Women and Girls in the Criminal Justice System / National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Feb 2006

http://www.ncjrs.org/spotlight/wgcjs/Summary.html
"Female criminal behavior has been commonly perceived as a less serious problem than male criminal behavior. Historically, women have been more likely to commit minor offenses and have made up only a small proportion of the offender population. Although women remain a relatively small number of all prisoners, these facts have concealed a trend in the rising percentage of female offenders, their participation in violent crime, and have inhibited the development of gender-specific programs to address the issue.'"