The inmates were all incarcerated in Yeravda prison in Maharashtra and had all been convicted of major offenses. The prison has a capacity of 126, so this sample approximated the average population there. Information was gathered by means of interviews that lasted 2 to 3 hours each and that used a detailed questionnaire to gather information about demographic characteristics, marital history and related experience, formative influences, attitudes toward the offense and the sentence, and attitudes toward incarceration. Results revealed that these inmates represented a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and offense types, indicating that no single type of female offender exists in India. Results also challenged the conventional tendency to associate female crime with a deprived, depraved, or victimized personal background or with poverty. Thirty-five percent of the inmates had been convicted of theft offenses, 33 percent of murder, and 6.5 percent of prostitution. Thirty-four percent had received life sentences. Review of international literature regarding female criminality and discussion of crime in India. (Publisher summary modified)