NCJ Number
138180
Date Published
1985
Length
36 pages
Annotation
Female victimization is considered from an international and policy perspective, based on theoretical and empirical research regarding women as victims of crimes that are committed specifically against them because of their gender.
Abstract
A major data source was the First United Nations Survey on the Situation of Women and the Administration of Criminal Justice Systems, 1970-82. This and other research revealed that the main factor in female victimization is the traditional gender role and status that women have had to assume in the social, political, and economic context. Even where law reform has occurred to provide for the fair and equal treatment of women, customs and practices prevail, and females still suffer more than men from violence, sexual abuse and exploitation, the discriminatory enforcement of some laws, and an inadequate differential response by the criminal justice system to their victimization. Policy and program changes that would address these problems include female victim assistance, offender treatment, personnel training, prevention efforts, improved records, and the development of a database. Footnotes, 48 reference notes, and survey instrument