Cross-national differences in female offending and criminal justice processing

The purpose of this study is to assess whether four key theoretical perspectives on female criminality—emancipation, economic marginalisation, net-widening, and modernisation—explain female representation in the criminal justice system equally well for both developed and developing countries and to...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Wang, Ting (Author) ; Stamatel, Janet P. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2019
In: International journal of comparative and applied criminal justice
Year: 2019, Volume: 43, Issue: 3, Pages: 219-239
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Keywords:
Female offending
criminal justice processing
Criminological theories
Cross-national research
Discretion
Economic Development
Description
Summary:The purpose of this study is to assess whether four key theoretical perspectives on female criminality—emancipation, economic marginalisation, net-widening, and modernisation—explain female representation in the criminal justice system equally well for both developed and developing countries and to assess whether the same factors that can explain women’s levels of criminal offending can also explain their representation in subsequent stages of criminal justice processing. Analyzing pooled data for 37 highly developed and 38 less developed countries from 2003 to 2013, the results provide support for modernisation, emancipation, and net-widening theories, but not for economic marginalisation theory. Emancipation and net-widening theories have more explanatory power for more developed countries than less and they can explain women’s representation at different levels of criminal justice processing.
ISSN:2157-6475
DOI:10.1080/01924036.2018.1558082