THE RELATIONS OF WOMEN TO CRIME. 335 



existing among men and women. This will involve the use of some 

 of the facts already considered. While it is true that the social condi- 

 tions, which we have so briefly analyzed,* bear upon woman chiefly 

 because she is as she is, yet they bear also upon the other sex. Many 

 of the sexual conditions we shall study relate to women alone, and, 

 therefore, in their criminal career, exist as a defining force. If, in 

 tlie ordinary concerns of life, women exhibit mental traits which serve 

 amply to distinguish them, and place limits to their activity, not less 

 in the tabulated histories of crime are the same distinctions and limits 

 found. 



1, Age materially influences the extent and degree of crime in 

 both sexes. In relation to physical and functional development, age 

 exists as a defining force. It appears to aflect the criminal careers of 

 the sexes in two wTtys : by permitting such a degi-ee of bodily jDOwer 

 to be reached as to render j)Ossible criminal acts in difierent degrees; 

 and, the bodily powers remaining the same, the varying mental condi- 

 tions produce changes in the force and direction of the criminal im- 

 pulse. Each period of life, therefore, is characterized by degrees and 

 qualities of crime which belong to it. In other words, certain phases 

 of crime are perpetrated at one period of life in excess of any other 

 period. These remarks do not apply to both sexes equally, for these 

 periods do not correspond either as to age, or in the nature of the 

 otifense, the excess of which distinguishes one period from another. 



For the purpose of studying the influence of age upon the criminal 

 career of women, I shall analyze the figures of JMi*. F. G. P. Nelson.'' 

 The materials embraced in the table of Mr. Neison are for five years, 

 from 1834 to 1839; foi*, strange to say, tne Home-Ofiice returns, since 

 the year last named, to the date of Mr. Nelson's publication, ceased 

 to give the age and sex with reference to classes of crime. In order 

 to simplify the comparison, I shall take the number of male criminals 

 corresponding in age to the female, as the standard of measurement 

 in reference to any given division of crime. Fractions are omitted in 

 reference to both sexes. 



At twelve years of age and younger the proportion of females to 

 males is 1 to 6 for crimes against persons, and for crimes against prop- 

 erty without violence for the same age the proportion is again 1 to 6. 

 Bearing in mind what has been said in a former chapter,^ that the 

 ratios of the sexes as to crimes against persons and property are 16 to 

 to 100 for the former, and 26 to 100 for the latter, and Avhich also cor- 

 respond to the difference in strength between the sexes, we see that 

 the element of sexual inequality in strength does not present itself as 

 a factor. In other words, the correspondence in the proportion of the 

 sexes to the two classes of crime represents physical equality, while 



'Popular Sciknce Monthly, November, IS^S. 



^ " Contributions to Vital Statistics," table xxix., London, 1857. 



^ Popular Science Monthly, November, 1875. 



