Crime Against Women

In certain communities in South Asia, the low status of girls has to be compensated for by the payment of a dowry by the parents of the girl to the husband at the time of marriage. This has resulted in a number of dowry crimes, including mental and physical torture, starvation, rape, and even the burning alive of women by their husbands and/or in-laws in cases where dowry payments are not met.

In honor killings, most of the women are killed on the basis of an illicit relationship as specified by their partner or family. Sometimes the killings are carried out for ridiculously pathetic reasons such as failing to serve a meal on time can be seen as a stain on family honor and can lead to woman’s death. In modern time, where the world is revolving around technological advances and the independence of women and gender equality, honor killings have exceeded and are more rampant. While India is indeed a prominent exception to Islam 's near domination on contemporary honor killing cases in the world, Hindu honor killings in India are of different form and command from those of Islamic honor killings. Though no less gruesome, the honor killings in India are mostly confined to the northern states of India. Besides, as Phyllis Chesler and Nathan Bloom state these killings are “perpetuated by sociocultural factors largely specific to India.” As mentioned earlier, in India, honor killing cases are not just limited to women, but they are also extended to men. However, in Pakistan and other Islamic countries, majority of honor killing cases are usually related to female victims, there are hardly any cases of male victims. In India, some of the major motives behind these atrocities are caste-specific motives such as “immoral character” and non-caste-specific illicit relationships. In Pakistan and other Islamic countries, caste purity is not a concern, the motivation behind

The World Health Organization states that globally, about 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner. In the Middle East and other parts of the world, planned domestic homicides, or honor killings, are carried out due to the belief of the perpetrators that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family or community. According to Human Rights Watch, honor killings are generally performed against women for "refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce—even from an abusive husband—or committing adultery," or exhibiting behavior perceived to have dishonored the family. In some parts of the world, where there is a strong social expectation for a woman to be a virgin prior to marriage, a bride may be subjected to extreme violence, including an honor killing, if she is deemed not to be a virgin on her wedding night due to the absence of blood. Bride burning or dowry killing is a form of domestic violence in which a newly married woman is killed at home by her husband or husband's family due to their dissatisfaction over the dowry provided by her family. The act is often a result of demands for more or prolonged dowry after the marriage. Dowry violence is most common in South Asia, especially in India. In 2011, the National Crime Records Bureau reported 8,618 dowry

In history women and girls’ experiences as offenders and victims have been left out of criminal studies. According to Joanne Belknap, Author of The Invisible Women: Gender, Crime and Justice, many theories before the 21st century state that women offenders are only deviant in criminal behavior due to a result of biological forces. Stereotypical theories such as Anatomy as Destiny (Sigmund Freud), The Unadjusted Girl (Thomas), Behind the Mask (Pollack), are all early 1800 stereotypical male chauvinist theories to explain why women become deviant. Throughout history it is well known that the culture of women and the feminist movement had begun essentially in the late 1800s. Even until today, somehow the study of women offenders and equal treatment still is lacking. In the 1800s, society viewed women as more stricken, to act ladies and always protect their Chasity. While this view was widespread, there were women in the 1800s who acted quite opposite and decided to live a life of deviant behavior and criminality. The duo Cattle Annie and Little Britches are the definitive illustration to platform women criminality in the 1800s. Deemed as the youngest outlaws in American history, Cattle Annie and Little Britches make history after turning their innocent teenage years into an outlaw infatuation. In this paper we will review how that infatuation led them to join outlaw gangs, becoming career criminals, and eventually being jailed for their offences and how it relates to

Female Criminality consists of several outdated statistics regarding the rise of female offending. However, in viewing the current research on the subject, it appears that the overall theme of this dissertation's discussion is still relevant despite changes in the accompanying statistics as seen in viewing the following topics: the rise in female offending; the continual rise that females are committing more crimes than men; and the types of crimes that women are committing. In viewing Bruce Gross's 2009 article, "Battle of the Sexes: The Nature of Female Delinquency," as well as Elizabeth Cauffman's 2008 article, "Understanding the Female Offender," one can begin to see where current statistics regarding the female criminal lie.

Disparities in sentencing have existed since the dawn of the Criminal Justice System and women are seen to be favoured by the system when compared to men because of notions that women offenders are more cooperative in the judicial process, women are primary care givers to children and that they are only accessories of crime because of the association with male criminals.

The main issue that brought attention to this law was the Singh case, which demonstrates a man murdering his wife, with his first attempt of strangling her, and when that was not successful, he began to slit her throat with a Stanley knife. This degree of violence, alongside his sentencing gives the impression that the judiciary system, courts and parliament partially understood the idea that men should have the authority to violently retaliate to the words of women, which can potentially lead to death. The idea that women ask for violence through their words or actions, and the concept of ‘a crime of passion’ are very outdated, and display the values that societies held when women did not have the same amount of rights, respect and power in

Honour Killing’ is a cultural crime or a cultural tradition prevalent amongst non-Caucasian Societies which perceive women as bearers of family honour. 'Honour Killing ' of women can be defined as acts of murder in which 'a woman is killed for her actual or perceived immoral behavior. Indian cultures are very deep rooted. An honour killing (also called a customary killing) is the murder of a (typically female) family or clan member by one or more fellow (mostly male) family members, in which the perpetrators (and potentially the wider community) believe the victim to have brought dishonour upon the family, clan, or community. Many young people in India have been done to death every year owing to ‘Honour Killings.’ It is because so called honour killings are based on the belief, deeply rooted in Indian cultures, which consider the women as objects and commodities, and not as human beings endowed with dignity and rights. Most honour killings occur in countries like India where the concept of women is considered as a vessel of the family reputation. This paper is an attempt to tackle the very important issue of a cultural crime that is magnifying day by day like a monster untamed. The Khap

Sharpe, Gilly. Youth Justice , (Dec2009), Vol. 9 Issue 3, p154-269, 16p. Publisher: Sage Publications, Ltd..

In my essay I am going to discuss whether female defendants are treated more leniently in the criminal justice system. To help us understand female offenders better, we need to understand the role the background of the offender plays when deciding sentences for female defendants.

likely to simply accept physical maltreatment by a guy of his romantic spouse than those who had been old, but people who acquired never partnered were less inclined to have these behaviors (Jewkes, 2002).

In the UN article they talk about an increased in number of dowry murders especially in south Asia. Furthermore, this same point is tackled on by MacKinnon where she says that you cannot say that women are human if they are still being burned when their dowry is not enough. Consequently, the above views all enforcing the fact that women are killed when their dowry was not enough; reinforce violation against

Infanticide occurs mostly in the poor, rural populations of India. Males are considered to be a source of income, and daughters are believed to cause economic burdens because of the high cost of weddings and dowries. Weddings can be very cost prohibitive in India. The average income is approximately $3500 per year-in U.S. dollars, and the average wedding costs on average is $35,000 (U.S. dollars). More and more common are the murders of women due to the fact that their dowry has not been paid.

It is regrettable that female infanticide and foeticide are rapidly decreasing the female population throughout India. The main factors that is responsible for the increase in the incidence of female infanticide and foeticide is the low status of women, son preference, and the practice of dowry across all casts groups.

In India, there are several ways of how the culture attributes to gendercide. Gendercide is happening in India mostly because of dowry and greed. Why have a daughter when you have to pay such a large sum to marry her off? It seems more logical to have sons to keep your wealth and then gain more wealth when your sons marry. Women must also worry about gendercide even into adulthood. Women are killed for not