There have been periodic "discoveries" of the violent female offender as well as dire predictions of an increase in violence committed by women. The authors examine the pattern of violent crime by women over a long period of time to determine whether or not the "problem" of increasing violence is a myth. The authors conclude that women's contribution to violent crime has been and continues to make up a small percentage, except for crime categories that are highly vulnerable to changes in system responses.T wenty years ago, the senior author of this article had numerous conversations with law enforcement officers concerning their observation that female offenders were becoming more dangerous. These male officers (and they were all men at the time) believed, without a doubt, that female offenders in the early 1980s were much more violent than they had encountered "in all their years of law enforcement." Today, those same conversations can be had with law enforcement officers who also believe that women today are more violent than ever before. Does this mean that in the early 2000s, women are more violent than they were 20 years ago, and those women were more violent than female offenders 20 years before, and so on? The evidence does not support such a proposition. Why, then, is there such a persistent desire, seemingly present in every generation, to portray women as more violent?In Table 1, we have identified the ways in which researchers can make women appear to be more aggressive. We do not mean to say that researchers and writers intentionally do so. However, we do emphasize that by promulgating the message that women are just as violent as men or are becoming more violent, these researchers possibly contribute to policy makers' decisions to treat women more harshly by incarcerating them in prisons and juvenile institutions. By ignoring the fact that girls and women are more likely to be victims than aggressors in domestic violence, by assuming that they are violent simply because they call themselves gang members, and by believing that women are equally violent as men and then punishing them as such, we may create the very phenomenon we fear-more violent women.To illustrate the first point, we give examples of the rare and sensational images of violent women touted by the media and researchers as proof that women are becoming more violent. For the second point, we critique the existing literature that promotes the notion that women are becoming more violent by interchanging violence with aggression. We discuss why such research is dangerous in terms of providing an accurate account of the actual criminality of 5
When the police use deadly force, their actions are judged by the reasonableness standard. This article seeks to inform the reasonableness standard by examining the ability of police officers to respond to armed suspects. The results of a reaction time experiment are presented. In this experiment, police officers encountered a suspect armed with a gun, pointing down and not at the police officer. The police officer had his gun aimed at the suspect and ordered the suspect to drop the gun. The suspect then either surrendered or attempted to shoot the officer. The speed with which the officer fired if the suspect chose to shoot was assessed. Results suggest that the officers were generally not able to fire before the suspect. Implications for the reasonableness standard and policy are discussed.
In addition to witnessing and documenting women’s experience with imprisonment, this book offers offer a new analysis of the contemporary prison by re-framing the questions of trouble and violence as a further expression of broader societal inequalities and human rights violations. Combining this more structural critique with a human rights approach to imprisonment expands our understanding beyond the individualized and pathology-based explanations of women’s prison experiences. The way forward is based on this structural appraisal of the consequences of imprisonment, providing direction towards reducing unnecessary suffering and increasing prisoners’ capital inside prison and once released.
Prior research on violent crime by female offenders is reviewed. A Texas female prisoner sample is used to explore specific questions raised by the literature review. Violent and nonviolent offenders were compared, looking specifically at race, socioeconomic status, having been raised in single-parent homes, criminal history, gang membership, marital status, and childhood abuse. Findings indicated that women who are violent were more likely to be younger, African American, unemployed, and having extensive criminal histories. They were more likely to come from dysfunctional families with childhood abuse. Limitations of the study were noted.
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