4.4 - Gender & Crime Flashcards
Gender Patterns in Recorded Crime
> Males more likely to commit crime and be repeat offender
> Females more likely to commit crime such as theft and prostitution
> Males more likely to commit crimes such as violent and sexual crime
Pollack - Chivalry Thesis
> CJS made up of males socialised to have protective attitude to females, unwilling to arrest & convict them - be chivalrous to them
> Crimes - likely to end up in official statistics, gives inaccurate picture and underrepresents female crime
2 Forms of Evidence for CT
> Official Stats
Self-Report Studies
> Self-Report Studies
Self Report Studies - Graham & Bowling (Evidence for CT)
> Young males 2x more likely than females to commit offence in previous year
> But official statistics shows males 4x more likely to offend
> Also females more likely to be cautioned than prosecuted
Farrington & Morris & Box - Evidence against Chivalry Thesis
> Females not sentenced more leniently for similar offences
> Females doing serious offences not treated more favourably than men
Buckle & Farrington - Evidence against Chivalry Thesis
> Saw 2x more males shoplifting than women, despite number of male and female offenders in official statistics equal
> Shows female shoplifters more likely to be prosecuted.
Heidensohn - Bias v Women (Criticism of Chivalry Thesis)
> Double standards of courts punishing female not males for promiscuous sexual activity
> e.g. Females not conforming to accepted standards of heterosexuality & motherhood punished more harshly
Carlen - Bias v Women (Evidence against Chivalry Thesis)
> Double deviance - failed as a mother as well as a criminal
Walkate - Bias v Women (Evidence against Chivalry Thesis)
> For rape cases victims on trial often blamed e.g. what they have been wearing
Parsons - Functionalist Sex Role Theory
> Male reject female models of behaviour expressing emotion, distance themselves from this
> Engaging in compensatory compulsory masculinity e.g. anti-social behaviour, risk-taking & aggression
> As males have a breadwinner role at work, socialisation is difficult for boys
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Cohen - Functionalist Sex Role Theory
> Lack of male role model, so boys turn to all street gangs for source of masculine identity
> Gain status through delinquency.
New Right - Functionalist Sex Role Theory
Absence of male role model in LPF leads boys to street gangs as source of identity.
Walkate (Feminist) - Criticisms of Functionalist Sex Role Theory
> Females have biological capacity for kids don’t mean they’re best suited to expressive role.
Heidensohn’s 3 Areas of Patriarchal Control
> Home
Public
Work
Home - Heidensohn
> Females usually homemakers, keeps them busy & so less time to do crime
> Males impose this role on females through threat of DV.
> Females stopped from going out, restricted to bedroom culture, help mums with housework, so less chance to do crime
Work - Heidensohn
> Glass ceiling stops females getting top positions with more chance of white collar crime
> Sexual harassment keep females in their place
Public - Heidensohn
> Feel they can’t go out alone at night, threat of rape - so stay inside
Hirschi’s Control Theory
> We are controlled by being offered a deal e.g. rewards for conforming to norms
> Crime occurs if people don’t think they’ll get rewards or rewards of crime are more than risks
Carlen - Class & Gender Deals
WC females led to conform through promise of 2 types of deals e.g. Class Deal & Gender Deal
Class Deal - Carlen
Working females will be offered material rewards with decent standard of living & leisure opportunities.
Gender Deal - Carlen
Females conforming to traditional domestic division of labour will get material & emotional rewards of family life
Implications of Unavailability of Deals - Carlen
> Females who can’t get jobs & in poverty & can’t get benefits, feel vicitms of injustice
> Females faced DV & had generally poor family lifes (GD)
> As they’d gained nothing from GD/CD, crime was only route to decent life - w/ nothing to lose & everything to gain.
Criticisms of Carlen
> See females behaviour controlled by external factors & ignores free will & choice
> Carlen’s sample was unrepresentative only WC & serious offenders
Liberation Theory - Adler
> Females more liberated from patriarchy so will be more crime & with more severity due to equal opportunities & assertiveness
> Females adopt traditional male roles at work & in illegitimate spheres
> No longer do crimes e.g. theft & prostitution, breaking of glass ceiling so do working class crime
Liberation Theology - Denscombe
> Females same as male teens engaging in risk-taking behaviour & girls adopting male stances
> e.g. desire for control/looking hard.
Chesney-Lind - Criticisms of Liberation Theory
> Most female criminals are WC & uninfluenced by liberation
> Females doing male crimes e.g. drugs, but due to link with prostitution and not liberation
Laidler & Hunt - Criticisms of LT
> Female gang members in US expected to conform to traditional gender roles
General Criticisms of LT
Female crime rate growing in 50’s before Liberation
Schwartz - Net Widening
No change in female’s involvement in violent crime, more is due to CJS widening net prosecuting for less serious violence than before.
Moral Panic & Increase in Female Criminality
More convictions due to media-inspired labels about young females being out of control
Sharpe - Moral Panic
CJS professionals influenced by media stereotypes of violent ‘’ladettes’’ believed female’s behaviour was getting worse.
Effects of Moral Panic on Female Crime
> Creates Deviancy Amplification Spiral, courts take tougher stance.
> Resulting in more convictions leading to negative media coverage.
Gender & Victimisation
> More males than females are victims of violence/homicide
> More females than males are victims of DV
> Lots more females faced sexual assault, but little reported to police
> Females have more of crime, but CSEW shows they’re at less risk, but local surveys found opposite.
Messerschmidt - View on Masculinity
> Social construction of men having to work at presenting/projecting
> Some males have more resources than others they can rely on
> Deviance is a resource they rely on to accomplish hegemonic masculinity
2 Types of Masculinity - Messerschmidt
> Hegemonic (HM)
Subordinated (SM)
> Subordinated (SM)
Hegemonic Masculinity - Messerschmidt
> Dominant form & most males work to accomplish revolves around paid labour & ability to subordinate females
> Uncontrollable heterosexuality
Subordinated Masculinity - Messerschmidt
> Homosexual males, no desire to achieve hegemonic masculinity, including working class and ethnic minorities who lack resources for it
> So turn to crime e.g. street robberies
MC Men Masculinity & Crime - Messerschmidt
Middle Class males use crime to achieve hegemonic masculinity but white collar crime or corporate crime
Criticisms of Messerschmidt
> Description of offenders not explanation.
> Why don’t all males use crime to achieve hegemonic masculinity
> Overworked to fit all crimes e.g. joyriding to embezzlement
Winlow: Postmodernity, Masculinity & Crime
> Globalisation led to less manual jobs & more service sector e.g. pubs etc.
> Working as bouncers gave males paid work & chance for illegal business ventures in drugs etc
> & opportunity to show masculinity through violence
Winlow: Bodily Capital (BC)
> Maintaining ‘’hardman’’ image essential for success in night economy
> Made body-building career necessity with need to prove strength & reputation
> Acts as form of intimidation, discourages competitors from challenging them
> New crime chances for males creating conditions for more organised criminal subculture
