Gender and crime Flashcards

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1
Q

what are some official statistics about gender and crime?

A
  • 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
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2
Q

what is the likeliness of men to do certain things?

A

60x more likely of sex offences
14x more likely of robbery
13x more likely of possession of a weapon
8x more likely of violence

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3
Q

what is the most common offence among women?

A
  • theft from shops

- 1/3 of women in prison are there for theft and handling stolen goods

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4
Q

what does the concept chivalry mean?

A

men are socialised to be softer and more protective towards females and harder on other males

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5
Q

what was argued about the chivalry thesis?

A

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
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6
Q

what does the chivalry thesis mean for women?

A
  • 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
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7
Q

how do functionalists explain lower crime rates for women?

A

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
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8
Q

how does feminist Carlen (1998) explain the gender differences in crime?

A

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
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9
Q

according to feminist Henderson how is gender differences in crime explained?

A

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
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10
Q

what is control at home?

A
  • 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
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11
Q

what is control in public?

A
  • 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

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12
Q

what is control at work?

A
  • sexual harassment helps keep women ‘in place’

- glass ceiling reduces opportunities to engage in crime

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13
Q

how could sex control theory explain male criminality?

A
  • men socialised into masculine identities
  • boys have more freedom
  • exposed to more criminal opportunities
  • turn to gangs when lack father figure (perverse intensive)
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14
Q

how could control theory explain male criminality?

A
  • men dominate public space where most crime is committed
  • face fewer controls
  • unlike women, crime may enhance a mans reputation
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15
Q

whats a limitation of the control theory?

A

march of progress

  • control of women has decreased
  • there’s been progress in women achieving greater freedom
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16
Q

what are weaknesses of class and gender deals?

A
  • 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
17
Q

what stats support growing female criminality?

A
  • 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
18
Q

what is the name of the explanation for increase in female criminality?

A

liberation thesis

19
Q

describe the liberation thesis

A

Adler (1975):

  • women become liberated from the control of patriarchal ideology
  • their crimes will become as frequent and serious as mens
20
Q

how does girls have more freedom increase female criminality?

A
  • 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
21
Q

how has women adopting male work roles increased female criminality?

A
  • more work = more freedom
  • more exposed to corporate crime
  • can be used as femme fatale
  • taking revenge on men for patriarchy
22
Q

what other reason does Denscombe (2001) give for increased female criminality?

A
  • increased ladette culture
  • young women adopt ladish behaviour
  • identify themselves through binge drinking, gang culture, risk taking and peer related violence
23
Q

what is the masculinity thesis?

A

Messerschmidt (1993):

  • men turn to crime to assert masculinity when legitimate ways are blocked
  • e.g breadwinner or stable job
24
Q

what are the 2 types of masculinity?

A

hegemonic: competitive, strong, provider
subordinate: feminine, emotional

25
Q

how does the construct of masculinity vary?

A
  • 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
26
Q

how would a business man achieve masculinity compared to a man with no power at work?

A

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
27
Q

what are the weaknesses of the masculinity thesis?

A
  • ignores structural explanations e.g poverty
  • idea of masculinity may very across age and social class
  • ignores crimes of subordinate masculines
28
Q

what has globalisation led to in the economy?

A
  • a shift from a modern industrial society to a postmodern industrialised society
  • heavy industry has declined
29
Q

how has globalisation negatively affected men?

A
  • decrease in traditional manual jobs

- w/c men used these to express masculinity and gain respect/ status

30
Q

how has globalisation positively affected men?

A
  • 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
31
Q

what postmodernist study supported masculinity and crime and globalisation?

A

winlow’s study of bouncers in sunderland (2005)

32
Q

describe Winlow’s study

A
  • 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
33
Q

what method is used to study the relationship between victim and offender?

A
  • large scale national victim surveys

- e.g crime survey for england and wales

34
Q

which group tends to be victims of homocide?

A
  • 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
35
Q

which group tends to be victims of domestic violence?

A
  • 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
36
Q

which groups tend to be victims of sexual assault?

A
  • 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
37
Q

what is meant by mismatch between fear and risk?

A
  • women have a greater fear of crime but less risk of victimisation
38
Q

what is a weakness of the idea of mismatch between fear and risk?

A

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