Gender Flashcards
How are female criminals viewed by society?
Female killers are extremely rare compared to male killers
- when female members commit significantly violent crimes it is often attributed to other factors
What are the 3 main reasons as to why females commit violent crimes?
1- Dominant male partner
2- A result of abuse from males
3- Mental illness
Why are female criminals treated harshly in society?
They seriously challenge the expectations of femininity
- the media
- given harsher sentences than those that live up the the stereotype
Why do females commit less crime according to Functionalists?
Sex role theory
- differences in socialisation
Functionalist sex role theory
How do gender roles in the family cause boys to engage in ‘compensatory compulsory masculinity’?
Boys reject feminine models of behaviour, they seek to distance themselves from it
- aggression and antisocial behaviour, slip over into acts of delinquency
What are Cohen’s key points on the difficulty of socialisation for boys?
The lack of adult male role models means boys are more likely to turn to all-male street gangs as a source of masculine identity
- status can be earned through toughness, risk-taking and delinquency
How do New Right contribute to Cohen’s ideas?
Argue that the absence of a male role model on matrifocal lone parent families leads to boys turning to criminal street gangs as a source of status and identity
How does Walklate criticise the Functionalist sex role theory?
Biological assumptions
X Parsons assumes that because women have the biological capacity to bear children, they are bests suited to the expressive role
What 3 types of Patriarchal control does Heidensohn identify?
1) Control at home
2) Control in public
3) Control at work
How are women controlled at home?
Restrictions on time and movement reduce their opportunity to offend
(domestic tasks and childcare)
Dobash and Dobash
- violent attacks are a result of men’s dissatisfaction with their wives performance on domestic duties
DAUGHTERS
- bedroom culture, less opportunity
How are women controlled in public?
Threat/fear of male violence
54% of W avoided going out after dark
Heidensohn- distorted media portrayals
- fear of not being defined respectable- dress, speech, behaviour
LEES- boys maintain control through sexualised verbal abuse
How are women controlled at work?
Male supervisors and managers
- sexual harassment to ‘keep them in their place’
- Ws subordinate position reduces opportunity to engage
- ‘glass ceiling’ prevents them from rising to senior positions
- less likely to be involved in white collar crimes
Risk taking
W are risk-aversive
- less likely to engage, brings huge risk
- protective over home and children, have more to lose than a men if they were to end up in prison
How does Denscombe criticise risk taking?
X changing gender roles of 15/16 yr old girls
X increasingly taking on male attitudes
What is the chivalry thesis?
Argues that most criminal justice agents such as police officers, magistrates and judges, are men
- men are socialised to act in chivalrous ways towards women
- more protective and lenient towards women
How does Graham and Bowling’s research support the chivalry hypothesis?
Found that although males were more likely to offend, the difference was smaller than that recorded in official statistics
- males were 2.33 more times likely to admit to having committed and offence in the previous 12 months
- official statistics show males 4 X more likely
How id the inaccuracy of official statistics further supported?
- F are more likely than M to be released on bail rather than remanded in custody
- F are more likely to receive a fine/community service, less likely to be sent to prison, receive shorter prison sentences
- only 1 in 9 female offenders receive shorter prison sentences for shoplifting compared to 1 in 5 males
How does Box criticise the chivalry hypothesis?
Review of British and American self-report studies also conclude women who commit serious offences aren’t treated more favourably than men
How does Hales et al criticise the chivalry hypothesis?
X found that men are significantly more likely to have been offenders in all major offence categories
How does Yaernshire criticise the chivalry hypothesis?
X found that women typically suffer 35 assaults before reporting domestic violence
- ignores that many male crimes don’t get reported
How does Buckle and Farrington criticise the chivalry hypothesis?
Observational study of shoplifting in department store and witnessed twice as many males shoplifting as females
- F treated harshly as official statistics presented more or less equally
Is female crime increasing?
Liberation thesis
Ws liberation has led to a new type of female criminal and a rise in female crime rate
What does liberation theologist Adler argue?
Changes in the structure of society have led to changes in women’s offending behaviour
- patriarchal controls/discrimination have lessened
- opportunities in education and work more equal
- W adopt traditionally ‘male’ roles in both legitimate and illegitimate activity
- not just shop lifting and prostitution, ‘male’ offences such as violence and white collar crime
What is evidence is there to support liberation theology?
Increase in females in the prison population 1970s-2000 suggests they are starting to commit more crime
What are 3 criticisms of liberation theology?
1X changing crime rates are inconsistent with the liberationism time period
2X More likely to consist of WC women who are least likely to be liberated
3X W taking part in more serious crime such as drugs usually comes from crimes such as prostitution
- a very unliberated offence
What are the two-types of ‘deals’ that led WC women to generally conform to crime according to Carlen?
1) The class deal
2) The gender deal
Carlen- What is the class deal?
Women who work will be offered material rewards, with a decent standard of living and leisure opportunities
Carlen- What is the gender deal?
Patriarchal ideology promises women material and emotional rewards from family life by conforming to the norms of conventional domestic gender role
- if these rewards are not available or worth the effort, crime becomes more likely
Class deal findings in Carlen’s study
W failed to find legitimate way of earning
- powerless, oppressed, victims of injustice
- nothing to lose by using crime to escape from poverty
Gender deal findings in Carlen’s study
Most W either didn’t have the opportunity to make the deal or saw few rewards and any disadvantages in family life
- physical/sexual abuse by fathers
- subjected to domestic violence
- time in care broke bonds with family
What are the 2 criticisms for Carlen’s class and gender deals?
X see W’s behaviour as determined by external forces, this underplays the importance of free will and choice in offending
X sample can be criticised for being unrepresentative (39 WC women)
What are the trends in male and female crime?
- 70% of homicide victims are male
- F victims are more likely to know their killer 60% its is partner or ex-partner
- 10X more F reported having been sexually assaulted
- victims of violence 2%F, 4% M
What are the 2 parts of masculinity and crime?
1- Messerschmidt- hegemonic masculinity
2- Lyng ‘edgework’
Messerschmidt- hegemonic masculinity
Men are trying to conform to it
- male crime is an attempt to express masculinity in different ways
- white MC gain status through sport/academic
- LC/EM- unable to do this, turn to more deviant ways to express masculinity
Lyng ‘edgework’
Crime is thrilling, exciting, risk-taking
- more attractive to males to prove masculinity
‘living on the edge’ (edgework) is behaviour on the edge of acceptability
What are the main differences between M n F white-collar fraudsters in prison?
- M more likely to have co-operated with others, W act alone
- M generated more money than W from fraud
- M 40 months, 23 months
- W regret crime, M worried about losing their status
What is meant by the complexity of W’s roles in society?
They have a broader range of motives and a greater tendency to be remorseful about their crimes
