Theme 1: General issues in relation to the studying of female crime
AN OVERVIEW OF SOME GENERAL ISSUES PERTINENT TO FEMALE
CRIME
The first notable fact regarding female crime is that women consistently have a lower
official crime rate than men.
Critical thinking activity 1:
What is an official crime rate?
The crimes that we know of and have official sources of.
Crimes that are reported to SAPS.
Not only convictions or prosecutions.
Crimes that are released by Bheki Cele.
What are the sources of official crime statistics in South Africa (SA)?
Prosecutions (courts)
Correctional services
Police
➢ South African Police Services (SAPS) do not classify crime according to the gender of
offenders.
➢ The first indication of an official crime rate for women can be gleaned from the South
African prison population:
• In SA women = less than 3% of the total prison population.
• In Gauteng - roughly 45% of the women offender population are serving
sentences for economic crimes (e.g., Fraud, theft, money laundering and
shoplifting)
• 38% for aggressive crimes (e.g. murder and aggravated assault);
• 10% for drug-related crimes
• 6% for other undefined crime types
• 0.6% for sexual crimes.
➢ The fact that women have a significantly lower official crime rate than men, has
received insufficient attention in Criminology.
Rachel Tapson
,➢ Feminists argue neglect of women offenders as a topic of research interest =
example of the invisibility and marginalisation of women in society.
➢ Internationally: large body of research on women offending since the 1970s
➢ South Africa it remains a poorly understood and under-researched topic of
interest amongst scholars. Resulted in little theoretical development specifically
aimed at women offending.
Critical thinking activity 2:
Why would poor theoretical development in the field of women offending be
problematic?
- Theories were developed for male offenders
- Purpose of theory – understand, explain, prevent, predict criminal behaviors
- Won’t be able to resolve crimes that women commit if we don’t understand them and
study them
- Won’t be able to predict their future behaviour if you do not understand the motives
behind the crime committed
- Can’t rehabilitate women effectively in prison if you don’t understand criminal
behaviour.
- Not everyone commits crimes for the same reason. Crimes committed by women
and men are different.
• Women will commit financial crimes while men commit aggressive crimes.
➢ Difficult for society to identify with women offenders
➢ It was easy to identify with women in their roles as victims of crime. However, the
same cannot be said for women as law-breakers, who are often shunned as
“double problematic” by society.
Critical thinking activity 3:
Why is it difficult to identify with women as perpetrators of crime and easy to
identify with women as victims of crime?
They break the law and gender rules
What are traditional gender roles?
Behaviors, attitudes, and values society considers appropriate
- E.g. Mothers are care takers, warm, loving, not violent etc.
Rachel Tapson
, Why are women offenders seen as “double problematic” in society?
Women are breaking the laws of the country and unwritten societal rules that prescribe
women’s roles.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF
OFFICIAL CRIME STATISTICS WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE
TO WOMEN OFFENDING
What is the dark figure of crime?
Officials manipulate crime statistics
Police decide to either crime or non-crime
➢ Skepticism regarding the validity and reliability of official crime statistics is
universal.
➢ Diligent and accurate recording of crime by policing agencies is important for
several reasons.
1. What is recorded as crime (officially counted), leads to further action, while
what is not recorded (not officially counted), is ignored.
2. Analysed with great scrutiny, which reveals emerging crime threats, and in turn
determines how policing agencies prioritise their resources (type and number)
in specific geographical areas.
3. Recording crime incidents are symbolic acknowledgement and validation for
victims of crime that a crime has occurred and that the police are investigating
and seeking justice.
4. Alerts other agencies to the fact that certain victims of crime need support and
safeguarding.
➢ the grey figure of crime - police agencies do not record all crime incidents which
come to their attention. The use of discretionary powers by police officials to not
record crime, and in so doing “non-criming” crime incident
➢ contributes to even more scepticism about official crime rates.
• The total crime problem in a country is often compared to an iceberg.
Rachel Tapson
, Critical thinking activity 4:
What is the most important characteristic of an iceberg?
• Largest section remains hidden from sight under water.
➢ Official crime rate - observable section of the total crime problem (the tip of the
iceberg). In SA, between 35% and 45% of all crimes are reported to the police.
➢ Certain categories have higher rates of reporting, whilst others are vastly
underreported.
Critical thinking activity 5:
What types of crime have high report rates and why?
• Crimes that are reported to claim from insurance e.g., property theft
• Murder (find a body)
• Business robberies
• Cash in transit heists
• House robberies
What types of crime are underreported?
• Rape
• Child abuse
• Domestic violence
• Interfamilial rape / assault
• Petty crimes
➢ The analogy of the iceberg is further useful to understand that a large number of
crimes remain unreported
➢ In SA, it is estimated that between 55% and 65% of all crimes remain unreported.
➢ Criminologists refer to the unreported (unobserved) section of the total crime
problem as the dark figure of crime.
Critical thinking activity 6:
What are the reasons for the non-reporting of crime?
• Think crime wasn’t serious • Fear secondary victimization
enough • Feel ashamed
• Do not want to involve CJS / • Distrust in police
• Protect the offender • Avoiding stigma
• Fear of retaliation • Fear of safety
• Ignorance (marital rape)
Rachel Tapson
AN OVERVIEW OF SOME GENERAL ISSUES PERTINENT TO FEMALE
CRIME
The first notable fact regarding female crime is that women consistently have a lower
official crime rate than men.
Critical thinking activity 1:
What is an official crime rate?
The crimes that we know of and have official sources of.
Crimes that are reported to SAPS.
Not only convictions or prosecutions.
Crimes that are released by Bheki Cele.
What are the sources of official crime statistics in South Africa (SA)?
Prosecutions (courts)
Correctional services
Police
➢ South African Police Services (SAPS) do not classify crime according to the gender of
offenders.
➢ The first indication of an official crime rate for women can be gleaned from the South
African prison population:
• In SA women = less than 3% of the total prison population.
• In Gauteng - roughly 45% of the women offender population are serving
sentences for economic crimes (e.g., Fraud, theft, money laundering and
shoplifting)
• 38% for aggressive crimes (e.g. murder and aggravated assault);
• 10% for drug-related crimes
• 6% for other undefined crime types
• 0.6% for sexual crimes.
➢ The fact that women have a significantly lower official crime rate than men, has
received insufficient attention in Criminology.
Rachel Tapson
,➢ Feminists argue neglect of women offenders as a topic of research interest =
example of the invisibility and marginalisation of women in society.
➢ Internationally: large body of research on women offending since the 1970s
➢ South Africa it remains a poorly understood and under-researched topic of
interest amongst scholars. Resulted in little theoretical development specifically
aimed at women offending.
Critical thinking activity 2:
Why would poor theoretical development in the field of women offending be
problematic?
- Theories were developed for male offenders
- Purpose of theory – understand, explain, prevent, predict criminal behaviors
- Won’t be able to resolve crimes that women commit if we don’t understand them and
study them
- Won’t be able to predict their future behaviour if you do not understand the motives
behind the crime committed
- Can’t rehabilitate women effectively in prison if you don’t understand criminal
behaviour.
- Not everyone commits crimes for the same reason. Crimes committed by women
and men are different.
• Women will commit financial crimes while men commit aggressive crimes.
➢ Difficult for society to identify with women offenders
➢ It was easy to identify with women in their roles as victims of crime. However, the
same cannot be said for women as law-breakers, who are often shunned as
“double problematic” by society.
Critical thinking activity 3:
Why is it difficult to identify with women as perpetrators of crime and easy to
identify with women as victims of crime?
They break the law and gender rules
What are traditional gender roles?
Behaviors, attitudes, and values society considers appropriate
- E.g. Mothers are care takers, warm, loving, not violent etc.
Rachel Tapson
, Why are women offenders seen as “double problematic” in society?
Women are breaking the laws of the country and unwritten societal rules that prescribe
women’s roles.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF
OFFICIAL CRIME STATISTICS WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE
TO WOMEN OFFENDING
What is the dark figure of crime?
Officials manipulate crime statistics
Police decide to either crime or non-crime
➢ Skepticism regarding the validity and reliability of official crime statistics is
universal.
➢ Diligent and accurate recording of crime by policing agencies is important for
several reasons.
1. What is recorded as crime (officially counted), leads to further action, while
what is not recorded (not officially counted), is ignored.
2. Analysed with great scrutiny, which reveals emerging crime threats, and in turn
determines how policing agencies prioritise their resources (type and number)
in specific geographical areas.
3. Recording crime incidents are symbolic acknowledgement and validation for
victims of crime that a crime has occurred and that the police are investigating
and seeking justice.
4. Alerts other agencies to the fact that certain victims of crime need support and
safeguarding.
➢ the grey figure of crime - police agencies do not record all crime incidents which
come to their attention. The use of discretionary powers by police officials to not
record crime, and in so doing “non-criming” crime incident
➢ contributes to even more scepticism about official crime rates.
• The total crime problem in a country is often compared to an iceberg.
Rachel Tapson
, Critical thinking activity 4:
What is the most important characteristic of an iceberg?
• Largest section remains hidden from sight under water.
➢ Official crime rate - observable section of the total crime problem (the tip of the
iceberg). In SA, between 35% and 45% of all crimes are reported to the police.
➢ Certain categories have higher rates of reporting, whilst others are vastly
underreported.
Critical thinking activity 5:
What types of crime have high report rates and why?
• Crimes that are reported to claim from insurance e.g., property theft
• Murder (find a body)
• Business robberies
• Cash in transit heists
• House robberies
What types of crime are underreported?
• Rape
• Child abuse
• Domestic violence
• Interfamilial rape / assault
• Petty crimes
➢ The analogy of the iceberg is further useful to understand that a large number of
crimes remain unreported
➢ In SA, it is estimated that between 55% and 65% of all crimes remain unreported.
➢ Criminologists refer to the unreported (unobserved) section of the total crime
problem as the dark figure of crime.
Critical thinking activity 6:
What are the reasons for the non-reporting of crime?
• Think crime wasn’t serious • Fear secondary victimization
enough • Feel ashamed
• Do not want to involve CJS / • Distrust in police
• Protect the offender • Avoiding stigma
• Fear of retaliation • Fear of safety
• Ignorance (marital rape)
Rachel Tapson
