GENDER AND CRIME - TOWARD A GENDERED THEORY OF FEMALE OFFENDING

Criminologists agree that the gender gap in crime is universal: Women are always and everywhere less likely than men to commit criminal acts . The experts disagree, however, on a number of key issues: Is the gen der gap stable or variant over time and across space? If there is vari ance, how may it best be explained? Are the causes of female crime dis tinct from or similar to those of male crime? Can traditional sociolog ical theories of crime explain female crime and the gender gap in crim e? Do gender-neural or gender-specific theories hold the most explanat ory promise? In this chapter we first examine patterns of female offen ding and the gender gap. Second, we review the ''gender equality hypot hesis'' as well as several recent developments in theorizing about gen der differences in crime. Third, we expand on a gendered paradigm for explaining female crime first sketched elsewhere. We conclude with rec ommendations for future work.