ABSTRACT
Explaining female criminal behaviour was for many years a neglected area of criminology, and a signifi cant justifi cation for that lack of attention centres on their apparently low levels of involvement in crime with the associated assumption that women are predominantly law-abiding. By the age of 28, 33 per cent of males and 6 per cent of females have been convicted of a serious offence and this ratio has remained similar over the years (Coleman and Moynihan, 1996). Even in the case of shoplifting – an offence traditionally associated with women – more males than females are convicted. In Britain, 80 per cent of those convicted of serious crimes are male, while only 3 per cent of the prison population consists of women. There are similar ratios in the USA.
