Violent Crime by Women up 50 per cent in Past 4 Years

{mosimage} 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.