Gender and crime Flashcards
What is theory one of gender and crime?
Underreported and unnoticed
Typically female crimes such as shoplifting
Less likely to be reported and noticed and compared to sexual or violent crimes
What is a statistic for theory one?
4% of the total population in prison are women.
What is theory two of gender and crime?
Chivalry thesis
Polack
Women are more likely to be treated leniently by formal control agencies
What are statistics to support theory two?
Police force - 65% men
High court judges - 84% men
What is the chivalry thesis?
Men are socialised to be chivalrous to women
- protective
- paternalistic
What evidence supports the chivalry thesis?
Official stats
Females get
- more bail
- less custodial sentences
- shorter prison sentences
Who goes against the chivalry thesis?
Heidenshon
What does heidenson say?
Women are judged on standards of society and ‘double deviance’
What is theory three of gender and crime?
Sex role theory
Parsons
Sociobiological approach
Due to biology and process of natural socialisation
Women are nurturing and so are incapable/do not want to commit crime
What is female socialisation?
Expressive role
caring and nurturing
reduces likelyhood of causing harm later on
What is male socialisation?
Traditional role
Dominant
Young boys look for models for masculine/agressive outlets
so reject feminine forms of behaviour.
What is theory four of gender and crime?
Heidenson
Patriarchal control
Women have atleadt one male figure who doesn’t want them to commit crime
Men tend to control women
Restricted from committing crime
glass ceiling effect.
What are criticisms of theory four?
isn’t up to date
- higher divorce rates
- less marriage
undermines women’s freewill
women’s behaviour is too determined by external factors
What is theory five of gender and crime?
Carlen
Class and gender roles
Working class are more likely to commit crime
What was Carlens study?
Untructured interviews
tape recorded
Young women engaged with crime
What were the two deals Carlen found?
Class deal
Gender deal
What is the class deal?
If you work hard you are financially rewarded
She found that those who had the class deal denied it denied them power, lead to more poverty and resorted to crime.
What is the gender deal?
if you are a good mother and wife you will be treated well.
When women complied with social expectations they saw few rewards
They were subject to abuse if roles weren’t adhered to
What did Carlen find?
poverty and disorganised family were the primary factors of women’s criminality.
What are negatives of theory five?
Undermines free will
lacks validity as it is a small sample
only focuses on working class.
What is theory six of gender and crime?
Adler
Liberalisation theory
Women are becoming more equal in society
They now commit as more/more crime
Patriarchal control is weaker
Are women committing more?
Victimisation of females
- victim surveys don’t match police stats
- caught more in net wideningng less serious crimes
Media show women as acting disorderly influencers criminal justicee system and sentencing.
what did Messerschmidt?
hegemonic masculinity
mean strive for masculinity and obtain where they can
crime and deviance are a masculine resource
men use it in different ways
How do white middle class men use crime?
subordination in schools leads to masculinity founded outside of school via minor deviance
