Status Quo of Female Criminals in Nanjing

According to the Nanjing municipal procuratorate, 2,140 women were accused for various actions of misconduct in the past three years, accounting for 8.76 percent of the total accused population in the capital city of Jiangsu Province. The proportion of accused women has increased annually. Seventy percent of the female suspects are under 35 years old. The crimes may vary in degree from theft to intentional harm to drug trafficking and pimp.

Percentage: From 5 to 8.76

"Women account for 8.76 percent of the total accused suspects. The proportion is small, but the figure has increased much faster than before," said a procurator from the procuratorate in Nanjing. The proportion of such women has been between 5 and 6 percent in the preceding few years.

The procuratorate reveals that most of the 2,140 accused women were jobless, or worked in labor-intensive industries. Most female defendants were not local residents in Nanjing, but migrant women from nearby Anhui or Henan Provinces. A procurator thought that women tended to commit crimes away from home, so the emphasis of crime prevention should be placed on such a unique group of women. The procurator also thought that some older women with little education tended to commit crimes after they were laid off, for they found it difficult to find a new job.

From Theft to Pimp

The number of female criminals has increased, and the crimes they have committed also vary from that of three years before. "The crimes that women have committed have been mostly property related in the previous years. The regular ones were theft, intentional harm, or robbery," said a procurator. Theft and intentional harm alone could account for half of the crimes by women before.

But things have been different in recent three years, while more women have been found to be engaged in drug trafficking or pimp. The procuratorates in Qixia, Jianye and Gulou of Nanjing found out that the suspects of over 20 cases on organizational prostitution were all migrant women in the past three years.

Luo Juan (an assumed name), a 30-year-old woman from Chaohu, Anhui Province, came to Nanjing to look for a job, but failed. Luo then ended up in a bath-house to be a massage girl, or to be a prostitute. Luo said that she felt such "work" could make money fast. Then she opened feet massage stores in five communities with several of her acquaintances from back home. Her massage stores provided prostitution services, and Luo began to pimp for others. The procurator on the case said: "Pimping or drug-trafficking are all rewarded with high profits. Some drug dealers think police would hardly suspect females in drug transportation and trafficking, so they prefer to do the business with their women friends."

Crime Caused by Impulsion in Emotional Crisis

Different from men, women tend to commit crimes when they have conflicts with their lovers.

Procurators working in rural areas of Nanjing admitted that there had been several cases, in which the wife intentionally harmed her husband by cutting off his penis. A procurator on the case said: "Their reasons are simple. The wife could not bear the fact that her husband is gambling or cheating on her. It is a crime of impulsion in an emotional crisis." Li Aijun, director of the public prosecution branch in the Nanjing municipal procuratorate, said: "Women are always vulnerable to harm in a relationship and marriage. It is hard for them to change their situation. So they tend to use an extreme means."

The Gaochun Procuratorate of Nanjing has dealt with several intentional harm cases, in which women committed crimes when they had an emotional crisis. A female defendant killed her husband out of rage, for she failed to talk him out of a relationship and bring him back to their marriage.

Legal Education and Aid

Li Aijun believed that women's crimes caused by impulsion in love conflicts could be avoided, said, "We could improve legal education for them, and establish a social aid system for them, covering psychological guidance, career consultancy and legal aid."

In cases concerning female suspects, 80 percent of the women are charged with a suspended sentence or a sentence less than three years. Sun Xiaozhong, deputy director of the Nanjing Bureau of Justice, said that it is a better choice to sentence women who have committed minor crimes with a non-imprisonment penalty and send them back home. It is for their own good, and society as well.

(Source: chinagate.com.cn- longhoo.net/Translated by womenofchina.cn)