biological explanation of crime: gender

Question 1

how does brain injury explain gender differences in crime?

Answer 1

• teenage years = males more likely to acquire a TBI (14% vs 5%)
• could be due to males participating in more risky behaviour / rough play
• men more likely to enter manual jobs

Question 2

how does the amygdala explain gender differences in crime?

Answer 2

• women have enhanced left amygdala which relates to reward/punishment and is mainly involved in thought
• men have enhanced right amygdala which relates to facial recognition, aggression, sexual desire and fear, mainly involved in action

Question 3

how does XYY explain gender differences in crime?

Answer 3

only males can have Y chromosome

Question 4

how does Eysenck’s personality explain gender differences in crime?

Answer 4

• men have higher levels of testosterone
• men are more likely to score higher on psychoticism
• 95% prison population male

Question 5

how does Freud’s theory explain gender differences in crime?

Answer 5

• girls have weaker superegos
• no castration anxiety so more likely to respond to id

Question 6

how does self fulfilling prophecy explain gender differences in crime?

Answer 6

• boys and girls have different socialisation
• boys labelled as boisterous or trouble makers

Question 7

how does social learning theory explain gender differences in crime?

Answer 7

• men might be more aggressive so young boys imitate this
• same sex role models
• men committing more crimes

Question 8

explain some differences in male and female offences

Answer 8

• anti-social behaviour is shown more by men than women
• more men are convicted, arrested, and sentenced
• men are less likely to report female aggression
• evolution has led men to be more aggressive and so may account for increased crime rate

Question 9

give a rejecting piece of research for brain injury as an explanation of crime.

Answer 9

In South Africa male to female ratio with TBI down to impersonal violence is 4:1. This suggests that behavioural differences causes TBI instead of TBI causing aggression.

Question 10

Give a rejecting piece of research for the amygdala as an explanation of crime.

Answer 10

Shirtcliff et al (2009) found gender differences in empathy
- girls are more empathetic with boys having more conduct disorders
- emotional differences may be a result of the amygdala instead
- therefore suggesting that damage to the amygdala does not cause criminal behaviour.

Question 11

Give a rejecting piece of research for labelling and self-fulfilling prophecy as an explanation of crime.

Answer 11

Fuller (1984) found that black girls in a London comprehensive school were labelled as likely to fail and they resented the label as so proved it wrong, therefore showing that being given a label doesn’t necessarily lead to what the label suggests about the person.