Crime & Deviance - Crime & Gender - Tara Young (2009) & Girls In Gangs

Question 1

Tara Young (2009)

Answer 1

• feminist sociologist who focuses on anti-social behaviour and violent crimes

Question 2

what is the liberation thesis (3)

Answer 2

• the growing freedoms that women enjoy
• cultural revolution that has re-evaluated women’s roles and has led to them being re-defined
• a gender-quake

Question 3

statistics that prove that liberation thesis impacts female criminality? (3)

Answer 3

2003-2006: crimes committed by females rose by 38%, while men’s rose by 6%
1999-2008: female arrests went from 37,100 to 88,100

Question 4

Eval/counter for liberation thesis (2)

Answer 4

• little evidence to prove feminism has infuenced crime rates
• mid-class yt women benefitted most from feminist movement, not working-class whoare more likely to offend

Question 5

Describe Tara Young’s study (2009) (3)

Answer 5

• 25 girls known to a Youth Offender team in London
• shared negative life experiences including bouts of homelessness, material dep, strained family relationships, etc..
• criminal behaviour was too tempting

Question 6

Eval for Tara Young’s study/girl-gangs in general (4)

Answer 6

• girls in gangs only 5% of gang members in London
• tend to be loosely organised, lack of joining rituals and involve ‘hanging out” rather than hardened crime
• isn’t clear why some girls are drawn to gangs, while others aren’t
• female criminality has prob always existed, women are relatively new as subjects of criminological research