ABSTRACT
In Frida Adler’s 1975 book, Sisters in Crime, she predicted an increase in female offending. This increase in female offending would be due to the emergence of a new female offender who would be equally as violent and brutal as her male criminal counterpart. Her emergence would be due to the liberation of females and the feminist movement bolstering women’s status to that equal to men. According to Adler, women were not allowed to be violent prior to liberation due to the traditional female role of the passive and nonaggressive caretaker that was thrust upon them. With the liberation movement, however, opportunities for nontraditional roles in the workforce would become open to women. These roles would allow women to be more assertive. Adler believed that just as legitimate opportunities began to open up to women in the traditional workforce, additional illegitimate opportunities would also open up for women in the form of criminal behavior. Women being more assertive in society would then provide the opportunity for them to move from traditional female crimes such as petty theft and prostitution into more masculine crimes such as robbery and violence (Adler, 1975).
