The Elizabeth Fry Society of Calgary has recently released a report on Young Women Who Use Violence. Alarmed by media reports and politicians who claim that violence among young women is skyrocketing, we initiated a study conducted over the summer that looks at the myths and facts around young women's use of violence. The following myths and facts are presented in the report and in an accompanying fact sheet. Violence committed by young women is skyrocketing. Female involvement in violent youth crime is at its lowest level in five years.
Male violence is much more prevalent and, in terms of raw numbers, increasing much more.
Violence by young women is becoming more violent. Serious violent offences by young women have gone down in the last 30 years. Serious violent crime committed by women, as a proportion of all violent crime, has actually gone down by half from 1965 to 1995. Women's Liberation brought about an increase in female violence. This belief is part of a backlash.