Characteristics of female violent juvenile offenders in UK data

Female Violent Offenders

Women are more apt to be the victims than the perpetrators of crimes. The purpose of a recent quantitative, descriptive study by Coleman, Almond, and McManus (2018) was to determine some of the essential characteristics of female, violent juvenile offenders versus a control sample of nonviolent offenders. Using UK police data of offences committed between April 2001 and April 2011, the researchers determined that 72.3% of the female violent offenders had committed a previous violent offense and had a previous conviction, a significantly higher percentage than the control group (Coleman, Almond, and McManus, 2018). Female offenders were also more likely to have committed a theft previous to their incarceration for a violent offense.

According to the British publication The Independent, rates of violent crime by women in general have increased in the United Kingdom. “The number of girls and women arrested for violence has more than doubled between 1999/2000 and 2007/08,” although women are still far less likely to commit crimes than men (Quarmby, 2016, par.7). Whether this is due to better policing or to actual higher rates of violence is questionable (Quarmby, 2016). The statistic flies in the face of the cultural stereotype of women-as-nurturer.