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| NCJ Number:
|
NCJ 144351
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| Title:
|
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON FEMALE CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: FROM WITCH HUNTS TO PMS
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| Author(s):
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K Faith
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| Sale:
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Simon Fraser University
Dept of Criminology
Burnaby BC V5A 1S6, Canada |
| Publication Date:
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1993 |
| Pages:
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51 |
| Type:
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Histories/historical perspectives |
| Origin:
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Canada |
| Language:
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English |
| Annotation:
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The influence of witch hunts and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) on sex and gender crimes and on the commission of property crimes by females in England is addressed from a historical perspective. |
| Abstract:
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Witch hunts in the 15th through 19th Centuries epitomized the notion that undisciplined women, by virtue of their sex, had the power to lure, terrorize, and endanger other human beings. Further, the radical significance of witch hunts problematized and intensified gendered meanings of other early female offenses, including prostitution, scolding, adultery, killing one's husband, and infanticide. Sex and/or property crimes consisted of actions or ascribed characteristics that offended the church, patriarchs, the gentry, medical professionals, and emerging capitalists. Gender role standards were entrenched through contradictory reiterations of biological determinism. On the one hand, based on maternity, females had an innate moral superiority which explained why so few women committed crime. On the other hand, female crime was evidence of women's natural, physiological inferiority and sexualized propensities for evil and chaos. The latter point of view has resurfaced in the late 20th Century in the form of the PMS defense. The historical review of sex and gender crimes generally examines philosophical issues and female stereotypes and specifically looks at prostitution, adultery, infanticide, and relevant legislation. Theories of female crime and the emergence of women's rights are examined. The author contends that a socialist-feminist point of view is useful in analyzing the material base of women's lives as it affects particular criminal offenses. 74 references |
| Main Term(s):
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Female offenders |
| Index Term(s):
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Criminology ; Female sex roles ; History of criminal justice ; Female deviance ; Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) ; Gender issues ; England |
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To cite this abstract, use the following link:
http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=144351
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