Gender and crime

Question 1

What did Heidensohn and Silvestri find?

Answer 1

Most crime appears to be committed by males

Question 2

What does Official Statistics show regarding how many convicted offenders are males?

Answer 2

3 out of 4 convicted offenders in England and Wales are males

Question 3

What are the main differences between male and female criminals?

Answer 3

• A higher proportion of female than male offenders are convicted of property offences
• Males are more likely to be repeat offenders

Question 4

What is the Chivalry thesis?

Answer 4

• Most criminal justice agents are men and men are socialised to act in a ‘chivalrous’ way
• The criminal justice system are thus more lenient with women and so their crimes are less likely to show up in the picture

Question 5

How does the Chivalry thesis link to self-report studies?

Answer 5

• Graham and Bowling found that males were 2.33 times more likely to admit to having committed an offence
• 1 in 7 males compared to 1 in 11 females self reported offenders cautioned or prosecuted

Question 6

How does the Chivalry thesis link to data from the official statistics?

Answer 6

• Females more likely to be released on bail
• Females more likely to receive a fine or a community sentence and less likely to be sent to prison

Question 7

What did Hood’s study find?

Answer 7

A study of over 3,000 defendants found that women were about 1/3 less likely to be jailed in similar cases

Question 8

What evidence is there against the Chivalry thesis?

Answer 8

A study of 408 offences of theft in a magistrates’ court found that women were not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences

Question 9

How do self-report studies provide evidence against the Chivalry thesis?

Answer 9

• Provide evidence that males commit more offences, gender gap increases as the offences become more serious

Question 10

How do under-reporting of male crimes against women provide evidence against the Chivalry thesis?

Answer 10

• The Chivalry thesis also ignores the fact that many males crimes do not get reported, in 2012 only 8% of females who has been victims reported it

Question 11

Why does Heidensohn argue that the criminal justice system is biased against women?

Answer 11

The court treats females more harshly than males when they deviate from gender norms:
- Double standards
- Women who do not conform to accepted standard gender roles are punished more harshly

Question 12

How does Sharpe’s study of 55 youth workers suggest double standards for girls?

Answer 12

7 out of 11 girls were referred for support because they were sexually active but none out of 44 boys

Question 13

What is Carlen’s view on the severity of women’s custodial sentences?

Answer 13

She argues that when women are jailed, it is less for ‘seriousness of their crimes and more according to the court’s assessment of them as wives and mothers’

Question 14

How can differential socialisation explain gender differences in crime? (Functional sex role theory)

Answer 14

• Boys are encouraged to be tough, aggressive and risk-taking and this can mean they are more disposed to commit acts of violence

Question 15

What is Parsons view on tracing differences in gender roles to the conventional nuclear family?

Answer 15

• Men take on an instrumental role (largely outside the house) this means boys reject feminine role models of behaviour that expresses tenderness, gentleness and emotion
• Slip into delinquency

Question 16

According to Cohen what happens when men face a lack of an adult male role model?

Answer 16

• More likely to turn to all-male street gangs as a source of masculine identity ‘compensatory compulsory masculinity’

Question 17

What is Heidensohn view on patriarchal control?

Answer 17

• Women are conformists as they commit fewer and less serious crimes
• Patriarchal society imposes greater control over women

Question 18

How does women control at home reduces their opportunities to commit crime?

Answer 18

• Women’s domestic role imposes severe restrictions on their time and movement and confines them to the house (Dobash and Dobash)

Question 19

How does women control in public reduces their opportunities to commit crime?

Answer 19

• Controlled in public by the threat or fear of male violence against them (54% avoid going out after dark)
• Controlled by their fear of being defined as not respectable (Lees notes that boys reinforce this by verbal abuse)

Question 20

How does women control at work reduces their opportunities to commit crime?

Answer 20

• Sexual harassment is widespread and helps keep women ‘in their place’
• Women’s subordinate position reduces their opportunities to engage in major criminal activity

Question 21

What is Hirschi’s control theory?

Answer 21

Humans are controlled by being offered a ‘deal’ of rewards for conforming to social norms, people turn to crime if they do not believe these rewards will be forthcoming

Question 22

What was Carlen’s study on class and gender deals?

Answer 22

• Conducted interviews on 39 women who had been convicted of crimes most were WC
• Carlen argues that WC women are led to conform to the promise of the class deal (offered material rewards) and gender deal (material and emotional rewards from conforming to gender norms)
• If these rewards weren’t available or not worth the effort crime becomes more likely

Question 23

How was Carlen and Heidensohn criticised?

Answer 23

• Control theory and feminism can be accused of seeing women’s behaviour as determined by external forces and not free will

Question 24

What is the concept of the liberation thesis put forward by Adler?

Answer 24

If women weren’t under patriarchal control which prevents them from deviating then its logical to assume if society was less patriarchal their crimes rates would be similar to men

Question 25

How does Adler support her thesis?

Answer 25

• Women’s increased self confidence and assertiveness has led to more women committing ‘male’ offences (girl gangs)

Question 26

What is a criticism of the liberation thesis?

Answer 26

• Female crime rate has been rising in the 1950s long before women’s liberation movement

Question 27

What statistic did Hand and Dodd find between 2000 and 2008?

Answer 27

Females arrested for violence rose by 17% each year

Question 28

What is ‘net widening’ in the criminalisation of females?

Answer 28

• There has been no change in women’s involvement in violent crime
• The rise of arrests is due to the justice system ‘widening the net’

Question 29

What are the gender differences between homicide victims and victims of violence by the CSEW?

Answer 29

• Homicide victims are 70% male, female victims are more likely to know their killer
• Fewer women then men are victims of violence (only 8% of females report sexual assault)

Question 30

How does masculinity link with male crime?

Answer 30

• Messerschmidt argues that masculinity is a social construct and an ‘accomplishment’
• Different masculinities co-exist the dominant one being hegemonic masculinity

Question 31

What are the different crimes MC and WC commit to achieve hegemonic masculinity according to Messerschmidt?

Answer 31

• MC commit white collar crime and corporate crime compared to WC street robbery etc

Question 32

What is a criticism of Messerschmidt?

Answer 32

Is masculinity an explanation of male crime or just a description of male offenders?

Question 33

What does Winlow argue as an explanation for male crime?

Answer 33

Globalisation and de-industrialisation mean that men now achieve masculinity through participation in a combination of paid work and and crime in the night-time economy