Circumstantial evidence seems to indict the women's movement for contributing to an increase in crime. This article reports a study designed to assess that putative relationship. Responses to questionnaires measured aggressiveness, criminal behavior, and attitudes toward sex roles. Males showed greater aggression and more criminality, while females concurred with more of the profeminist judgments. Aggressiveness was significantly correlated with criminality among both males and females. Most importantly, the data lend no support to a view that profeminist attitudes contribute to criminality. For each sex, attitudes toward women's rights and criminality were unrelated.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adler, F.Sisters in crime: The rise of the new female criminal. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975.
2.
Biron, L.An overview of self-reported delinquency in a sample of girls in the Montreal area. In A. Morris (Ed.), Women and crime. Cambridge: Cambridge Institute of Criminology, 1981.
3.
Buss, A. , & Durkee, A.An inventory for assessing different kinds of hostility. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 1957, 21(4), 343-349.
4.
Cernkovich, S. , & Giordano, P. Acomparative analysis of male and female delinquency. The Sociological Quarterly, 1979, 20(1), 131-145. (a)
5.
Cernkovich, S. , & Giordano, P.Delinquency, opportunity, and gender. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 1979, 70(2), 145-151. (b)
6.
Crowne, D. & Marlowe, D.The approval motive. New York: Wiley, 1964.
7.
Cullen, F. T. , Golden, K., & Cullen, J. B.Sex and delinquency: A partial test of the masculinity hypothesis. Criminology, 1979, 17(November), 301-310.
8.
Figueira-McDonough, J. , Barton, W. H., & Sarri, R. C.Normal deviance: Gender similarities in adolescent subcultures. In M. Q. Warren (Ed.), Comparing female and male offenders. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1981.
9.
Gibson, H.Self-reported delinquency among schoolboys, and their attitudes to the police . British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 1967, 6, 168-173.
10.
Hindelang, M.Age, sex, and the versatility of delinquent involvements . Social Problems, 1971, 18, 522-535.
11.
Hindelang, M.Sex differences in criminal activity . Social Problems, 1979, 27 (December), 143-156.
12.
Jensen, G. , & Eve, R.Sex differences in delinquency: An examination of popular sociological explanations. Criminology, 1976, 34(February), 427-448.
Mannarino, A. , & Marsh, M.The relationship between sex role identification and juvenile delinquency in adolescent girls. Adolescence, 1978, 13(52), 643-652.
15.
Mason, K. , & Bumpass, L.U.S. women's sex-role ideology, 1970. American Journal of Sociology, 1975, 80(5), 1212-1219.
16.
Mawby, R.Sex and crime: The results of a self-report study . British Journal of Sociology, 1980, 31(4), 525-543.
17.
Norland, S. , & Shover, N.Gender roles and female criminality: Some critical comments. Criminology, 1977, 15(1), 87-104.
18.
Pollak, O.The criminality of women. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1950.
19.
Quetelet, L.A treatise on man and the development of his faculties. Gainesville, FL: Scholars Facsimilies and Reprints, 1969. (Originally published, 1842.)
20.
Rettig, S. , & Pasamanick, B.Changes in moral values over three decades, 1929-1958. Social Problems, 1959, 6, 320-328.
21.
Simon, R.Women and crime. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath, 1975.
22.
Simon, R.American women and crime . The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1976, 423(January), 31-46.
23.
Smart, C.The new female criminal: Reality or myth . British Journal of Criminology, 1979, 19(1), 50-59.
24.
Steffensmeier, D. & Steffensmeier, R. H.Trends on female delinquency. Criminology, 1980, 18(1), 63-85.
25.
Weis, J.Liberation and crime: The invention of the new female criminal . Crime and Social Justice, 1976, 6(Fall-Winter), 17-27.
26.
Widom, C.Perspectives of female criminality: A critical examination of assumptions. In A. Morris (Ed.) Women and crime. Cambridge: Cambridge Institute of Criminology, 1981.
