Gender And Crime Flashcards
Who commit more crime
Men
What were male offenders more likely to be convicted for
Violent and sexual offenders where a higher proportion of women were convicted for property offences
Female crimes are…
Less likely to be reported than violent crime
- even when reported or detected they are less likely to be prosecuted or let off lightly
Chivalry thesis
Criminal justice agents are men - socialised into being ‘chivalrous’ towards women
Otto Pollak
Men have a protective attitude towards women and are therefore more lenient with them
Heidensohn
Courts treat females more harshly when they deviate from gender norms
- courts punish girls for premature/ promiscuous sexual activity but not boys
- women who don’t conform to monogamous heterosexuality and motherhood punished harshly
Carlen
Women jailed not for the severity of their crime but on the courts assessment of them as wives/ mothers/ daughters
Walklate
Women have to prove respectability to have their evidence respected
Prove respectability
Walklate
Not jailed for severity of crime but the courts assessment of them as wives/ mothers and daughte
Carlen
Sex role theory
Socialised into different ways
Parsons
Nuclear family
- girls have access to role models whilst boys reject feminine models of behaviour
- boys distance themselves from this by engaging in ‘compensatory compulsory masculinity’
Nuclear family - socialisation
Parsons
Biological essentialism
Women are biologically nurturers - not wired to offend- shocking when they do
Heidensohn
Control theory
- patriarchal control over women reduces opportunity to offend
- control at home
- control at work - male managers
- control in public - controlled by threat of male violence
Control theory
Heidensohn
Carlen : class and gender deal
Working class women led to conforn through promise of two types of deals The class deal- women who work will be offered material reward, decent standards of living and leisure opportunities The gender deal- women who confirm to domestic role are promised material and emotional reward - - women who failed resorted to crime
Class and gender deal
Carlen
Alders liberation thesis
If patriarchy prevents women from offending as society becomes less patriarchal then female crime should become similar to male
- changes in society and typical gender roles are to blame for increased female offending
Liberation thesis
Adler
Criticism of liberation thesis
Female criminals wc- group least likely to be inflicted by women’s liberation
- overestimates the extent to which women have become liberated
Messerschmidt
Men often commit crime to assert their masculinity
Men asserting masculinity through committing crime
Messerschmidt
