Abstract
The current study focused on social and cultural patterns that induce and force females to indulge in criminal behavior. It also focused on those circumstances which formulate such situations in which female spoils into criminal behavior for her certain drives. Thus, formulating the core assumptive grounds, the present study focused on socio-cultural determinants of female criminality in Punjab, Pakistan. The researcher used semi structured interview schedule for data collection from 291 respondents selected through systematic random sampling out of total 875 respondents. The statistical analysis of the present study revealed that the most important and effective determinants of female criminality were social disputes, revenge, social deprivation, peer group and family culture. The multivariate canonical correlation explicitly showed that socio-cultural determinants predicted the likelihood of the occurrence of crime in females if they encounter the same sociocultural circumstances. It was also concluded that the influence of family and peers were the major contributing factors to produce or demote female criminality in Pakistan, particularly in Punjab.
Keyword(s)
Criminality, Socio-Cultural determinants, behavior, Family, Peer Group