Women committing crimes

Does anyone out there really have a problem with the fact that women commit crimes as well as men? I certainly don't. Yet every time there is a story in the news about a woman committing a serious crime or being found guilty of child abuse there are always people commenting about feminism and how it assumes women do not commit crimes - especially against children. The comments read to me like children in the playground saying 'But she did it too, Miss. Punish her, Miss.'

The authorities - police, the courts, social workers etc - DO NOT automatically assume when faced with a woman that she must be innocent. Why should they? Yes there are a lot fewer women in prison that there are men and that could be for any number of reasons. Fewer murders are committed by women than men - fact. Fewer violent crimes are committed by women - though the levels are rising - fact. What about so-called white collar crimes? Here I'm not sure though I suspect here the numbers may be more nearly equal. Violence in general requires superior physical strength - at least in relation to the victim - though add a weapon to the mix and the odds are changed.

Brains are what is needed for fraud of any description - or extreme luck. But men always say they are much cleverer than women - because they have larger brains. Well yes they have larger bodies so you just might expect their brains to be in proportion. Does that mean they're more intelligent? The level of intelligence tends to me more extreme in men - either stupid or genius; women are more in the middle of the spectrum - see Susan Pinker's book - Sexual Paradox. So do more men or women commit crimes not involving violence? I don't know but I think it might be interesting to find out.

This post was prompted by the timesonline article about the lady who made her child ill deliberately.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6999018.ece