ABSTRACT
Historically, crime in general and violent crime in particular has been predominantly perpetrated by males. This has been referred to as the gender gap in offending, which has been observed regardless of the time period, culture or data source. Females accounted for 24.2 per cent of all arrests in the US in 2007, including 19.2 per cent of those arrested for violent crimes, 33.4 per cent of property crimes, 18.8 per cent of drug abuse crimes and 10.2 per cent of murder arrests (van Wormer and Bartollas, 2011). This disparity between males and females is similar across international jurisdictions, which indicate that females have recently accounted for 17 per cent of all arrests in England and Wales, 17 per cent in Canada and 17 per cent in Australia (figures reported in Blanchette and Brown, 2006, p.1). The gender gap in offending appears to vary by the seriousness of the criminal behaviour. While males commit a greater proportion of almost all crimes, the disparity between males and females is greater for more serious crimes, especially violent crimes (Blanchette and Brown, 2006). Longitudinal data suggest that the discrepancy in criminal offending may be much more substantial in persistent, serious adult offending than in adolescent offending that does not persist into adulthood. A long-term prospective cohort study in Dunedin, New Zealand, for example, found that the male:female ratio for adolescent-limited offending (i.e., offending that begins in adolescence but remains relatively minor and does not continue into adulthood) was 1.5:1, while the ratio for life-course-persistent offending (i.e., offending that begins in childhood, is more serious and diverse, and persists into adulthood), was 10:1 for males versus females (Moffit and Caspi, 2001).
