The criminal career of female offenders

Kriminalitet je već dugi niz godinama nepresušna tema teoretičara i istraživača koji su ponudili brojne nalaze o raznim oblicima i teorijama kriminaliteta. Krajem 80.-ih godina prošlog stoljeća pojavio se koncept kriminalne karijere, koji je postojao puno duže, no tada je detaljno razrađen i poprimio oblik koji ima danas. Istraživanja o ključnim dimenzijama kriminalne karijere, što uključuje participaciju, učestalost, težinu i duljinu, ponudila su brojne informacije o obrascima kriminalnih aktivnosti tijekom života počinitelja. Ipak, iako postoji mnogo znanja o ovom konceptu, on se najvećim dijelom temelji na istraživanjima muške populacije, dok je ženski dio značajno manje proučavan. Uzevši u obzir društveni položaj žena, ulogu koju imaju u društvu te očekivanja koja okolina ima od žena, ne iznenađuje činjenica da se žene manje upuštaju u kriminalne aktivnosti. No, iako u manjoj mjeri, one i dalje sudjeluju u kriminalnim aktivnostima te se javlja potreba za istraživanjem obilježja kriminalne karijere kod počiniteljica kaznenih djela. Ovaj rad će pružiti pregled dostupnih znanja i istraživanja o kriminalnim karijerama ženskih počiniteljica kako bi se dobio bolji uvid u karakteristike i složenu pojavnost ženskog kriminaliteta.Criminality has been an infinite topic for many years by theorists and researchers who have offered numerous findings on various forms and theories of crime. In the late 1980s, the concept of a criminal career emerged, which existed for much longer, but then it was elaborated in detail and took the form it has today. Research on key dimensions of criminal careers, including participation, frequency, seriousness, and duration, provided lots of information on patterns of criminal activity during the perpetrator’s lifetime. However, although there is a lot of knowledge about this concept, it is mostly based on research of the male population, while the female part is significantly less studied. Considering the social position of women, the role they play in society and the expectations that it has of women, it is not surprising that women are less involved in criminal activities. However, although to a lesser extent, they still participate in criminal activities and there is a need to investigate the characteristics of criminal careers among female perpetrators. This thesis will provide an overview of available knowledge and research on the criminal careers of female perpetrators in order to gain a better insight into the characteristics and complex occurrence of female crime