Crime And Deviance : Gender And Crime Flashcards
Key statistics - gender patterns in crime
2014 - men accounted for 3/4 of all persons convicted
Men accounted for 85% of those convicted for more serious criminal offences
Why could the official statistics be criticised?
Female crimes are less likely to be reported
Women are less likely to be prosecuted / lighter sentences (chivalry thesis)
Chivalry thesis
Pollak
Official statistics seriously underestimate female criminality
Women are treated more leniently by the police, CJS etc. as they’re usually male dominated and men have been taught to be chivalrous
Evidence for the chivalry thesis
2006 Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (Roe and Ashe):
Gap between the proportion of males committing any offence (26%) and the proportion of females committing any offence (17%)
Ministry of Justice 2015:
Women are less likely to be given a custodial sentence than men - 2% for women and 10% for men
Evidence against the chivalry thesis
Kate Seward - studied remand hearings and found that decisions were based on offence seriousness, without consideration of gender (thus, raw statistics do not take into account the exact nature of crimes)
Farrington and Morris’ - although men received more severe sentences, their research found that differences disappeared when severity of offences was taken into account
Heidensohn and Silvestri - rate of imprisonment has been rising for women and they rose faster than those for men in the 1990s
Evaluation of the chivalry thesis
Heidensohn - women are not treated more leniently by courts, but that female offenders are punished more harshly because they are seen as double deviants - broken both the law and sex role behaviour
Feminists - men are treated more sympathetically than women - rape trials
Not about gender, but seriousness of offence
Walklate - female victims end up on trial rather than male suspects - women have to establish their respectability if their evidence is to be believed
Reasons for the gender gap in criminality
Biological theories
Functionalist sex role theories
Control theories
Reasons for the gender gap in criminality - biological theories + AO3
Lombroso and Ferrero
Criminality is innate within men - very few ‘born female criminals’
Higher levels of testosterone in men
Women are much more empathetic and have higher levels of fearfulness
AO3 - criticised for being outdated
Reasons for the gender gap in criminality - sex role theory AO1 + AO2 + AO3
P + S socialisation key for shaping boys and girls involvement in criminal behaviour
Gender role socialisation - reduces the likelihood of female criminality while making male criminality more likely
Parsons – Prim. Soc. of girls prepared them for the expressive role where kindness is required (aggression = unfeminine)
Parsons - boys prepared for instrumental role + encouraged to be rough/risk takers (gentlemanly = unmanly)
Traditional notions of ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’ exert an influence on society and therefore on socialisation
AO2 - Heilman et al – men still feel pushed to live in the ‘Man Box’ = acting tough, looking attractive, sticking to rigid gender roles, using aggression
AO3: However = the segregated gender roles that existed in the 1940-50s no longer exist now, so gender socialisation can’t shed light on the gender gap in criminality
Reasons for the gender gap in criminality - control theory
Heidensohn - patriarchal societies control women more effectively than they do men
= makes it more difficult for women to break the law.
Controlled at home: (LINK TO DUAL BURDEN + TRIPLE SHIFT)
Housewife role – limits their opportunities for criminality
Domesticity is a ‘form of detention’
They don’t have time for illegal activities when spending hours on housework and caring for children
Controlled in public:
Controlled by the male use of force and violence
Controlled by the idea of having a ‘good’ reputation
Controlled by the ‘ideology of separate spheres’ (where women’s lives should be centred on the home and men’s on the world beyond the home)
Controlled at work: (LINK TO WALBY’S 6 STRUCTURES OF PATRIARCHY)
Male superiors at work control women
Sexual harassment
Heidensohn – 60% of women have suffered from some form of sexual harassment at work
AO2 for control theory
Sunita Toor’s study of British Asian girls
Low rates of criminality due to dynamics embedded in Asian culture - izzat / sharam
Therefore, women being controlled is significant to restricting their opportunities to commit crime
AO3 for control theory (+ counter evaluation)
Second wave feminism:
Has brought about gender equality
Ideology of separate spheres is now seen as old fashioned
Women aren’t controlled in the 3 aspects of society (home, public, work)
Counter evaluation:
Women are still controlled by these aspects - women are still seen as housewives and sexual harassment is still prevalent - EG Harvey Weinstein case in USA
Evidence for growing female criminality
1957 = men were responsible for 11x as many offences as women
2014 = men were responsible for 3x as many offences as women
Number of crimes committed by girls in England and wales went up by 25% between 2004-2010
What are the 2 main reasons for growing female criminality?
Liberation thesis
Carlen’s study linking female offending to poverty and other kinds of deprivation
The liberation thesis AO1
Freda Adler
Emancipation of women and increased economic opportunities lead to an increase in the female crime rate
As women attain social positions similar to men, and as the employment patterns of men and women become similar, so do their related crimes
The liberation thesis AO2
Adler used FBI crime reports to state that from 1960-72
- arrests of female robbers grew by 277%
- arrests of female embezzlers grew by 280%
Heidensohn and Silvestri - the liberation thesis
20th Century media portrayal of the ‘ladette’ = hard drinking and delinquent
Tara Young = females are now integral to gangs - emergence of the ‘shemale gangster’
Criticisms of the liberation thesis
% increases are unreliable - female crime rate was very low to begin with, so large increases aren’t significant
Heidensohn - liberation is not the reason for the apparent rise in criminality - instead the CJS now class things like playground violence or trivial domestic incidents (which are mainly committed by women) as violent offences so it appears women commit more crime
Reasons for growing female criminality - Carlen’s study
Unstructured interviews of 39 WC women who had been convicted
Carlen’s argues that WC women are generally led to conform through the promise of 2 types of rewards: (links to control theory as they are controlled by these promises)
The class deal - women who work will be offered material rewards with a decent standard of living
The gender deal - patriarchal ideology promises women material and emotional rewards from family life by conforming to conventional gender roles
If these rewards are not available (lack of opportunity), crime becomes more likely
The women she interviewed - 32 women had always been in poverty (class deal) and some had been abused by their fathers (gender deal)
Carlen concludes that poverty / being brought up in care or an oppressive family life were the two main causes of their criminality. (Basically, lack of opportunity)
Carlen’s study AO2
Corston Report (2007) = 40% of women had not worked in the 5 years prior to entering prison, 61% had no qualifications.
Carlen’s study - AO3
Carlen’s sample was small and may be unrepresentative, consisting of largely of working-class and serious offenders.
Connell - masculinity and crime
There is a hegemonic masculinity
= tough, aggressive, dominant
Male peer group reinforces this, (especially youth) and this can lead to C+D
They are more independent than women (work, no housework responsibilities) so have more opportunity to commit crime
Messerschmidt
Different groups of males turn to different types of crimes to demonstrate their masculinity
Variety of masculinities today
Masculinity is not a characteristic, but instead accomplished by crime
Crime opportunities for men are based on CAGE
Messerschmidt - Accommodating Masculinity
White MC youth adopt an accommodating masculinity in school
= this is not to jeopardise their academic success
Out of school = pranks, vandalism, minor thefts
= WHY? To show they’re not girly, but HARDDD
== this links to lyng’s ideas on edgework (buzz and thrill)
Messerschmidt - white WC youth
Less chance of academic success so cannot access the same masculinity as MC youths
They construct their masculinity around physical aggression
= they need to oppose authority (AO2 Paul Willis)
Crimes in order to demonstrate hegemonic masculinity
Pimping - allowed lower class men to transcend class and domination
= money
= power and control
WCC - demonstrates economic success
= links to edgework - buzz and thrill
DV - demonstrates control over others (women)
= Dobash and Dobash - this is coercive control
Globalisation and masculinity
Decline in manual jobs where WC men expressed their masculinity
Rise in service sector means it’s easier to carry out legal and illegal activity
Globalisation and masculinity AO2
Winlow
Expansion of service sector provided WC young men to earn paid work and take part in illegal activities
= dealing drugs + violence - masculinity
Shift from conflict SC to criminal
= men use their bodily capital to maintain reputation (bodybuilding)
