Gender

Question 1

Functionalist -

Sex - Role theory

Answer 1

Girls are socialised differently to boys - not crime inclined
Parsons argued mothers rear their children, girls have role model of being caring and supportive. Females generally are subject to closer levels of supervision at home, in childhood, less likely to commit crime.
Narrower range of roles women are allowed to fill limits opportunities to commit crime
Socialised through family and education.

A03 - when asked women gave reasons why they commit crime, (Caddle and Crisp) none said socialisation - more likely to be because of lack of money, drinks or drugs

Question 2

Messerschmidt -

Normative masculinity

Answer 2

Normative masculinity is social idea of what is real man
Trying to achieve this masculinity leads some men to commit crime

Crime is committed against the less powerful in order to achieve status, wealth and sexual success which norms of masculinity demand

Question 3

Katz -

Seductions of crime

Answer 3

1. Search for pleasure&emotional thrill in face of boredom
2. Masculinity instils importance of status, success&control
3. Young men looking for identity

Young men bored, thrill seeking, identity seeking

Question 4

The ‘Changing Role’/Liberationists Perspective

Answer 4

Alder - girls are committing more crimes due to greater freedom, no longer conforming to gender roles

Denscombe - females are more likely to engage in risky behaviour. Interviewed 15/16 year olds who adopt traditional male roles want to look in control.

A03 - most female criminals are w/c - not benefitted from women’s lib like the m/c. Overestimates the extent women have been liberated and the extent they are able to engage in serious crime

Question 5

Biological Approach

Answer 5

Women are innately different to men, have inborn nature of being caring - less likely to be criminal
Men commit more crime because have more testosterone

Dalton argues that hormonal and menstrual factors can propel women into committing crimes

Question 6

Haralambos and Holborn -

Chivalry Thesis

Answer 6

Women are let off relatively lightly by predominately male police, judges, jury. Should be protected - innocent.
Self report studies - unreported crime, suggest women commit higher proportions of crime than figures suggest

A03 - Heidensohn - argues women treated more harshly when deviate from societal norms of female sexuality and appropriate female behaviour. Sexually promiscuous girls are more likely to be taken into care than promiscuous boys.

Question 7

Heidensohn - Radical Feminism -

Patriarchal control

Answer 7

Women commit less crime due to higher levels of social control than men:
Control at home - domestic role, imposes restriction. Dobbash&Dobbash - men control financial power - restricts time outside the home eg leisure activities.
Control in public - controlled by the threat of violence in public - women avoiding going out after dark.
Control at work - controlled by male managers, sexual harassment in workplace. Glass ceiling prevents them getting to positions where they may have more opportunity to commit fraud.

Question 8

Heidensohn -

Double Standards

Answer 8

Criminal justice system is gendered
Justice is influenced by attitudes to gender in society as a whole

‘Dual’ and ‘confused’ assumptions about women which see women as ‘virgin and whore, witch and wife, Virgin Mary and Mary Magdelene’.

Deviation from norms result in double the punishment for crimes where female deviate from gendered norms eg neglect and child abuse

A03 - however, courts and justice system is reluctant to imprison mothers with young children

Question 9

Statistics

Answer 9

85% of arrests are male compared to 15% of women
By age of 40, 9% of females had criminal conviction, 32% of males
95% of prison population male

Question 10

Socialist Feminism -
Pat Carlen -
Class and Gender deals

Answer 10

Study of 39 women using unstructured interviews who had been convicted of a variety of offences. 
Vast majority were working class who had no female liberation like middle class women. These women become criminals as they have no reason to conform, they have little success in society and nothing to loose when turning to crime. 

Women conform due to ‘class and gender deals’. This involved sacrificing personal freedom and working hard to earn money and consumer goods. However, the working class women had no qualification and lived in poverty and no incentive to conform to keep their lifestyles.

Gender deal also involves  accepting a long term relationship with men, Carlen argues this is a form of patriarchal ideology. This involves being controlled. by men in a family in return for happiness, protection and wealth. 
Working class often abused by men as children, had no fathers, lived in care, therefore gender deal was rejected by working class women and not middle class.

Question 11

Post-modernity, masculinity and crime -

Winlow

Answer 11

Globalisation has led to a shift - loss of manual jobs. Expansion of service sector eg pubs and bars.
Study of bouncers in Sunderland, provided young men with paid work and opportunity for illegal business ventures (drugs, alcohol) and opportunity to demonstrate masculinity through violence.
Men use bodily capitalism to maintain reputation - discourage competitors form challenging them.