Numbers Back Up J.K. Rowling’s Controversial Take on Gender and Crime

The Debate Sparked by JK Rowling

This context underscores why JK Rowling felt compelled to speak out against how Scarlet Blake, a convicted murderer who was assigned male at birth but identifies as a woman, was portrayed.

‘I’m sick of this’

Taking issue with Sky News labeling Blake a “woman,” Rowling expressed her frustration bluntly: “I’m sick of this s…. This is not a woman. These are #NotOurCrimes.” 

England Wales Data

A deep dive into crime data from England Wales, spanning 2020 to 2022, provided by the Ministry of Justice, strongly reinforces the point. Out of 1.3 million prosecuted non-motoring offenses where the gender of the defendant was recorded, women accounted for a mere 12 percent. 

The Stark Contrast

A more detailed examination reveals even more pronounced disparities. Only 1.8 percent of sexual offense prosecutions and 7 percent of cases involving weapons or robbery had women as defendants. 

The One Area Where Women Lead

When you look at the distribution across the ten categories used to classify offenses – including robbery, violent crime, and criminal damage – women surpass the one-in-five mark in only one area: fraud.

Men’s Overwhelming Presence

The Ministry of Justice’s records show that, among 281 common offenses, men were the perpetrators in at least 95 percent of cases for 68 of these crimes. This includes nearly all (99 percent) of rape cases. Out of 1,089 murder convictions during this period, only 58—or roughly one in 20—were women. 

Societal vs. Inherent

The debate among criminologists regarding the roots of male-dominated crime rates—whether it stems from inherent tendencies or societal influences—remains unresolved. 

Rowling on Gender

JK Rowling’s commentary, reflected through her tweets, leans towards the argument that gender at birth significantly impacts the likelihood of committing certain crimes, implying a lesser probability had Blake been born female.

Gender-Specific Trends 

Analysis by The Telegraph highlights a notable, though limited, trend where women are more frequently indicted in a distinct subset of crimes among 281 tracked by the Ministry of Justice. 

Out of these, women surpass men in just 14 categories, with a slight edge in cases related to neglect or cruelty towards children. 

Female-Dominated Crimes

More strikingly, women significantly lead in prosecutions for benefit fraud and TV license evasion, representing the majority in 109,927 out of 146,696 TV license evasion cases over three years. 

Women are also attributed with about two-thirds of all prosecutions for truancy and other school-related offenses. 

Societal Factors at Play? 

These figures suggest that societal factors, such as economic challenges, single-adult households, and primary caregiving responsibilities, may heavily influence these trends.

Gender Contrast 

The striking exception in crime statistics is the offense of loitering or soliciting for prostitution, where 100% of the defendants were women, illustrating a stark contrast to those charged with seeking services from a prostitute—over 99% of whom are men. 

The Data Gap

JK Rowling’s comments on gender-specific crime highlight a broader issue: the scarcity of publicly accessible data on transgender individuals’ involvement in crime, both as victims and offenders. 

Increase in Transgender Prisoners

Recent official statistics have sparked conversation as they show a significant increase in the number of prisoners identifying as transgender within the UK’s penal system, especially amidst the ongoing debate surrounding a case involving Scarlet Blake, a murderer who also killed a cat. 

The total number of transgender inmates has risen by 17% in just a year, reaching 268. 

Transgender Criminal Patterns

The debate over transgender criminality remains contentious, as evidenced by a 2011 study presented to a parliamentary committee, which suggested that male-to-female transgender individuals exhibit criminal patterns similar to those of males. 

Research Obstacles

This area remains challenging for researchers, particularly when many institutions record only the self-identified gender of individuals, complicating the analysis. However, the situation appears more transparent from the victim’s perspective, with a 2021 report from the Williams Institute School of L