Female Criminals

This study first considered the assumption that female crime is more impulsive than male crime. Impulsivity ratings of 351 female crimes were compared with male criminal norms. Only female crimes involving physical violence (murder, manslaughter, assault) were more impulsive than the same crimes committed by males. Contrary to expectation, nonviolent crimes committed by women (burglary/theft, forgery, drug offenses) were less impulsive than was true for men. The issue of differential treatment for the two sexes was then considered, since more leniency for women might be expected given the assumption of female impulsiveness. Length of imprisonment and time on parole following conviction for the same nominal crime were compared for 678 male and 618 female criminals. Women were generally treated more leniently than men, with those convicted of robbery, burglary/theft, and forgery spending less time in prison, and those convicted of murder, assault, robbery, burglary/theft, and forgery given less time on parole. Sex differences in impulsive crime can account for less severe treatment shown to female criminals following crimes involving physical violence, but they fail to explain greater leniency following a nonviolent crime.