Women Offenders Research Paper

Women Offenders

In this article it discusses how the number of women offenders has increased. Based on the self-reports of victims of violence, women account for about 14% of violent offenders an annual average of about 2.1 million violent female offenders. Male offending equals about 1 violent offender for every 9 males age 10 or older, a per capita rate 6 times that of women. Three out of four violent female offenders committed simple assault. Six to ten women in State prisons had experienced physical or sexual abuse in the past. Just over a third of imprisoned women had been abused by a person they knew; just under a quarter reported prior abuse by a family member. More than half of female violent offender were white, and just
Overall, female to female violence accounted for 11% of all violent offenders described by victims. An additional 3% of violent offenders were women who attacked males. Violent offenders most often victimized persons of the same gender. Sixty-two percent of female violent offenders had a prior relationship with the victim.
The consequences of male violence were generally more serious for the victim in terms of weapon use, injury and out of pocket losses to the victim. Males are more likely than females to have used a weapon such as a knife or gun. Serious injuries, such as broken bones, knife wounds or gunshot wounds were more likely associated with male offenders. Since 1993 both male and female rates for committing murder have declined. Between 1976 and 1997 parents and stepparents murdered nearly 11,000 children. Mothers and stepmothers committed about half of these child murders. Sons and stepsons accounted for 52% of those killed by mothers and 57% of those killed by fathers. Mothers were responsible for a higher share of children killed during infancy while fathers were more likely to have been responsible for the murders of children age eight and
In 1998 there were an estimated 951,900 women under the care, custody, or control of adult criminal justice authorities. This translates into a rate of about 1 out of every 109 adult women having some kind of correctional status on any given day. Eighty-five percent of the female corrections population were being supervised in the community, and 15% were confined in prisons and jail. Population growth has occurred in each component of corrections. The number of women per capita involved in corrections overall has grown 48% since 1990, compared to a 27% increase in the number of men per capita. Offenses among women with a corrections status, varies with the type of status. Violence and drug trafficking, for example, account for 17% of women on probation, 24% of those sentenced to local jails, 46% of those incarcerated in State prisons, and 65% of those confined in Federal