Women and Crime in the Nineteenth Century

Jun 5, 2010
Kaye Jones

A Victorian Prostitute - Realm of Shade

A guide to the study of female crime in the Georgian and Victorian periods.

Female criminality was an important issue in the nineteenth century and the way in which female criminals were perceived was not a straightforward matter.

From recent historical studies of female crime in the nineteenth century, some differences between men and women become apparent:

They tended to commit different types of crime,
The legal system treated them differently.

The Evidence For Female Crime

These conclusions have been reached using local studies of quarter and assize records. Official statistics, which were introduced in 1810, are also an important historical tool in the study of female crime. These records, however, are not without their problems.

General Themes in Female Criminality

The available evidence has shown that female crime declined throughout the nineteenth century but that popular concerns actually increased.

How can this be explained?

Traditional Femininity in the Nineteenth Century

In the nineteenth century, there were very strict and well-defined ideas about femininity and acceptable modes of behaviour for women.

Thus women were expected to be passive, moral, gentle and caring , characteristics which went hand-in-hand with their roles as a wife and mother.

This idea penetrated all aspects of life in the nineteenth century and began early in a woman's life, i.e. during socialisation.

When a woman committed a crime she not only broke the law but went against the traditional ideas of femininity.

What Crimes Did Women Commit?

Property crimes: e.g. housebreaking and burglary,
Petty theft and pickpocketing,
Receiving and selling stolen goods,

There was particular concern about female prostitution in nineteenth century society. Although the buying or selling of sex was not illegal, other aspects of prostitution, such as soliciting or keeping a brothel, were.

Generally speaking, women were not associated with committing violent crimes like murder, although of course, there are exceptions to this rule.

Many women were, however, convicted of crimes relating to children, such as infanticide and bastardy.

Social Class, Geography and Other Factors

Women should not be considered as one homogeneous group. Working-class women, young women, black women, married women and women living in urban or rural areas etc. all had different life experiences and different expectations placed upon them. These factors should always be taken into consideration when researching or studying female criminality.

How Did the Nineteenth Century Legal System Treat Women Criminals?

In the main, it seems that the prosecutors and the courts were more sympathetic towards women and were less concerned with prosecuting their crimes, particularly when compared with men.

One possible explanation for this is that women were regarded as less criminal than men and as victims of forces beyond their control. Thus they came to be considered as needing to be protected from negative influences.

For women who were identified as criminal, however, they were harshly treated by the legal system. This is because they had directly contravened acceptable forms of female behaviour.

They were not just punished by the courts, they were also marked by society as 'problem women'.

It is unsurprising, therefore, that many women found it difficult to reintegrate into society and had much higher rates of re-offending than men.

The evidence also illustrates a tough stance against prostitutes and those who received or administered an abortion in the nineteenth century.

The Legal Position of Nineteenth Century Women

The legal position of women had important consequences on how women were perceived and treated in the nineteenth century.

In terms of the law, unmarried women were the property of their father and married women, the property of their husband.

The nineteenth century witnessed many women lobbying for changes in the law which would make them more equal. In 1837, for example, Caroline Norton caused a great scandal when she attacked the law which prevented separated women from having access to their own children. Later in the 1850s, there was great demand for a Married Women's Property Bill, which would give married women some economic independence.

Finally, the legal system of the nineteenth century was another arena in which men could assert control over women's actions and lives; in both their inferior legal position and their treatment as criminals.