Female Criminals A Socio-Criminological Analysis Of Pakistan

This study comprises on interviews of 133 convicted female criminals in prisons of Sindh (Karachi, Hyderabad and Larkana) and Punjab (Lahore and Multan) provinces of Pakistan. This research surveys the socio-economic background and factors that influenced the inmates to commit crimes. The mixed method approach (qualitative and quantitative) was applied for this exploratory study. More than half of the prisoners (72.9%) belong to rural regions. It was found that 54.1% female criminals were illiterate, while 52.6% respondents were in the age group of 21-30 years when they committed a crime. The majority of female criminals (42.9%) had 6,000 to 10,000 per month family income. 37.7% respondents tried to commit suicide due to multiple reasons like mismatched marriage before entrance in the department of correction. 32.3% respondents were physically abused in their childhood. 81.2% female criminals were married and 48.2% were victims of domestic violence. 96% respondents were married between 11-20 years of age. 34.2% respondents had unpleasant relations with their husbands. 26.3% respondents have five or more children. 48.2% respondents were survivors of domestic violence. 48.1% respondents were sentenced in murder cases, the victims of 60.9% respondents were their husbands and 56.3% criminals used poison in homicide. 33.1% respondents committed crime due to financial problems. 60.9% respondents were likely to commit a crime alone and 36% respondents were helped by their male friends in homicide cases. 47.4% criminals were the first child of their respective families, according to their birth order.