It's interesting. I asked my elderly aunty about this. She said that in her day few women wanted a "bad boy." In fact, they didn't want "bad boys" anywhere near them.
I think the current situation of women wanting "bad boys," including criminals, is the result of "bad boys," including criminals, having been glorified in American culture for the last 55 years.
When your Aunt was young, the system was more favorable to men, thus naturally fufilling the need of women's hypergamy. When men were dominate in the universities, medical schools, law schools, vet schools, trade schools,etc. this resulted in the men dominating the job market. Which gave men economic power over women. In the past, the legal system was much more favorable to men. Men were dominate in the professional jobs, labor intensive jobs, leadership positions all throughout society, and politics. So even if a guy was Mr. Average, it would be likely that the average woman would be looking up to the average man.
And secondly, most men in the past had much more of a leadership position in the relationship. They demanded respect and got it. Men in the past were much less likely to be big time simps. Men in the past told their wives how things would be.
Thirdly, there were more physically fit men in the past than now. A lot less fat and obese men in the past.
So the average guys in the past were more likely to be physically fit. More likely to be leaders in the relationship and not be simps.
When you look at bad boys nowdays, those types are usually in excellent shape physically, thus making the guy sexually and physically attractive to women. And those bad boys will be the leaders in the relationships- they don't let the woman boss them around and bad boys don't act like simps.
So average guys in the past had those qualities which nowdays are much more commonly found in bad boys.