ABSTRACT
The most significant early studies of female criminality are the works of Lombroso and Ferrero (1895), Thomas (1967, originally published 1923) and Pollak (1961, originally 1950). They may be termed classical studies not only because of the stage of development within criminology in which they were written, but also because they are virtually ‘pioneer’ studies in the area of women and crime. Unlike other pioneer studies which have been surpassed and have become redundant though, these accounts of female criminality are still, in some form, exerting an influence on contemporary understandings of female crime. Their influence lingers on largely because of the lack of interest in this area shown by criminologists, a disinterest which is evident in the paucity of critical studies of female criminality. An additional reason for the continuing ‘relevance’ of these particular works is the compatibility of their ideological stance with the prevailing interests of professional pathologists and agents of social control This common stance, which unites these classical theorists even though their accounts of female criminality vary widely, is based upon a particular (mis)conception of the innate character and nature of women, which is in turn founded upon a biological determinist position. This emphasis on the determined nature of human behaviour is not peculiar to the discipline of criminology, nor to the study of women, but it is particularly pertinent to the study of female criminality because of the widely-held and popular belief in the non-cognitive, physiological basis of criminal actions by women.
