Female Criminality

Female criminality attributes the disparities to the “masked behaviour” of female incidental to their roles (Pollak, 1950). Females have committed all types of crimes such as shoplifting, robbery and murder. However it is very rare that you would find a female committing murder as they are weaker than men and thus it is mostly the minor crimes they commit so they can get away with it.
There are certain characteristics that were found in women who were in prison. These characteristics are age, marital status, ethnic group and rationality and education. According to research, majority of female offenders were under the age of 35 and following up were those under the age of 25. In the investigation it found that many of the older females had committed more serious crime than those who were younger. So as they are young they commit minor crimes for example shoplifting and fraud and as they become more experienced they commit bigger crimes such as murder. The next characteristic is marital status. Most of the female offenders reported that they were single and only a few said they were married. However of the many who said they were single, some said they were divorced, separated or widowed. Woman who had children dependant of them were less likely to be sentenced to prison. The high proportion of females suggests a strong link between female offending, age and marital status. The next character is ethnic group and rationality. According to statistics, most females in South Africa are South African born nationals. Education plays a vital role in every person’s life. Without education you will not have skills to work and get a job that sustains an individual’s everyday life. In the investigation it was found that many female offenders had a lack of education. For example if an individual has no education or anyone to support them financially it leads to no skills, and no skills leads to unemployment and without employment it leads to no income to survive and thus