Adler, Freda: Sisters in Crime

Jennifer L. Hartman & Jody L. Sundt

A prevailing fact within criminology is that criminal offending varies dramatically by gender. Indeed, gender is one of the strongest correlates of crime. Given the strength of this relationship, it is reasonable to expect that any theory of crime, and certainly any general theory of crime, must account for the differential involvement of males and females in criminal activity. However, little attention was given to explaining gender differences in crime until relatively recently. The publication in 1975 of Freda Adler's book Sisters in Crime: The Rise of the New Female Criminal marked a defining moment in the history of criminological thought. For the first time, women's involvement in crime and its relationship to social, political, and economic structures received serious academic attention. While a handful of other scholars were working on related questions at the time, no work had such broad and visible impact as Adler's. The publication of Sisters ...

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