Research on the female offender has produced two explanations of the female criminal personality: the female offender either as a masculinated women or as an anguished woman possessing low self-esteem and poor self-control. To investigate the applicability of each position, 144 black male and female criminals and noncriminals completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the Tennessee Self Concept Scale, the Rosenbaum Self Control Schedule, a shortened form of the Quick Test, and a demographic questionnaire. Demographically, the group had a mean age of 20.8 years, a mean educational level of 10.3 years, were unemployed or had an income below $5000, and rated 21 on a 11-77 point scale on social status. An analysis of the results showed that contrary to the masculinated woman theory, female criminals were more feminine than male criminals or male and female noncriminals. In partial support of the anguished woman theory, female criminals possessed lower self-esteem and self-control than female noncriminals. (BL)