Women’s involvement in crimes whether as offenders or victims is a recent phenomenon in Nigeria. The information on sex distribution of offenders and crime victims is scanty. Statistics from Europe may not be of much help because of the differences in terminology, definitions, and classification of crime types, reporting and recording practices and operations of the criminal justice system from time to time. You may be consoled by Clifford who says that in the light of little knowledge of crime including (women offenders and women victims) at this time, even simple observation have some value. The categories of offenders and crime victims cut across sex barriers. Both men and women have been disgraced at probes and tribunals; arrested at home or abroad for fraud or for pushing and trafficking dangerous drugs. More perplexing has been the growing involvement of women in drug offences, robbery and other serious crimes of violence and financial fraud, which have until quite lately been the prerogative of adult males.
Clifford is nearly right when he says that in the light of little knowledge about crimes in Africa (Nigeria inclusive) even simple observations have some value; number of offenders/victim, and even simple accumulations of evidence in known cases all are useful. This is particularly true of feminine criminality. Women involvement in crimes has been unknown in Nigeria until quite recently and since it was noticed, the momentum had accelerated crucially. To a large extent, the criminal justice system has had little gender consideration in processing offenders and crime victims.
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