Female Criminality in Nigeria: A Feminist Conceptual and Theoretical Perspective

Criminality is no longer considered a male phenomenon as the involvement of women and girls in crime is on the increase in Nigeria and globally, even as the rate of women and girls’ participation in outlawed behaviour is still relatively low compared to that of men and young boys. Of the current total population of 78,621 prison inmates in Nigeria, males account for 97.8% (or approximately 76,891) while the female sex makes up 2.2% (1,729 approximately). The criminal justice seems to lack a comprehensive and contextualized understanding of the gendered criminological pathways of women which include maternal roles, trauma, structural poverty and physical abuse, among others. This work aimed at a feminist conceptual and theoretical review of female criminality with a view to highlighting the distinctive nature of female criminality. The paper relied on secondary sources of data for its analysis. Based on the review, it was found that women’s pathway to criminality is gendered and the cause(s) of female criminality are multidimensional, ranging from running away from home, drug abuse, child abuse, sexual victimization, domestic abuse, structural poverty and the need for survival. The paper recommends that all identified triggers of female criminality should be addressed by both governmental and non-governmental organizations to mitigate the incidence of what appears to be a spike in female offending in Nigeria and even beyond.