- Headline: "Women's Crimes, Theft in Their 20s, Murder in Their 30s"
- Source: Kyunghyang Shinmun
- Date of Publication: December 9, 1975
- Summary:
With the steady rise in overall crime rates, women’s involvement in criminal activities has also been increasing each year. This trend is explored in the thesis "A Sociological Study on Korean Women’s Crimes" (unofficial title) by Yun-Gyun Shin (Master’s degree in Sociology, Ewha Womans University). According to the study, 44% of respondents reported having premarital sexual experiences, with 80% of unmarried women admitting to such experiences. Furthermore, 41% of the women surveyed were not raised by their biological parents, highlighting the significant influence of broken family structures on criminal behavior.
The crimes committed by women fall into three major categories: property crimes (57%), violent crimes (29%), and special offenses. Among property crimes, theft accounted for the majority, while violent crimes included murder and assault. Special offenses were predominantly habitual violations of drug control laws. The focus on broken family structures and premarital sexual experiences as primary factors influencing crimes committed by women, rather than the broader socio-economic contexts in which such crimes occur, reflects the societal values of 1970s Korea. This perspective reveals an emphasis on stigmatizing premarital sexuality and idealizing the creation of "normal families" through virtuous marriage. The more premarital sexuality was tabooed and the normative family model idealized, the more likely unwed mothers were to choose adoption over raising their children. (See Hee-Jung Kwon, The Birth of Unwed Mothers: The History of Exiled Mothers (unofficial translation), Antonia’s Books, 2019.)
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