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AbstractThis article examines the literature surrounding images of the female crime fighter in fictionalized television and film. The continued growth of the crime drama, alongside stagnant growth of women in law enforcement, necessitates a closer look at this genre. Current media images serve to reinforce women's roles as either support for male crime fighters and/or as highly sexualized members of the force. Work in this area demonstrates a large‐scale reinforcement of constructed gender norms that may impact how the women are treated on the job as well as their overall retention and recruitment in law enforcement. More scholarly focus on the media representations and related impacts is called for.

Despite increased research on women's criminal offending patterns, research on women's involvement in bias crimes is almost nonexistent. This study examines bias crime incidences that are considered crimes against persons (e.g., assault, murder, robbery, sexual assault) collected in the National Incidence-based Reporting System from 2009–2012 to determine what features characterize crimes committed by men or women. Results indicate that female bias crime suspects choose different victims than male suspects; female suspects are more likely than men to target friends and family members, more likely to target other women, and more frequently commit crimes based on race/ethnicity/national origin than religion or sexual orientation-based bias crimes, and were less likely to use a firearm. Men and women were similar in their suspect characteristics (such as using alcohol/drugs before the crime) and the overall incident characteristics (such as causing injury). These results suggest that we need to more critically examine current models of bias crime commission, and to include bias crimes as another avenue to help uncover differences in male and female offending.