CRIME AND DEVIANCE: Gender & Crime Flashcards
What do official figures suggest about gender and crime?
Men are more likely than women to:
- 60x > sexual offences
- 14x > robbery
- 13x > possession of weapons
- 10x > public order offences
- 8x > violence against a person
- 7x > criminal damage
- 4x > theft
What did Carlen’s (1988) ‘Social Deal’ theory say about gender and crime?
Women in western societies sign up to two ‘social deals’. Women who do not stick to these deal are deviant, they’ve broken then social contract. More likely if they’r unemployed, poorly educated or lack functional family ties. They turn to crime instead to gain ‘illegitimate class and gender deals’.
What are the two ‘Social Deals’ Cohen (1988) theorised?
- The Class Deal: being a good employee enable women to acquire objects of financial status
- The Gender Deal: performing the expressive role in their family gives women a man’s support and emotional fulfillment
What did Heidensohn’s (1996) ‘Socialisation Theory’ say about gender and crime?
Women are socialised away from crime because there are harsher punishments for them, compared with men. Criminal women are more stigmatised and shamed.
- Women who diverge from consensus norms of socialisation risk being stripped of social protections
- Criminal men are ‘doing their role in a bad way’ whereas criminal women are ‘abandoning their role’
What did Heidensohn’s (1996) ‘Spheres of control’ theory say about gender and crime?
These are aspects of a woman’s life which Heidensohns suggests contain their criminal urges.
What were Heidonsohn’s three spheres of control?
- Private Sphere: in their own home they are constrained by patriarchal family structures; mothers have chores and daughters are more closely supervised than sons
- Public Sphere: women are constrained by threats of violence if they are alone at night, when most crime takes pace. They tend to work part-time or lower-responsibility, so they have less opportunity to commit white-collar crime
- Relational Sphere: women are at greater risk than men of losing their reputation through crime/deviance
How did Pollak’s (1950) ‘Chivalry Thesis’ explain gender and crime?
Explains why few women are convicted when they’re caught. Claims:
- Women are treated with more leniency because the CJS is largely male > courts take pity on them
- Courts are reluctant to remove mothers from children, so they avoid imprisoning them
- Female crimes are more often theft/fraud, so police feel a ‘fatherly duty’ to educate where nobody’s been physically harmed
How did Adler’s (1975) ‘Liberation Thesis’ explain crime and deviance?
Lots of ‘hidden’ female crime. Female crime is likely to be increasing because:
- Feminist movements have changed gender roles in recent decades and its not more acceptable for women to commit crime
- Social control is weakening > girls now socialised the same as boys
- More women are working and fewer are getting married/having children, so less spheres of control
- New ‘ladette culture’ which celebrates ‘masculinised’ females
How does Sex Role Theory explain crime and gender?
Men are socialised into the ‘instrumental role’. Functionalist theory that claims this gives men some incentive to commit criminal and deviant acts to provide for their family. Crime is natural and can be considered part of the ‘male sex role’ inventory.
What did Connell’s (1987) ‘Masculinity Thesis’ say about gender and crime?
Men are given easy ride in society because social world is built in a ‘hegemonic masculine’ structure.
- Men who want to succeed need to show some ‘masculine’ traits to gain other men’s approval
- Their socialisation according to stereotypical masculine ideas mean crime is within their skill set.
- Men who are unsuccessful might turn to crime to assert masculinity
- Male role models in the media are often violent and deviant
What did Rational Choice Theory say about gender and crime?
Criminals know what they’re doing, realise it’s wrong and choose to do it regardless. Don’t deserve sympathy and can’t be easily reasoned with. Cornish & Clarke recommend heavy policing and harsh punishment to make examples of those caught. Might apply more to men because they have less to lose socially if caught.
How does Opportunity Theory apply to gender and crime?
People choose to commit crime only when there’s a good cost/benefit opportunity or it’s easy. We can reduce crime by removing opportunities. Men might have more opportunity because they’re often out at night, less tied to traditional families and less closely supervised.
