The socio-economic status of adult female perpetrators of criminal offences in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the research of socioeconomic status of adult female perpetrators of criminal offences in the Republic of Serbia. For this purpose, the following characteristics of adult women perpetrators have been observed: age, marital status, education, employment status , occupation. Empirical research was conducted in which the structure of female perpetrators by age, by education, by marital status, by employment status and by occupation was calculated. The empirical research used data obtained from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia for 2021. The structure was calculated for criminal offences that have the largest share in total crime, namely, for criminal offences against life and limb, criminal offences against marriage and family, criminal offences against property, criminal offences against the economy, criminal offences against human's health and criminal offences against public peace and order. A comparison was made with the adult male perpetrators of criminal offences and with the total population of the Republic Serbia for each of the observed characteristics. The results of the research showed that female perpetrators have a higher unemployment rate and a lower educational structure than male perpetrators and the total population of the Republic of Serbia. The unemployment rate is very high and amounts to 38.7%, and one third of the female perpetrators do not have more than a primary education. The results reveal poor socioeconomic status of adult female perpetrators, indicating the strong influence of socioeconomic status on crime of female perpetrators in the Republic of Serbia.