493 time other interests of a regulating kind came to take up more room, to begin with because of the increasing demands made by the government, and later because of the ambitions of the local elite to maintain order. Men and Women The crimes committed by women can be explained for the most part by their roles in society. This can, for example, be seen when the content of the different main categories of crime are studied in more detail. Amongst crimes concerning disputes their share is greatest regarding defamation and quarrels, while few women had committed grave acts of violence. Few women undertook thefts of a serious nature, while more had pilfered or bought and hidden stolen goods. When women offended against different by-laws or regulations, it was primarily a question of areas where women had specific responsibilities, for example the care of fire in the household, or the serving of ale and alcohol. If it was a question of a crime connected with the management of property, then it was primarily widows who were to be found amongst the women fined. There were few women found at all during the scrutinizing of the lists of fines for the second half of the 16th century. Women did, however, increase their share of the percentage from this period until the 18th century. The position of women as capable of representing themselves and being responsible for their actions was strengthened. Here the Church played an important role. The fact that unmarried mothers were criminalized in cases of fornication during the 17th centurv can be seen as an important symbol of this involvement. At the beginning of the 17th century women were still a minority of those prosecuted and fined for violations of the laws governing sexual conduct. During the 18th century they came to be in the majority, not least after men started to escape from responsibility. Even if the fines in these cases were less for women, in reality it meant that they were punished more harshly than men, in spite of the fact that the laws seemed equal from an external point of view. Women were often overrepresented amongst those who had their sentence changed to flogging (for men) and birching (for women) or later to prison with bread and water. The demographic consequences of Sweden’s period as a great power can have played an important part in this context. Many men went off to war and never returned, as in most wars, and this placed greater responsibility on the shoulders of the women who remained at home. The administrators of justice were forced to take this fact into consideration. During the first half of the 17th centurv the number of women who were parties in cases or witnesses, or even oath-takers when a women was the accused, was greater than it appears to have been during the 16th century. Later on these figures rose even more. It is primarily because witch trials were held in special courts that they have not
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