GENDER and CRIME Flashcards
GENDER PATTERNS IN CRIME
TYPES of crime by WOMEN:
-property offences: shoplifting
- prostitution
TYPES of crime by MEN:
- violent crime
- assault,
- sexual offences,
- white collar crime
- corporate crime
By the age of 40, 9% of WOMEN have a CRIMINAL CONVICTION compared to 32% of MEN
DEBATE ON GENDER STATISTICS AND CRIME
CHIVALRY THESIS:
(POLLACK)
it is not that women commit less crime than men, it is that they are less likely to be charged or convicted of the crime due to the CJS being made up mostly of men who are brought up to be chivalrous towards them.
EVALUATION:
- women may get treated more leniently as their crimes tend to be less serious.
- women face DOUBLE DEVIANCY in the CJS especially when their crimes go against TRADITIONAL GENDER NORMS
WHY WOMEN COMMIT LESS CRIME:
FUNCTIONAL SEX ROLE THEORY
PARSONS: WOMEN commit LESS crime than men due to the SOCIALISATION that they receive as children and their access to adult role models. COHEN sees that BOYS have LESS access to adult role models in the home so are more likely to turn to all male gangs for masculine identity.
WALKLATE:
makes a biological assumption about the roles of men and women. It assumes that women are the
more nurturing due to childbearing and therefore find their role models in their mothers
CONTROL THEORY:
HEIDENSOHN – women commit less
crime than men due to the amount of
patriarchal control women are
subjected to. This control is in the home,workplace and public arenas which mean that women have less
opportunities to commit crime.
EVALUATION:
Patriarchal control can push people into crimerather than preventing
it. Additionally, EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES could be reducing patriarchal control.
SOCIALISATION:
Women are socialised into being the
“GUARDIANS OF DOMESTIC MORALITY” and so RISK MORE SOCIAL EXCLUSION THEN MEN if they are to COMMIT crime. Therefore WOMEN face a DOUBLE JEOPARDY of being CONDEMNED TWICE, once for COMMITTING the CRIME and once for behaving in a UNFEMININE WAY.
eg LUCY LETBY
INCREASED FEMALE CRIME:
LIBERATION THESIS
(ADLER)
as WOMEN become LIBERATED from the PATRIARCHY, their CRIMES WILL INCREASE and BECOME AS FREQUENT AS MEN’S. WOMEN’S OPPORTUNITIES in EDUCATION and WORK have become MORE EQUAL, therefore WOMEN have BEGUN to ADOPT TRADITIONALLY ‘MALE’ ROLES IN WORK and CRIME, now in SENIOR POSITIONS AT WORK and COMMITTING OFFENCES like CRIMES OF VIOLENCE and WHITE COLLAR CRIME.
EVALUATION: FEMALE CRIME RATE began RISING in the 1950s, BEFORE WOMEN’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT: 1960s. Additionally, MOST FEMALE CRIMINALS are W/C- the GROUP LESS LIKELY TO BE INFLUENCED BY WOMEN’S LIBERATION. In the US, W/C WOMEN ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE CRIMINALS
FEMINISATION OF POVERTY:
Women are MORE LIKELY to be
living under the POVERTY LINE
which can force them into
CRIME (PROSTITUTION, THEFT) in order to make ends meet.
EVALUATION:
NOT ALL WOMEN who live
below the poverty line
TURN to CRIME to SUPPORT
THEIR FAMILY.
Doesn’t explain non-
utilitarian crime.
REASONS FOR MEN’S CRIMES RATE
MASCULINITY THEORY:
Messerschmidt argues that masculinity is an accomplishment that men constantly work at constructing and presenting to others. This is referred to as the hegemonic masculinity, which is the dominant and prestigious form men wish to accomplish. Therefore, Messerschmidt sees crime and deviance as a resource that different men may use to accomplish masculinity.
EVALUATION:
Could be considered a
description of offenders rather
than an explanation.
Not all men commit crime to
accomplish masculinity.
Too far reaching.
GLOBALISATION:
Winlow argues that globalisation had led to a decline in traditional manual jobs in which many working-class males could express their masculinity through. However, there has been an increase in the night-time leisure economy which has provided a combination of legal employment and criminal opportunities to express masculinity.
EVALUATION:
shows how EXPRESSION OF MASCULINITY CHANGES AS SOCIETY DOES, which OPENS UP MORE CRIMINAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEN who USE VIOLENCE TO EXPRESS THEIR MASCULINITY.
