ses, and in such crimes as poisoning, child murder,
abortion, domestic theft, women are more criminally disposed than men.
Undoubtedly the lack of power has as much to do with keeping down
female crime as the want of will. This is especially manifest in the
crime of infanticide. For the perpetration of this crime women possess
the power, and the vast number of women convicted of this offence in
proportion to men is ample proof that they often possess the will. Of
course the temptation to women to commit this kind of crime is often
extreme; it is the product, in many instances, of an overwhelming
sense of shame; and the perpetrators of infanticide are often far from
being the most debased of their sex. Still, the prevalence of
infanticide among women is an evidence that, where the temptation is
strong and the power sufficient, women are just as criminally inclined
as men.

It has also to be borne in mind that women are very frequently the
instigators of crime and escape punishment because they are not
actually engaged in its commission. In almost all cases where
robberies are committed by a pack of thieves, a part of the
preparatory arrangements is entrusted to women, and women lend a
helping hand in disposing of the spoil. It is the men, as a rule, who
receive all the punishment, but the guilt of both sexes is very much
the same. In many cases of forgery and fraudulent bankruptcy among the
well-to-do classes, for which men only are punished, the guilt of
women is equally great. Household extravagance, extravagance in dress,
the mad ambition of many English women to live in what they call
"better style" than their neighbours sends not a few men to penal
servitude. The proportion of female crime in a community is also to a
very considerable extent determined by the social condition of women.
In all countries where social habits and customs constrain women to
lead retiring and secluded lives the number of female criminals
descends to a minimum. The small amount of female crime in Greece[27]
is an instance of this law. On the other hand, in all countries where
women are accustomed to share largely the active work of life with
men, female crime has a distinct tendency to reach its maximum. An
instance of this is the high percentage of female crime in Scotland.
According to the Judicial Statistics for the year 1888 no less than 37
per cent. of the cases tried before the Scotch courts consisted of
offences committed by women.