Criminologists have been working tirelessly to establish the relationship between gender and felony as great emphasis has been placed on other factors rather than sexuality. Female sex is of particular interest to criminology because historical propositions have failed to establish its correlation with a crime as opposed to feminist criminology. The study of the association between felony and gender has enabled criminologists to establish a link.
Various theories on female offending have failed to understand its nature. Some historical conjectures of criminology developed a general bias towards women, and the females were deemed to be less likely criminals and this resulted in gendered prosecution patterns (Siegel, 2017). Ancient studies on female criminality based their research on quantitative data and assumed that gender disparities in registered crimes were static (Van Der Heijden et al., 2020). With the generalization of biases against women, historical theories could not establish female criminality.
Feminist forensic science has conclusively addressed many biases against female offending. First, feminist criminology has drawn attention to females in the criminal justice system and debunked the ancient olden assumption that they benefit from the chivalrous interpretation of their behavior (Van Der Heijden et al., 2020). Secondly, feminist criminology has opened research study areas, especially in previously hidden crimes like domestic violence and sexual assaults (Siegel, 2017). The major contributions of feminist criminology have placed females at the center of crime research.
In conclusion, crime historians failed to recognize females as susceptible to criminal offenses, but their notion of women’s involvement with felonies changed due to feminist criminology. As activism in forensic analyses became entrenched in crime studies, public views about women and malfeasance changed immensely as the former was placed at the center of research on the misdemeanor. Consequently, an elaborate association between offense and gender has been discerned.
References
Siegel, L. (2017). Criminology: Theories, patterns, and typologies (13th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Van Der Heijden, M., Pluskota, M., & Muurling, S. (Eds.). (2020). Women’s Criminality in Europe, 1600-1914 (1st ed.) Cambridge University Press.