Crime and gender

Question 1

‘women commit crime less than men’

• women make up only 5% of prison population
• more likely to be fined over prison
• shorter sentences

Answer 1

Chivalry Thesis - men socialised to be protective over women = leniency regarding female crime in legal system, links to sexism against men (+) self report survey showed women crime rates higher than official statistics (-) female crime is less serious usually, less violent

Sex-role theory - female socialisation makes them more passive + conformist = less crime, men socialised to be ‘tough’ = aggressive

Question 2

Feminist Theories on crime

• crime rates increase as society becomes less patriarchal (the liberation thesis) however this idea is criticised because working class women benefit the least from women’s liberation and yet commit most female crime

Answer 2

Social control - Abbott and Wallace: women watched more by family + have less freedom than men reducing their opportunities to commit crime. similarly, women cannot commit as much cooperate crime as they are less likely to have high dominant roles in the work place to do so