Gender and Crime

Question 1

Pollak

Women getting away with crime

Answer 1

• Males commit more crime= myth, caused by differences in type of crime committed
• Biological element= women are compelled to commit certain crime due to hormones/menstrual cycle, causing emotional disturbance and low self- esteem (women= bio devious)
• Women use environment to conceal crime, manipulate men to commit crime for them, chivalry thesis= women treated leniently

Question 2

Chivalry thesis

Answer 2

• Criminal justice system has a paternalistic/induglent attitude towards women (seen as vulnerable, child-like)
• Male police officers let women off with cautions/warnings

Question 3

Speed and Burrows

Chivalry thesis

Answer 3

• 2004-5 review found male offenders were 2x likely to receive custodial sentence for shoplifting than women

Question 4

Klein

Chivalry thesis

Answer 4

• Chivalry thesis is racist/classist- only applicable to white, middle class women

Question 5

Heidensohn

Chivalry thesis

Answer 5

• Female offenders who conform to traditional feminine stereotypes/ behaviour may be treated more leniently

Question 6

Carlen

Chivalry thesis

Answer 6

• Female role as a mother is accounted for much more than a male’s role as a father in sentencing

Question 7

Farrington and Morris

Chivalry thesis

Answer 7

• Found evidence that women received less severe punishment and that female offenders are more likely to be first time offenders, to plead guilty, and to have committed a less serious form of the offence

Question 8

Headerman and Gunby

Chivalry thesis

Answer 8

• Found awareness that female offenders have more complex problems
• Much female crime is related to relationships with men (DV), which act as mitigating factors

Question 9

Procek

Challenge chivalry thesis

Answer 9

• Criminal justice system’s approach to understanding and dealing with female criminals is psychological, i.e. sees depression as a more acceptable explanation than aggression

Question 10

Chesney-Lind

Challenge chivalry thesis

Answer 10

• Female deviance is sexualised (due to lack of morality, women are seen as: easy, out of control)
• Found many more girls were sent to training schools and charged with ‘waywardness’/’immorality’

Question 11

Role of media in female crime

Challenge chivalry thesis

Answer 11

• Evil woman theory
• Serious female offences have gone against female stereotypes, so the criminal is demonised by the media and portrayed as devoid of female traits
• I.e. Myra Hindley media portrayal- worse than her male accomplice

Question 12

Lombroso

Bio explanations

Answer 12

• Bio anomalies are a more significant indicator than social conditions
• Habitual criminality= halfway between the lunatic and the savage
• Most women are genetically less inclined towards crime- natural passivity and lack of intelligence/ initiative to break the law

Question 13

Thomas

Bio explanations

Answer 13

• Men and women possess different personality traits
• Men= active, women= passive
• In later work, women require more social approval/affection (social acceptable way to achieve is via domesticity)
• Poor womenmay refuse submissive role and use sexuality for emotional gain

Question 14

Sutherland

Sex role theory (bio explanations)

Answer 14

• There are clear gender distinctions in terms of socialisation
• Girls= supervised- passive, domesticated, controlled
• Boys= encouraged to take risks, ambitious, extroverted, tough, aggressive- so more opportunity/inclination to commit crime

Question 15

Parsons

Sex role theory (bio explanations)

Answer 15

• Gender distinctions in the nuclear family
• Father= instrumental role- leader, provider
• Mother= expressive role- emotional support, socialises children
• Boys= ‘status anxiety’ occurs due to difficulty identifying with the correct sex, causing exaggerated masculinity and ultimately criminality

Question 16

Smart

Feminist explanations

Answer 16

• Girls face stricter social control/socialisatio
• How often and where girls go out is caused by exaggerated parental fears about safety- prisoners in their own homes
• Stranger sexual attacks are rare
• Boys are more likely to be victims of physical attacks
• Male crime= role-expressive (extension of the male role- protector, provider, dominant aggressor)
• Female crime= role-distorting (goes against expectations of feminine role= nurturer/carer)

Question 17

Heidensohn

Feminist explanations

Answer 17

• Women experience 4 forms of social control
  1) At home (expectation to be the housewife/mother)
  2) In public (linked to notions of reputation)
  3) At work (dual burden- Oakley)
  4) In social policy (welfare/benefits reinforce women’s role as primary carers)

Question 18

Carlen

Feminist explantions

Answer 18

• Challenges control theory
• Cost of crime outweighs the benefits for women
• Most likely female offenders are those brought up outside the ideology which reinforces the generally deal, and marginalised women)

Question 19

Adler

Changes in female crime

Answer 19

• ‘Liberation’= main cause for increse in female crime
• Equality means women possess more masculine behaviours
• As women leave the domestic sphere, they have more opportunity to commit crime

Question 20

Jackson

Changes in female crime

Answer 20

• More prevelance and acceptance of ‘laddish behaviour’ amongst girls
• Rise of the ‘ladettes’ (smoke, drink, swear, being loud)

Question 21

Denscombe

Changes in female crime

Answer 21

• Teenage girls adopt traditionally ‘male values’, such as control and risk taking

Question 22

Criticism of Adler’s ‘Liberation thesis

Changes in female crime

Answer 22

• Her stat evidence= challenged
• As female crime rates were low, even small rises in female crime would appear a large percentage increase
• Home Office Crime Stats for England and Wales= prosecutions and convictions fell for both genders between 2009-2013= males accounted for 82% arrests and 75% convictions

Question 23

Chesney-Lind

Changes in female crime

Answer 23

• Poor/marginalised women are more likely to be criminals

Question 24

James and Thornton

Changes in female crime

Answer 24

• Female prisoners are more likely to be from impoverished and uneducated backgrounds

Question 25

Gelsthorpe

Changes in female crime

Answer 25

• 150% rise in female prisoners between 1994-2004
• Only partly due to an increase in female crime
• Largely due to shifts in sentencing policy

Question 26

Messershcmidt

Male crime

Answer 26

• Hegemonic masculinity (competitive individualism, aggression, violence)
• Youth crime is a means of ‘doing masculinity’
• Younger males may do this through: gaining a violent reputation, sexual conquests, being hard, taking part in dares/pranks

Question 27

Mosher

Male crime

Answer 27

• Hypermasculinity (dangerousness, acceptance of violence)
• Young men display masculinity, and thus enhance his status, i.e. carrying gun, sexist banter, wearing gang-style clothing

Question 28

Baird

Male crime

Answer 28

• Young males tend to reproduce existing versions of masculinity they are exposed to growing up
• Violence/gangs= dependent on family support, ability to form ‘socialisation spaces’, avoid ‘gang male role model system’

Question 29

Winlow

Male crime

Answer 29

• W/c masculinity in Sunderland
• 1980s mass unemployment left many young males without breadwinner status, and violence became more a significant way of expressing masculinity
• New masculine careers (drug dealing, protection rackets)= criminality has become an entrepreneurial concern (money-making)