Gender and crime Flashcards
what are some official statistics about gender and crime?
- in most countries men commit more crime than females
England and wales (2014):
- men accounted for 3/4 of all p’s convicted
- 85% of those convicted for indictable charges and 95% of prisioners
what is the likeliness of men to do certain things?
60x more likely of sex offences
14x more likely of robbery
13x more likely of possession of a weapon
8x more likely of violence
what is the most common offence among women?
- theft from shops
- 1/3 of women in prison are there for theft and handling stolen goods
what does the concept chivalry mean?
men are socialised to be softer and more protective towards females and harder on other males
what was argued about the chivalry thesis?
Pollack (1950)
- women are treated in a paternalistic way by police
- so they’re treated more leniently
- women are naturally more skilled than men at deceiving p’s
- derived from women hiding menstruation due to traditional taboos
what does the chivalry thesis mean for women?
- they’re seen as less guilty
- they’re seen as more vulnerable and in need of protection
- men need to be more lenient against them
how do functionalists explain lower crime rates for women?
sex role theory:
- gender role socialisation = women adopt feminine characteristics
- e.g emotional, caring, less aggressive
- female values don’t condemn crime in any way
- Parsons: child bearing gives girls a female role model to emphasis female characteristics
how does feminist Carlen (1998) explain the gender differences in crime?
class and gender deals:
- class deal: material goods that arise from payed work
- gender deal: accepting long term relationships for material and emotional support
- these deals aren’t available to all women e,g unemployment / abusive relationships
- some choose crime to live
according to feminist Henderson how is gender differences in crime explained?
control theory:
- social control deters women from crime in 3 ways:
- control at home, public and work
- all these put pressure to conform
- they have more to lose than gain by breaking the law
what is control at home?
- domestic roles create restrictions on time/ movement
- reduced opportunities for crime
- attempting to reject domestic roles could = domestic violence
- teenage girls are more supervised = bedroom culture
- reduces their chance of getting into trouble
what is control in public?
- women controlled by threat/ fear of male violence
- 54% of women avoided going out after dark for fear of being victims of crime vs 14% of men
what is control at work?
- sexual harassment helps keep women ‘in place’
- glass ceiling reduces opportunities to engage in crime
how could sex control theory explain male criminality?
- men socialised into masculine identities
- boys have more freedom
- exposed to more criminal opportunities
- turn to gangs when lack father figure (perverse intensive)
how could control theory explain male criminality?
- men dominate public space where most crime is committed
- face fewer controls
- unlike women, crime may enhance a mans reputation
whats a limitation of the control theory?
march of progress
- control of women has decreased
- there’s been progress in women achieving greater freedom
what are weaknesses of class and gender deals?
- ignores non utilitarian crimes
- class and gender deals can also be applied to men
- can’t apply to m/c women in stable relationships
- ignores increase in ladette culture
what stats support growing female criminality?
- men responsible for 11x more crimes than women (1957)
- men responsible for 3x more crime than women (2014)
- number of crimes by girls 10 - 17 went up to 25% in england and wales between 2004 and 2010
- increase in female arrests
- increase female convictions for violent crimes
what is the name of the explanation for increase in female criminality?
liberation thesis
describe the liberation thesis
Adler (1975):
- women become liberated from the control of patriarchal ideology
- their crimes will become as frequent and serious as mens
how does girls have more freedom increase female criminality?
- exposed to criminal opportunities
- more likely to fall into wrong group
- negative influence of social media
- adrenaline rush of something new
- peer pressure
- need to be able to defend themselves e.g carry knife
how has women adopting male work roles increased female criminality?
- more work = more freedom
- more exposed to corporate crime
- can be used as femme fatale
- taking revenge on men for patriarchy
what other reason does Denscombe (2001) give for increased female criminality?
- increased ladette culture
- young women adopt ladish behaviour
- identify themselves through binge drinking, gang culture, risk taking and peer related violence
what is the masculinity thesis?
Messerschmidt (1993):
- men turn to crime to assert masculinity when legitimate ways are blocked
- e.g breadwinner or stable job
what are the 2 types of masculinity?
hegemonic: competitive, strong, provider
subordinate: feminine, emotional
how does the construct of masculinity vary?
- takes places in different contexts w/ different methods
- depends on males access to power and resources
- more powerful males achieve masculinity differently to less powerful males
how would a business man achieve masculinity compared to a man with no power at work?
business man:
- financial manipulation at home
- drinking with other business men
- paying p’s for silence
- sexual harassment of female assistants
man with now poer;
- domestic violence
- strong patriarchal father figure
what are the weaknesses of the masculinity thesis?
- ignores structural explanations e.g poverty
- idea of masculinity may very across age and social class
- ignores crimes of subordinate masculines
what has globalisation led to in the economy?
- a shift from a modern industrial society to a postmodern industrialised society
- heavy industry has declined
how has globalisation negatively affected men?
- decrease in traditional manual jobs
- w/c men used these to express masculinity and gain respect/ status
how has globalisation positively affected men?
- increase in service sector jobs e.g clubs, pubs
- this provides young w/c men with legal work and criminal opportunities
- e.g money laundering/ spiking drinks
what postmodernist study supported masculinity and crime and globalisation?
winlow’s study of bouncers in sunderland (2005)
describe Winlow’s study
- sunderland - area of de-industrialisation and unemployment
- being a bouncer provides legitimate work, masculinity status and ways to organised crime
- e.g drug dealing, protection rackets
- to maintain reputation, bouncers must maintain ‘body capital’ (physical appearance)
- they can be violent and display masculinity and earn a living
what method is used to study the relationship between victim and offender?
- large scale national victim surveys
- e.g crime survey for england and wales
which group tends to be victims of homocide?
- 70% of victims are male
- females more likely to know killer, partner/ ex partner 60% of time
- men more likely to be killed by friend or acquaintance
which group tends to be victims of domestic violence?
- more women are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking than men
- 31% vs 18%
- 10x more women report being sexually assaulted by men
which groups tend to be victims of sexual assault?
- only 8% of women who experience serious sexual assault report it
- 1/3 of those who didn’t report believed police couldn’t do much about it
what is meant by mismatch between fear and risk?
- women have a greater fear of crime but less risk of victimisation
what is a weakness of the idea of mismatch between fear and risk?
lea and young:
- found women are at greater risk than men
Sparks (1977):
- female victims of violence may be more likely to refuse to be interviewed
- victim surveys don’t convey frequency or severity of victimisation
