Women and Crime in Early Modern Holland

Manon Van Der Heijden (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

194 Seiten

2016
Brill (Verlag)
978-90-04-31411-5 (ISBN)

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Women and Crime in Early Modern Holland is the first account on women’s criminality and high female crime rates in Holland in the Early Modern Period.

Crime is men’s business, isn’t it? Women are responsible for 10 percent of crime in Europe. Yet, if we look at the Dutch Republic in the early modern period, we find that in the towns of Holland women played a much larger role in crime. In a number of early modern towns about half of the criminals convicted in court were women. These women were in vulnerable positions and thus more likely to become involved in crime. They also had a relatively independent status and led remarkably public lives. Manon van der Heijden convincingly shows that it is the very combination of women’s vulnerability and independence that accounts for the high female crime rates in Holland between 1600 and 1800.

Manon van der Heijden, Ph.D. (1998), Leiden University, is Professor of Comparative Urban History. She has published several monographs on early modern urban history and many articles on marriage law, public services, and crime and justice.

Series Editors’ Preface ... vii
Preface ... ix
List of Graphs, Tables and Figures ... xi

1 Research on Criminal Women in Holland from 1550 to 1800 ... 1
Crime Figures in the Early Modern Period ... 2
Explanations for Female Crime ... 9
The Criminal Woman Vanishes ... 13
The Special Position of Holland ... 17

2 Crime and Punishment ... 24
Serious Crimes ... 25
Administration of Justice ... 28
Criminal Procedure ... 32
Settlements with the Public Prosecutor ... 35
Sentencing ... 38
Reporting Crime and Chances of Arrest ... 44
The Importance of Honor and Reputation ... 46

3 Infanticide ... 48
Prosecution for Infanticide ... 51
Unwed Motherhood ... 56
Money and Honor ... 58
Driven by Desperation ... 60

4 Women and Petty Theft ... 62
Diffferences between Men and Women ... 63
A Consumer Revolution in Theft ... 69
Poverty as a Motive for Theft ... 72

5 Aggressive Women in the Neighborhood ... 77
Violence: A Male Crime? ... 78
Statistics on Women and Violence ... 82
Patterns of Violence by Women ... 87
A Public Life ... 91

6 Promiscuous Women ... 98
What are Sexual Offfenses? ... 99
Legislation ... 103
Carnal Intercourse ... 106
Cohabitation ... 110
Compelled by Circumstances ... 111
Adultery ... 113
The Hard Lives of Sailors’ Wives ... 119
Outside Assistance ... 122

7 Against Authority ... 128
Women’s Role in Unrest ... 129
Begging ... 135
Tax Evasion ... 138

8 Victim or Perpetrator? ... 140
Rape and Assault ... 141
Incest ... 148
Domestic Violence ... 152

Conclusions ... 160

Bibliography ... 165
Index ... 178

Erscheinungsdatum	26.08.2016
Reihe/Serie	Crime and City in History ; 1
Zusatzinfo	4 Tables, black and white; 4 Line drawings, black and white; 1 Illustrations, color; 1 Illustrations, black and white
Verlagsort	Leiden
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Gewicht	432 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918)
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Recht / Steuern ► Strafrecht ► Kriminologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Gender Studies
ISBN-10	90-04-31411-3 / 9004314113
ISBN-13	978-90-04-31411-5 / 9789004314115
Zustand	Neuware