THE OTHER SIDE OF SHE: FEMALE CRIMINALITY[1]

 by Supriya Yadav & Vanshaja Shukla*

This paper basically focuses on the much-ignored topic, that is, female criminality. Though the criminal tendencies of men has always generated interest and has been much debated about in the field of Criminology but here in the present paper it is women as an offender who is been kept under a microscope. 

This paper elaborates upon how the criminal tendencies found in women are different and as well as similar from that of men. It also dwells on the points as to why the ratios of female offenders are less in comparison to that of men. It also discusses reasons behind the driving factor of female perpetrators. 

INTRODUCTION

Feminist criminality has been much ignored in Criminology. Some authors maintain that female offenders are considered inferior and their crime insignificant.[2] This could be the main reason why there are no concise theoretical explanations that examine why some women abuse their children and lovers, and also indulge into other criminal activities like bride burning, thefts and robberies. 

The chivalry hypothesis holds that women are likely to be protected by the criminal justice system and are likely to be given more lenient treatment than men when they commit the same crimes. Additional researches are needed to determine the actual extent and causes of abuse by women.

STATUS OF FEMALE AND FEMALE CRIMINALITY ON THE PRESENT SCENARIO

The conception of women as either angels or whores is identified by Freud, and supported by feminist accounts. The evil power of female sexuality is a recurrent subject of myth and history.[3] 

The attitudes, which defined who the subject of modernity was and was to be, also defined the women as too natural, too tradition bound, and incapable of being fully-fledged emancipated. Modern woman was the other of the man, to inhabit a domestic space, a space protected by the domination of the masculine. 

Some evidence suggests that women perpetrate minor violence in domestic relationship at an equal rate to men.[4] Physical abuse against children is as likely to be committed by mothers as by fathers.[5] Domestic battering in elderly couples may be perpetrated more often by women.[6] On the surface it appears as though women are as capable as men of being violent and acting out the tendency. 

Government studies indicate that extremely small percent (approximately 6 to 10 percent) of perpetrators are women. In majority of these cases, the female is responding to life-term battering.[7] In every report that documents women as offenders, a disclaimer is attached, most are believed to be self-defending victims. Self-defending victims are women who use physical aggression to prevent further injury; they are not batterers but victims.  

It is difficult to determine the exact prevalence of sexual abuse perpetrated by women since there are few studies that look strictly at the offender population. In a review of a literature on child sexual abuse it was maintained that a range of 1 percent to 32.5 percent of perpetrators were a woman.[8]

COMPARISON BETWEEN RATE OF CRIME COMMITTED BY MALE AND FEMALE

In various research and study, it was found that its men who committed more crime in comparison to women. [9] Even in cases of men and women belonging to same class and one of same group, it is obscured that male are more prone to commit crime. 

Most cellulous agree that males commit more offences than females and their offences are more serious than those of females. Male account for use of vast majority of those arrested for crimes involving force or fraud. Regardless of type of crime or age, male involvement is substantially higher than female. 

As a consequence, the criminalization and penal involvement rate of men and women is substantially different, a much higher percentage of males than women are convicted or cautioned. Women offenders also have fewer previous convictions than men and a higher proportion of women convicted are, in fact, first time offenders. But Oscar Pollak doubts whether the official statistics were in any way an accurate reflection of quality. [10] According to him its relative masked female crime in visibility, and since crimes of women remain under reported to a greater extent than do crimes of men, the official sex differentials, as stated in the official statistics, are mythical. He concluded that men and woman commit about same number of crimes, but that their crimes: illegal abortion, prostitution, and shoplifting were infrequently reported. Several writers had refused to the relative stability of the rates of crime involvement of man and woman over a variety of times and places as evidence of biological difference. Women’s lower rate of criminal behavior has been attributed to their affricative nature, their physique and lack of assertiveness, all of which is claimed to be a biological base.  

But there have been a number of more or less sophisticated, statistically based, quantitative studies, designed to test wherever chivalrous judges and prosecution attorneys treat women offender more leniently than men.  

Although, according to our sphere of research, it’s generally male who commits more number of crimes than female. Also, in the crimes committed by females, they are most of the time accompanied by other male members of the family, relative or friend. There are hardly any crimes, which a female commits herself. [11] 

There are others who suggest that disparity in female perpetrators exist, as far as female sex offenders are concerned due to the criterion defining abuse (rape v. sexual conduct). This may also be due to the absence of terminology in government studies that include female perpetrated sex crimes. As far as 1994, the Uniform Crime Reporting System still defined rape for female victims only. [12]   

FACTORS DRIVING WOMEN TO CRIME

Research suggest that most of the woman prisoners are themselves the virtues of various kinds of situational compulsions, arising generally from poverty, maladjustment in married life leading to course with in –laws, prostitution and many other psychological, social and economic factors and their eventual vulnerability to abuse and exploitation, especially in a crisis. On analysis, it was found that in most of the cases women took the extreme step either in self – defense or in an impulsive movement arising from pent – up frustration due to cruelties inflicted on them day after day. After all, there is a limit to human endurance.  

Any crime committed by women is not independently done, as one male partner definitely accompanies them. In many instances, it was said that women alone is also capable of crime. For example, murder of the husband or child. But she only commits such crime because of the pressure and mental torture. Women kill their own children, in case if it is an unwanted child or a female child. If women are neglected during pregnancy and were not given any thing to eat or to wear, they blame their child for all the built-in frustration. The pressure during pregnancy also leads to killing of her child. Another reason attributed to female criminality can be hormonal changes. In some cases, these changes also bring a criminal tendency in women. 

There are very less number of habitual criminal. Still the reasons observed for such habitual criminal is that there have been nobody to take care of them or also, in case when husband is already in jail and nobody is there to take care of the child. She is even forced to keep physical contact with the males related to her husband, which is also one of the reasons why women commit crime.  

Another, very pertinent aspect where female criminality is found is bride burning, where a mother-in-law deliberately kills her daughter-in-law for money. Here, there is no reason, which would explain her criminal tendencies. Thus, no concrete theory has been put forth as far as criminal tendencies of women are considered. 

WOMEN AND CRIME: A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

The celebrated case of Ediga Anamma v. State of Andhra Pradesh [13], perhaps truly reflects the outlook of judiciary towards female criminals, the case involved a very crucial question of law-‘reversal of punishment’. The accused had brutally committed murder of the other woman, who was also in love with the same man she loved. The reasoning given by Justice Krishna Iyer, for reversing the punishment from death sentence to life imprisonment, was largely because of the accused woman’s feminity, her youth, her unbalanced sex and her expulsion from the conjugal home and the most sensitive point was that she was a mother of a young boy. The judgment very well explains that courts do take into account the socio-economic background and the psychic of the female criminal and do consider her sex as a determinative factor in deciding a case. 

Death of females due to the social evil of dowry is still present in India, especially amongst the lower section of the society. Death for dowry is an offence under the Section 304 (B) of the IPC. Generally, females are a party to this crime. The mother-in-law and sister-in-law of the victim are seen actively participating in this crime. Though, it is very surprising that being a female they themselves indulge in such a serious crime. In this situation even, it is generally seen that she will not be the one to initiate the crime. It is generally, the husband or her son who start with the proceedings of the crime and she is just a party to it. Though there is not any strict rule, which would suggest the level of participation in crimes. Jealousy from the newly wed bride, her distance from her son, greed for money are perhaps such psychological reasons which initiate her to commit the offence. In cases of dowry death, they would definitely be partner but then her level of indulgence would not be that of an active participant, as here again the male would dominate. 

While considering her role in one of the gravest offence, murder, one would find her participation in the murder of the husband, her child due to social pressures. The victims of female criminals are generally their family members or friends or relatives. This is because of the social setup. 

A chart has been given which reflects that women under which offences they are mostly convicted. This chart also depicts a comparison between the crime committed by men and women. The female percentage is certainly less in comparison with that of men but nevertheless the percentage if individually seen is certainly high.

Persons Arrested Under IPC Crimes During 2001

(Crime Head-Wise And Gender-Wise)[14]

CONCLUSION

In many aspects it was observed by many scholars that the women as far as perpetration of crimes are concerned are no different from men. But also in number cases it has been observed that the criminal tendencies in women are result of some cruelty or unjust treatment meted out to her at any one given point of time. Also, another opinion is that the figures showing less number of female offenders can be a result of exclusion of women in such surveys. The different schools of thoughts have brought about different theories some justifying the crimes committed by them and some keeping them at par with men. Still there is no denial of the fact that there are certain hard-core female criminals existing in the society with no reason to back their indulgence in criminal activities. Yet, it’s still going to take a long time before a definite and a concrete step is established in the study of female criminality.