The number of women involved in violent crime has doubled over the past 16 years, reports the AD, using figures from the Free University and Amsterdam University.

The police arrest 30,000 women and girls over the age of 12 each year, compared with 160,000 men. This means one in five suspects is female, double the number a decade and a half ago.

Researchers at the universities have also recorded a rise in the number of women involved in organised crime, says the AD. Criminal gangs trading drugs from the Antilles and trafficking girls for prostitution are much more likely to be run by women.