Feminist Theories Flashcards
Criminology has traditionally been “_______” centred
Why is this?
Male
This is due in part to relative minor role women play as criminal offenders
Violence against women not seen as a crime concern
Criminologists have not looked at men as men (i.e., the “maleness” of their subjects)
Mertons strain theory reflected a sensitivity to class inequalities, but not “________” inequalities
Why is this?
Gender
Lower-class males engage in crime due to lack of
access to legitimate means of monetary success
BUT
This does not explain why women under
similar strain are less involved in crime than men
Why did Leonard modify Merton’s strain theory?
Because of the generalizability problem
Found that females are socialized to aspire to different culture goals than males (marriage and children)
= women’s low rate of criminality is explained by
the relatively easy way females can realize their goals
What is the conservative approach to theories on women’s crime?
Difference between male and female offending is based in sex differences (biological determinism)
Views women as ‘naturally’ inferior to men
What was Lombroso and Ferrero’s approach to theories on women’s crime (the conservative approach)?
”The female offender”
Female criminals viewed as excessively vile and cruel
Lack natural female instincts
More genetically male than female, but more
primitive than men (e.g., less intelligent)
Cunningness, spite and deceitfulness seen as female characteristics:
= criminal women were the extreme
What was William I. Thomas’s approach to theories on women’s crime (the conservative approach)?
”The unadjusted girl”
Behaviour based on 4 ‘wishes’ (with corresponding instincts):
• Adventure (anger)
• Security (fear)
• Response (love)
• Recognition (will to gain status and power)
Women’s desire for Response (love) was stronger than men’s:
= this explained women’s criminality (esp. prostitution)
What was Glueck & Glueck’s approach to theories on women’s crime (the conservative approach)?
”500 delinquent women”
Female criminals characterized by “feeblemindedness, psychopathic personalities, and marked emotional instability”
= “defective, diseased, antisocial misfits”
Difficult to reform into law-abiding citizens
Owing to their biological limitations:
= more prone to crime (i.e., for survival purposes)
What was Otto Pollack’s approach to theories on women’s crime (the conservative approach)?
”The criminality of women”
Women’s crimes equal in severity and scope to those of men
Women are inherently deceptive & vengeful
= instigate crime or get males to perpetrate crime
= deceit rooted in biological ability to fake orgasm
= also caused by anger, vengefulness, irritability and depression, which stems from generative stages
What is PMS in the contemporary conservative approach to women’s crime?
DSM symptoms:
Markedly depressed mood, feelings of hopelessness, self- deprecating thoughts
Marked anxiety, tension, feelings of being “keyed up” or “on edge”
Marked affective lability (e.g., feeling suddenly sad or tearful or increased sensitivity to rejection)
Persistent and marked anger or irritability or increased interpersonal conflicts
Decreased interest in usual activities (e.g., work, school, friends, hobbies)
How was PMS used in the British courts?
(Sandie Craddock) - 1978
Sandie Craddock
Stabbed fellow barmaid to death:
= while awaiting trial: attempted escape, attempted
strangling; slashed her wrists; attempted suicide; assaulted warden
Prison physician noted the cyclical nature of her
crimes and argued in court that she suffered from PMS
PMS accepted as factor of ‘diminished responsibility’;
= charge was reduced from murder to manslaughter
How was PMS used in British courts?
(Christine English) - 1980
Charged with murdering her boyfriend by driving her car into him and pinning him between car and a post
Prison physician testified that English was suffering from PMS at the time of her crime
Murder charge reduced:
= from manslaughter owing to diminished responsibility
How was PMS used in American courts?
(Shirley Santos) -1981
Charged with child abuse
Lawyer argued that PMS caused her to ‘black-out’
therefore could not form intent (mens rea)
Case resulted:
= in plea-bargain (non-criminal harassment)
How was PMS used in Canadian courts?
(Marsali Edwards) - 1986
Charged with aggravated; stabbed her husband during alimony dispute
Physician testified she got her period the day after the stabbing and that she had history of PMS
Given probation:
= since judge felt that she would not
receive the necessary treatment for PMS in jail
How was PMS used in Canadian courts?
(Lisa MacDonald) - 1988
Supreme Court case
Charged with murder:
= lawyers argued that she was ‘insane by reason of PMS”
NCR defense not accepted:
= but defendant only received 5-year sentence suggesting that the court accepted the
PMS defense to some extent
Why/what was the resistance to the use of PMS as a defense for women who commit crime?
“Because there appear to be so few female offenders, they are conceived in [criminological] studies to be abnormal in both a biological and psychological sense and their criminality is explained in terms of physiological and psychological factors which are held to be peculiar to the female sex.“
“Thus, whereas men are considered to crime [sic] for economic or social reasons or through poor socialization
= “Women are believed to become criminals because of their menstrual cycle…”(Smart, 1977: 18)
Why can the PMS argument be a “double-edged sword” for women
Give an example
There was a case in America where the ex-husband claimed wife had PMS to gain custody of the children
= this WORKED
What is the liberal (sociological) approach to theories on women’s crime?
Developed in the 1970s
Shifted focus from biology to culture; more sociologically-oriented approach
Explained differences between male and female crime:
= in reference to gender roles and socialization
Culture creates differences between men and women:
= by proscribing certain roles and behaviours as “male appropriate” and “female appropriate”
How is gender role socialization seen within family in terms of liberal approach’s on women’s crime?
Pink versus blue worlds
Parental behaviours differ toward boys/girls
How is gender role socialization seen within peer groups in terms of liberal approach’s on women’s crime?
Boys favor rule-based games with winners/losers
Girls engage in less competitive games e.g., hopscotch, jump-rope
How is gender role socialization seen within schools in terms of liberal approach’s on women’s crime?
Gender within children’s literature
How is gender role socialization seen within the media in terms of liberal approach’s on women’s crime?
Men centre stage as fearless, skilled and smart in movies
What was the undergraduate study of assigning different babies either pink or blue hats?
Undergraduate studies with giving babies pink or blue hats (despite the actual sex that they were)
= watched how people responded and treated them on whether they thought they were a boy or a girl
Girls = “more gentle, soft and loving”
Boys = “more silly, rough and loud”
What was Hoffman- Bustamante’s approach to theories on women’s crime (the liberal approach)?
This theory still MOSTLY stands today
Males socialized:
= to be aggressive and outgoing
= are allowed greater freedom
VS…
Girls socialized:
= to be passive and domesticated
= are closely supervised
Women’s lesser involvement in violence and heavier involvement in shoplifting:
= explained in reference to women as consumers
What was women’s liberation theory in terms of criminality?
What did Simon (1975) believe?
VS…
What did Adler (1975) believe?
Female criminality will more closely resemble men’s:
= as gender differences are diminished by women’s greater participation in the workforce
= tho we DID NOT see this happen in the end
Simon: increased employment opportunities for women will increase crime opportunities (ex. embezzlement from employers)
Adler: linked influence of women’s movement to increasing female criminality (ex. Reena Birk case - contaminated by the work world)
What is the feminist approach to criminology?
Views the lives of criminalized women in a broader social context characterized by inequalities of class, race, and gender
Criminalized women tend to be young, poor, undereducated, and unskilled
Most likely to be involved in property crimes:
= consistent with their traditional role as consumers
= increasingly, as low-income, semi-skilled, sole support providers for their families
Increase in female criminality:
= the product of feminization of poverty
= NOT women’s liberation
How are indigenous women victims of crime?
Indigenous women 5-7 times more likely to be victims of violence-homicide than non-Indigenous Canadian women
Indigenous women 3 times more likely to be report having been sexually abused than non-Indigenous Canadian women
= colonization & marginalization
= state dependence => violence
= alcoholism & drug use
= involvement in prostitution reflection of their
desperate social and economic position
