Feminist view of Crime and Deviance Flashcards
what does Pollak say
Argues the Chivalry Thesis :
men have a protective attitude towards women “ men hate to accuse women and thus send them
to punishment “
- criminal justice system is more lenient with women which gives us an invalid picture of gender differences between men and women.
what does Graham and bowling say
- research on a sample of 1721 , 14-25 year olds and found that although males were more likely to offend , the difference was smaller than that recorded in official statistics.
- males were 2.33 times more likely to admit to having committed an offence , whereas in official statistics , men were 4x likely to offend
what does Flood- page et all say
while only 1 in 11 female self reported offenders had been cautioned or prosecuted , figure for males was over 1 in 7 self reported offenders
what do official statistics say
females are more likely than males to be released on bail rather than remanded in custody
what are the evaluation for chivalry thesis
Farrington and morris :
- study of sentencing , women do not get sentenced more leniently
Buckle and farrington :
- observational study of shoplifting - twice as many males as females despite the fact that the numbers of male and female offending in official statistics are more or less equal
Yearnshire :
- women suffer around 35 accounts of assault before reporting to police
Hales et al :
Young men are more likely than female to report taking illegal drugs etc and they were significantly more likely to have been offenders in all major offences categories
what does Adler say
the liberation thesis :
as women become liberated from patriarchy , their crimes will become as frequent and as serious as men’s
- no longer commit traditional female crimes such as shoplifting
STAT :
between 1950 and 1990 the f male share of offences rose from one in 7 to one in 6
What does Descombe say
Increase in girls gangs :
studied midland teenagers’ self images - females were as likely as males to engage in risk taking behaviour
how can you evaluate liberation thesis
most female crimes are working class - group less likely to be influenced by women’s liberation which has benefited middle class women more
- link to Marx :
due to poverty crime is committed to survive
- Lauder and Hunt :
Female gang members in the USA
were expected to conform to conventional gender roles in the same way as non deviant girls
what does Heisensohn say
Courts unfair , harsh on women who deviate from social norms
what does sharpe say
double standards :
analysis of 55 youth worker records , 7 out of 11 girls were referred for support because they were sexually active , none out of the 44 boys
what does Stewart say
double standards :
magistrates’ perceptions of female defendant’s characters were based on stereotypical gender roles
- link to interactionist Cicourel
what does carlen say
when women are jailed it is less for the seriousness of their crimes and more according to the courts assessment of them as mothers and daughters
what does walklate say
rape cases the victim is on trial
what does adler say
single mothers find it difficult to have their testimony believed in court
what does parson say
sex role theory :
boys reject female role models and engage in compensatory compulsory masculinity , aggression and antisocial behaviour which can slip over into acts of delinquency
what do Lambroso and ferrero say
- criminally = innate
- less female crimes , very few are born criminal
how does walklate evaluate parsons
criticised for its biological assumptions
- parsons assumes that because women have the best biological capacity to bear children , they’re best suited to the expressive role
what does Messerschmidt argue
- masculinity is a social construct or accomplishment
- men have to constantly work at constructing and presenting their masculinity to others
- some men have more resources to draw upon than others
- hegemonic masculinity is the one men wish to accomplish
• white middle class youths :
in school , have to subordinate themselves to teacher to achieve middle class status ,
outside of school masculinity takes an opposition form e.g. drinking and vandalism
• white working class youths :
Constructed around sexist attitudes , being tough and opposing teachers authority
STUDY : paul willis and the lads
• Black lower working class youths : - gang membership and violence to express their masculinity
what does winlow argue
postmodernisty , masculinity and crime
- globalisation :
•loss of many traditional manual jobs
•expansion of night time leisure economy
•provided legal and illegal means of expressing masculinity
Bodily capital :
Men must be able to use violence to win fights and also they must also look the part to discourage competitions from challenging them
what’s evaluation for messerschmidt
- deterministic : doesn’t explain why not all men use crime to accomplish masculinity
- overworks concept of masculinity to explain virtually all male crimes , from joy riding to embezzlement
