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The theory of deviant type‐scripts predicts that when historical and cross‐cultural levels of male dominance are high, the ratio of female to male involvement in deviance will be low. Best and Luckenbill recently claim (1990) to have tested this prediction using 1980 data from the United States. Their findings did not support the theory, but rather, contradicted it. In this analysis, serious problems in Best and Luckenbill's use of aggregate statewide measures of male dominance, homicide, and imprisonment are identified, as well as some weaknesses in the original theory. Using a superset of the same data, I extend and re‐evaluate the test. The current findings rebut Best and Luckenbill's conclusions and offer some unexpected support for the theory. New issues for the theory of deviant type‐scripts–as for any theory involving gender and race–are discussed vis‐à‐vis the emergence in America of a matrifocal black underclass.

Recent changes in the gender patterning of crime are examined using Uniform Crime Report data from 1953 to 1977. A crucial expectation based on opportunity theory -- that of increasingly similar M-F criminal profiles as opportunities for Fs expand -- is not supported by the data. Age-specific analysis suggests the possibility that changed gender identity patterns provide an equally plausible account of historical trends in F criminality. 5 Tables. HA.