Conceptualizing Criminal Opportunity to Explain Variation in the Gender Gap in Offending

• In Event: Opportunity in a Changing World: Cybercrime, COVID-19, and the Gender Gap

Abstract

The gender gap in crime varies in that it tends to be rather large for violent, predatory, and serious financial offenses whereas the gender gap is often small to non-existent for less serious types of offenses. As well, women less often lead criminal organizations and tend to benefit less financially than their male counterparts. In this paper, we elaborate upon Steffensmeier and Allan’s Gendered Paradigm, developed to explain gender differences in crime and theorize about female offending, by focusing on the organization of crime and crime opportunities. More specifically, we explore how gender conditions selection, development of capabilities, and exposure to (a) crime favorable relational ties and (b) situational crime opportunities – to explain how gender position in the social structure relates to patterns of criminal involvement. To illustrate, we apply examples from corporate financial fraud, human trafficking rings, and ordinary property crime. Our conceptualization of criminal opportunities, as applied to gender, offers a framework for understanding sex differences in crime, not only in the US but also cross-national variation, and offers insights into future trends regarding social change and gendered patterns of offending.

Authors

• Darrell Steffensmeier, The Pennsylvania State University

• Jennifer Schwartz, Washington State University