victimization Survey, in which victims were asked about the gender of their perpetrator, if he or she was seen, found that women are more likely to commit minor property crimes that include larceny-theft, fraud, forgery, and embezzlement. Female arrests for this crime category have been as high as 40% since the mid-1970s. The thefts and fraud committed by women usually involve shoplifting (larceny-theft), "bad checks" (forgery or fraud), and welfare and credit fraud. Self-report studies also confirm the Uniform Crime Report patterns which show that there is relatively low female involvement in serious offenses and greater involvement in less serious criminal activity.

During my reading this week, I came across some interesting ideas and proposals. According to author Samuel Walker, conservatives believe that many dangerous criminals beat the system and elude punishment simply by pleading guilty to a lesser charge and if these dangerous criminals are ultimately convicted, they are not sent to prison. In order to solve this issue, Walker suggests that we should prosecute career criminals, abolish the insanity defense, get rid of plea bargaining, and put tighter restrictions on appeals.

No matter what method we choose to endorse, with the purpose of revamping the criminal justice system, two questions still remain:


Is the criminal justice system steadily closing the gap with regard to women who commit crimes or are more women are simply being charged with crimes?

A Contemporary Perspective on Female Crime

A social-biological approach has emerged in the most recent research on female criminality. This area of study attributes female crime to a number of factors including: parental deprivation and an inability to adjust to "feminine roles"; psychiatric and familial disorders; impaired physical health; sexual corruption; behavior disorders; and premenstrual and menstrual syndromes. Researchers who have utilized the social-biological approach obtained substantial results when comparing nonoffenders or minor offenders (drug use or prostitution) to violent or habitual female offenders. These researchers found a strong correlation between violent female offenders and numerous factors such as alcohol abuse, problems with impulse control, and neurological abnormalities. Evidence in this field also showed that a broken home is one of the strongest predictors of delinquency among females. Some assert that the consequences of family disorganization are far more detrimental for females due to the greater importance of the family for their supervision and attachment to conventional norms.

With some exceptions, the factors found to be the most prominent in crime among males are also influential in crime among females. Given that society places stricter cultural constraints on female behavior, females who become delinquent or violent appear to deviate more significantly from the norm – biologically, psychologically, or sociologically, – according to the social-biological perspective. Thus, females who make the conscious decision to engage in criminal activity must travel a "greater moral and psychological distance than males".

Making a Deal with the Devil

July 4, 2008 marked the 232rd annual celebration of our nation's independence from British rule, which gave way to the birth of Democracy. In 2005, July 4 became a day known to some as the day one in which one of Canada's most infamous female serial killers was released from prison after serving only 12 years. During my readings and research last week, while preparing to celebrate the July 4th holiday, I came across an extensive list of convicted female murderers. One in particular caught my attention.

Karla Homolka was born on May 4, 1970 in Port Credit, Canada. The oldest of three children, she was often described as attractive, well-adjusted, smart, and popular by family and friends. Karla developed a passion for animals and went to work at a veterinary clinic after she graduated from high school. In 1987, Homolka attended a pet convention where she met her future husband, Paul Bernardo. The two began dating and discovered that they had the same sado-masochistic desires and Karla became obsessed with fulfilling Paul's unusual fantasies. Soon, Karla began to drug young teenage girls - including her younger sister, Tammy - with medication stolen from the vet clinic and allowed Paul to rape the young girls. One teenager, named Jane, managed to survive the violent sexual attacks that were captured on videotape. Unfortunately, Leslie Mahaffy did not survive. Leslie was kidnapped, taken to the couple's home, and raped repeatedly over several days, were Homolka and Bernardo videotaped many of the assaults. They eventually killed Leslie, cut her body into pieces, encased the pieces in cement, and threw the cement into a lake. On June 29, 1991, a couple canoeing on the lake found Leslie's remains.

Kristen French, just 15-years-old, was kidnapped by the couple on April 16, 1992 from a church parking lot. For several days, the couple tortured, humiliated, and sexually abused the young girl capturing the horrible, inhumane events on camera. Her body was found on April 30.

(From left to right: Tammy Homolka, Leslie Mahaffy, and Kristen French)

Homolka was arrested and convicted in 1993 for her involvement in the drugging, raping, torturing, and murdering of the three teenagers, including her 15-year-old sister Tammy. Homolka's short 12 year sentence was the result of a plea bargain that was reached in exchange for her testimony. Some called it the worst plea bargain in Canadian history and the government was accused of 'making a deal with the Devil'. Homolka claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse at the hand's of her husband. Paul Bernardo on all counts of rape and murder and is currently serving a life sentence in a Canadian prison. This case serves as an important example that aids in substantiating the need for the study of female criminality, so that one day we can create prevention tools to stop similar tragic events from happening in the future.