Violent
crime by women up 50 per cent in past 4 years
Eben Harrell and Michael Howie
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1290372006
Scotsman
- 1st September 2006
- Violent
crime by women up 50 per cent in 4 years
- Binge drinking
and drug abuse blamed
- Cornton
Vale prison numbers have doubled in last decade
VIOLENT
crime committed by women has soared in Scotland, new statistics
revealed yesterday.
More than
327 women committed non-sexual violent crimes, such as serious assaults
and attempted murder, in 2004-5 - up almost 50 per cent in four
years.
Criminologists
yesterday blamed the increasing use of drugs, binge drinking and
wider changes in society for women's increasing criminality.
Yesterday's
figures, released by the Scottish Executive, showed that more than
21,000 women were found guilty of a crime in 2004-5, up from almost
16,000 four years earlier.
But violent
crime was rising even faster, with the number of women convicted
for serious assault and attempted murder rising from 80 to 118 over
the same period and the number convicted of robbery increased from
44 to 79.
Vince Egan,
a forensic psychologist at Glasgow Caledonian University, said a
cocktail of run-away female empowerment and binge drinking is primarily
responsible for the surge in aggression.
He said:
"It's drink and girl-power. Everyone thinks of the Spice Girls
being an empowering thing. Suddenly there is a collective view that
girls are here to do everything they like, but unfortunately this
also gives them the right to do stuff that is just as idiotic as
men do.
"The
social conditions that might have inhibited women from behaving
anti-socially aren't with us anymore. When you mix this with the
acceptability of binge-drinking, it's no surprise that there are
more female criminals".
There have
already been a series of high profile court cases involving violent
women this year.
In March,
female bank employee Heather McKay was electronically tagged and
ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation after an assault on
a woman who was just days from giving birth.
In July,
a woman was jailed for life for the murder of a former lover, who
gave her a place to stay. Heidi Mackay, 33, suffocated Brian Cooper
in his Inverness home after he was subjected to an attack in which
he was punched, kicked and struck with a metal tool in a sock.
Yesterday's
statistics also revealed the number of women found guilty of drugs
offences stood at 640 in 2000-1, increasing to 746 the following
year and 1,018 in 2004-5 - a 59 per cent rise in four years.
Crimes of
indecency rose from 159 to 229 - 44 per cent up - while convictions
for dishonesty offences, such as housebreaking and shoplifting,
also rose.
Non-sexual
violent crime convictions rose from 221 six years ago to 375 in
2003-4, dropping back to 327 in 2004-5.
Susan Batchelor,
a criminologist at Glasgow University who works with female prisoners,
said: "The primary problem is an increase in drug use. Most
of these crimes are a direct result of a drug problem. Women may
be stealing or working as prostitutes or they may assault someone
they are stealing from, but the underlying cause is almost always
drugs".
The figures
were released in response to a parliamentary question raised by
Conservative justice spokeswoman, Margaret Mitchell MSP.
She said:
"These figures show that the dismal drug policy of the Executive
is failing. We really need to attack the drug issue.
"Serious
assaults, and thefts are all on the up and they are causing havoc
in our community and causing us to have more fear of crime".
The Conservatives
are calling for an implementation of drug treatment and testing
orders in district courts.
"Early
intervention is very important," she added.
The figures
have been released on the heels of a report into Stirling's Cornton
Vale Prison, Scotland's only all-female jail, which found the number
of women prisoners has doubled in the past decade.
Key quote:
"It's drink and girl-power. Everyone thinks of the Spice Girls
being an empowering thing. Suddenly there is a collective view that
girls are here to do everything they like, but unfortunately this
also gives them the right to do stuff that is just as idiotic as
men do." Vince Egan, a forensic psychologist at Glasgow Caledonian
University
