The Continuing Myth of the Violent Female Offender

• DOI: 10.1177/0734016805275378
• Author: Joycelyn M. Pollock,Sareta M. Davis
• Date: 01 May 2005
• Published date: 01 May 2005
• Subject Matter: Articles

10.1177/0734016805275378Criminal Justice ReviewPollock, Davis / The Violent Female Offender Myth

The Continuing Myth of the

Violent Female Offender

Joycelyn M. Pollock

Sareta M. Davis

Texas State University

There have been periodic “discoveries”of the violent female offender as well as dire predictions

of an increase in violence committed by women. The authors examine the pattern of violent

crime by women over a long period of time to determine whether or not the “problem” of

increasing violence is a myth. The authors conclude that women’s contribution to violent crime

has been and continues to make up a small percentage, except for crime categories that are highly

vulnerable to changes in system responses.

Keywords: violent women; female criminality; female offenders

Twenty years ago, the senior author of this article had numerous conversations with law

enforcement officers concerning their observation that female offenders were becoming

more dangerous. These male officers (and they were all men at the time) believed, without a

doubt, that female offenders in the early 1980s were much more violent than they had

encountered “in all their years of law enforcement.” Today, those same conversations can be

had with law enforcement officers who also believe that women today are more violent than

ever before. Does this mean that in the early 2000s, women are more violent than they were

20 years ago, and those women were more violent than female offenders20 years before, and

so on? The evidence does not support such a proposition. Why,then, is there such a persistent

desire, seemingly present in every generation, to portray women as more violent?

In Table1, we have identified the ways in which researchers can make women appear to be

more aggressive. We do not mean to say that researchers and writers intentionally do so.

However,we do emphasize that by promulgating the message that women are just as violent

as men or are becoming more violent, these researchers possibly contribute to policy makers’

decisions to treat women more harshly by incarcerating them in prisons and juvenile institu-

tions. By ignoring the fact that girls and women are more likely to be victims than aggressors

in domestic violence, by assuming that they are violent simply because they call themselves

gang members, and by believing that women are equally violent as men and then punishing

them as such, we may create the very phenomenon we fear—more violent women.

To illustrate the firstpoint, we give examples of the rare and sensational images of violent

women touted by the media and researchers as proof that women are becoming more violent.

For the second point, we critique the existing literature that promotes the notion that women

are becoming more violent by interchanging violence with aggression. We discuss why such

research is dangerous in terms of providing an accurate account of the actual criminality of

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women. To show how the third point works, we review a number of descriptive studies of

individuals or groups (gangs). Focusing on these unusual women obscures the aggregate sta-

tistics that show women in general are not becoming more violent. Data compiled by the Uni-

form Crime Reports and the National Crime Victimization Survey will be presented to illus-

trate the fact that women’s percentage of contribution to violent crime is not as dramatic as

some writers indicate. This data will also be used to present an accurate snapshot of the rates

of violent crime by women over the past 15 years. Three-year instead of 5-year increments

are used in the figures to help ensure that subtle fluctuations in the rate of crime are not

missed. As indicated by the fourth point, percentages of total arrests are used rather than the

percentage of increase, which inflates the importance of any increase. Finally, our fifth and

final point is illustrated by a discussion of the formal procedures used by law enforcement.

Emphasis is placed on changes in system response (e.g., arrest policies/procedures) and how

these changes can influence the reality of crime as recorded by official statistics.

In this article, we explore examples of the notion that women and girls are becoming more

violent, as well as academic studies that examine women’s and girls’ participation rates in

violent crime. Weconclude with some thoughts as to how this cyclical “discovery”of the vio-

lent female criminal has affected policy.

Violent Women and Girls: A Good Story

Every so often, a journalist in the print or electronic media decides that there is a news

story in exposing the increasing violence of women or girls. For instance, a recent story in the

Seattle Post-Intelligencer wastitled “Violence Among Girls on the Rise” (Rowe, 2004). The

author quotes a deputy prosecutor and a school official who believed that girl-on-girl attacks

were increasing. The author goes on to cite an 82% increase in assaults by girls, compared to

a 9% increase for boys since 1987. Then, the author states that “girl-on-girl violence is often

notable for its viciousness.” This article is only one of a number of articles in the popular

press that has reported the story of increased violence by girls and women (i.e., Corliss,

2002). There have also been a small but continuing number of academic researchers who also

argue that women’sviolence is being ignored or that women are becoming more violent. The

most interesting feature of such news is that it is cyclical and seems to be discovered at least

once every decade.

There is an old adage in journalism that “dog bites man” is no story, but “man bites dog” is

a heck of a story.The reason, of course, is that something unusual is news. The same principle

6 Criminal Justice Review

Table 1

Ways to Make Women Seem More Aggressive

1. Argue against the proposition that women aren’t violent at all and then show examples of violent women.

2. Argue aggression rather than violence and expand the definition to include a wide variety of acts; then,

when prevalence is established, switch back to the term violence.

3. Use a small sample of violent women and then bootstrap the characteristics of these women to discuss

violence as a problem among all women and imply that these women are a new phenomenon as opposed to

recognizing that there have always been a small number of very violent women.

4. Use percentage increases to show that women are becoming more violent even though the percentage of

total numbers show hardly any increase at all in homicide and robbery.

5. Ignore that system response (definitions and arrest policies) is a dynamic factor that influences arrest rates.