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Extent and type of the criminality of penal imputable women in Belgium over the period 1900-1960 - The present study is based on data borrowed from the Belgian criminal statistics. Was not examined thus the criminality of female delinquents who were at the moment of their delict less than sixteen years old or who are judged to be not imputable. The criminality of women was examined mainly in comparison with the criminality of men. The data concerning the extent of the criminality confirm that fewer women than men are convicted. About 25% of the convicted delinquents are of the female sex. The share of women in the total criminality decreases in the course of the examined period. This characteristic can be perceived from about 1930 onwards. The data concerning the periods of war point out than women’s criminality is during this periods more considerable than during the “normal periods”. Women, who commit a delict in periods of war, are generally first offenders. The increase of women’s criminality during periods of war can only to a small extent be attributed to the fact that women substitute men. The theory that the lower criminality of women is due to their lower participation in social life is not corroborated by the data concerning women’s criminality in Belgium during wartime, nor by the data concerning the criminality of working women. There is no correlation between the increase of the amount of working women and their criminality. The data with respect to the type of women’s criminality point out that it is of a less serious character than men’s criminality. Women become recidivists relatively less than men. The percentage of dangerous recidivists, who are placed at the disposal of the Government, is lower with regard to women than to men. Female recidivists, however, are equally as specialized recidivists as male ones. The study of the punishment reveals that women are relatively more often than men convicted to lower punishments and less to imprisonment, that the duration of their imprisonment is shorter, that they are relatively more often convicted to a conditional punishment and that they are more often acquitted and placed beyond persecution. 229 The distinction with respect to the kind of criminality did not make it possible to point out a significant difference between men and women. At the beginning of our century, nevertheless, women’s criminality was characterized by economic delinquency, but women’s share in economic delinquency decreased in the course of the examined period. Another observation can be made with regard to sexual delinquency. In former times women participated significantly less than men in sexual delinquency, but nowadays the percentage of sexual delicts in the total criminality of women is higher than with respect to men. The percentage of aggressive delinquency in the total criminality finally evolved in the same manner for women as for men. The study of the type of women’s criminality in wartime - though firm conclusions cannot be reached - pointed out that it is not especially characterized by economic delinquency.
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How to Cite: Versichelen, M. & Schepens, E. (1964) “Omvang en aard der misdadigheid van de strafrechtelijke meerderjarige en toerekenbare vrouw in België gedurende de periode 1900-1960”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen. 9(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.95703