Crime and gender Flashcards
How are violent female criminals viewed by society?
Female killers extremely rare compared to male killers, when females commit significantly violent crime is often attributed to other factors
-Dominant male partners
-Result of abuse from men
-Mental illness
Female criminals that have seriously challenged the expectations of femininity in society tend to be treated harshly in the media and given harsher sentences than those live up to the stereotype
Why do females commit less crime than males?
Functionalist sex role theory
Heidensohn patriarchal control
Functionalist sex role theory- How do gender roles in the family cause boys to engage in compensatory compulsory masculinity?
Because of the way they are socialised e.g. boys tough and aggressive
Men instrumental breadwinning roles
-Women’s expressive and nurturing, socialising children thus meaning girls get a good role model vs boys down and reject femininity slipping into delinquency
Functionalist sex role- Cohen?
Due to the lack of role model, boys are more likely to tun to street crimes and gangs to identify with
Subculture groups earn status by risk taking
Functionalist sex roles- new right?
Absence of the male role in matrifocal lone parent family’s turn boys to criminal street gang for a source of identity
Functionalist sex role- Walklate criticism?
Parsons assumes that because women have the biological capacity to bear children that they are best suited to the expressive role
Although this theory explains gender differences in crime in terms of behaviour via socialisation, its based on the biological assumptions of sex differences
Heidensohn patriarchal control- control at home?
Housework and childcare restricting time and movement, reducing opportunity for crime
-Daughters less likely to go as they please ‘bedroom culture’ leading girls to be at home
Heidensohn patriarchal control- control at home Dobash and Dobash?
Violent attacks on women from their husbands if they don’t satisfy their husbands with domestic tasks
Heidensohn patriarchal control- control in public?
The threat and fear of ale violence e.g. 54% of women avoid going out after dark for fear of being victim in crime vs 14% of men
-Females defined as respectable for wearing makeup
-Avoid pubs in order to not get called ‘loose’
Heidensohn patriarchal control- control in public Heidensohn?
Reporting rape adds to the fear due to the distortion of rape that the media do portraying rapists as strangers
Heidensohn patriarchal control- control in public- Sue Lees?
In schools boys control via sexual verbal abuse, if girls don’t conform to gender roles they are labeled as ‘slags’
Heidensohn patriarchal control- control at work?
Controlled by male supervisors and managers
Sexual harassment to keep women in their place, being subordinate reduces major criminal activity due to the glass celling preventing white collar crime
Heidensohn patriarchal control- control at work Heidensohn?
Patriarchy may push women to crime e.g. women more likely to be poor turning to theft and prostitution to get a decent living standard
Why do females commit less crimes- Risk taking?
Women are risk avers
This means they are less likely to engage in criminal activity due to the risks it brings
-Women feel more protective of their homes and children and would feel they have more to loose then men if they went to prison
Risk taking- criticism Denscombe?
Gender roles are changing
Females likely to engage in risk taking
D did a indebt interview of 15-16 yr old girls who find they took on male attitudes of ‘looking hard’ and ‘control’
This is due to post modern society
Reasons for women committing less crime- Knowledge and opportunity bedroom culture McRobbie?
Girls are more likely to be indoors vs boys outdoors where opportunity for delinquency can rise
Reasons for women committing less crime- Knowledge and opportunity?
-Adulthood demands of home and children takes all the time and energy from women
-Employment women are restricted lower levels of work reducing the opportunity to engage in white collar crime
-Women likely to have less knowledge on how to commit a crime e.g. stealing cars, breaking locks etc as all require ‘masculin’ knowledge
What is the chivalry thesis?
Most criminal justice agents e.g. police officers, magistrates and judges are men, men are told to act in chivalrous ways towards women
e.g. police dislike arresting women so less likely to end up in statistics
The chivalry thesis- Graham and Bowling?
Did research on a sample of 1721 14-35 yr olds and found males more likely to offend, difference was smaller than the woman recorded in statistics
Males were 2.33 times more likely to admit to commiting an offence in past 12 months vs official statistic show they were 4x more likely
-Gap isn’t that big but males more likely to be arrested so overrepresented
How is the Chivalry thesis supported by official statistics?
-Females more likely to be released on bail rather than remanded in custody
-Females more likely to receive a fine of community sentences and less likely to go to prison
-Only 1 in 9 female offenders received prison sentences for shoplifting vs 1 in 5 males
The chivalry these- critics Box
Loo self report studies asked at British and American and concluded that women who commit serious offences are not treated more favourable than men
The chivalry these- critics Buckle and Farrington?
Did an observational study on shoplifting in a department store witnessing 2x as many male shoplifters compared to female
Even though the number of male and female offenders i official statistics are more or less equal, suggesting women shoplifters are more likely to be prosecuted by males
The chivalry these- critics Hales et al?
Significantly more likely to be an offender in all major categories other studies suggest gender gap increased as offence becomes more serious
The chivalry these- critics Yaernshire?
Women typically suffer 35 assaults before reporting DV,
Liberation thesis- Adler?
Changes in the structure of society have led to changes in women’s offending behaviour
This is because there’s more opportunities in education and work have become more equal, women have begun to adopt traditionally male roles in both legitimate activity (work) and illegitimate activity (crime)
-As a result, women no longer commit female crimes like shoplifting and are turning to male deviance like violence and white collar crime
Support for the liberation thesis?
Increase in females in prison population between 1970’s and 2000’s
suggesting women starting to commit more crime
Critic for liberation thesis?
-Change crime rages are inconsistent with the liberationism time period
-Its also still more likely to consist of the w/c women who are the least likely to be liberated
-Women taking part in serious crimes such as drugs unusually come from crime such as prostitution a very liberated offence
Pat Carlen- class and gender deals, not commiting crime?
W/c women don’t commit crime if they have the two deals, the class deal (promice of material rewards via working)
The gender deal (emotional and material rewards via family)
Pat Carlen- class and gender deals, commiting crime?
If reward rent available then crimes more likely as thy feel oppressed
2/3 in poverty
Some in jail having qualifications unable to get a job
Experienced problems and humiliation in trying to claim benefits
-Reason for crime is poverty or being brought up in crime
Pat Carlen- class and gender criticise?
Sees women’s behaviour as determined by external forces, this underplays the importance of free will and choice in offenders
-Sample can be criticised for being unrepresented (39 w/c women)
Womens as victims- trends?
-70% of homicide victims are males
-Female victims are more likely to know their killer
-2% of females are victims of violence compared to 4% males
-31% of females were victims of intimate violence than males
-10x more females reported having been sexually assaulted than males
Masculinity and crime- Messerchmidt and hegemonic masculity?
Men try to conform to conform to hegemonic masculinity so attend to express this victims
M/C men gain status via academic and sport but w/c and ethnic minorities males are unable to do this and turn to deviance to express masculinity
Masculinity and crime- Lyng edgework?
Crime is thrilling, exiting, risk taking
More attractive to males to prove masculinity ‘living on the edge’ is behaviour on the edge of acceptability
M/C- may commit crime to spice up their lives due to boredom to live on the edge
Main difference between male and female white collar crime fraudsters in prison?
Men tended to be more qualified than women (34% of men but 22% of women)
Men offends in cooperation than alone
Male commit to perceive lifestyle to protect from male fraud £111,250 vs £75,167
What is the complexity of women roles in society?
Women have a change in society from docile and maternal to engaging in produce more motives for crime
