Gender & Crime

Question 1

Gender & Crime Official Statistics

Answer 1

girls & women appear to commit less crime
4/5 convicted offens = male
women m likely to = convicted of theft & property offences
men m likely violence & sexual offences

Question 2

Heidensohn (1985)

Answer 2

noted female crime = invisible / socios assumed female stereos
4 reasons: male dom of offens & socio, socio theorizing, vicarious identification

Question 3

Biological Theory

Answer 3

Lombroso - normal females have disposition that repels them from dev & crim behavs - little sup but = link between hormonal & menstrual factors

Question 4

Sex Role Theory (Socialisation)

Answer 4

from birth = soc that 2 sexes = dif
female = caring passive & domestic
male = tough agressive & sexual conquest
female lack values typic assoc w/ delinq - ladette changes this
even w/ sop lifting & prost argue = soc - fam provider & sexual role

Question 5

Social Control - Heidensohn

Answer 5

women commit less crime bc of ways = ideo controlled
1st = way soc = cemented by shared values
2nd = way bonding occurs w/in relas of fam, peer group & school

Question 6

Social Control - Pat Carlen

Answer 6

H - females conform bc if don’t = unfem behav
PC - located class deals & gender deals - females who = m likely to commit crime = not had / rejected gender deal - in care/thrown out of home/rejected norm fam life

Question 7

Lack of Oppurtunities

Answer 7

= assump bc women in priv world w/ lim access to public lack op
but women occupying roles in workplace & public life
still have less op for crime - Wilkison found in Cal where women were arg equal to men engaged in sim level of White Collar crime

Question 8

Transgression

Answer 8

Smart (1990) - concept of transg crim - to understand crime in P-M soc transg takes us beyond boundaries of conven crimo
considers ideas as diverse as slef imposed curfews, treatment of women as vics, dv, abuse & rape

Question 9

Chivalry Factor

Answer 9

some argue women = m dev than appear = protected by CF by p & Cs
Allen (1987) - mental health explan (inclu PMS) for female crim results in lighter pun
Leonard (1982) - challenges ‘CF’ - bad women treated m harshly than some men

Question 10

Alder (1975) - Increased Female Crime

Answer 10

womens lib inc crime - based on inc juvi crime = lib girls says reflects future crime
Smart (1979) crits seeing juvi crime as reflective of adult crime

Question 11

Box - Increased female crime

Answer 11

Box - inc = poverty X gender = rela between employ of police women & recording of female violent crime - auths = sensitized = m likely to be recorded

Question 12

Messerschmidt (1993)

Answer 12

normative masc = highly valued - have to constantly work for - business can exert control over women in office if not then at home - dv
MC ach edu success at expense of emasculation = accom masc at school - home = oppositional masc - pranks, drinking
WC = op masc in&outside school = m agres - young b males can = sucked into prop & violent crime to enhance hegemonic masc (Connell)
rape & pimping used to exert power over women

Question 13

Agressive Masculinity

Answer 13

may express masc thro crim behav - fighting & football hooliganism
Campbell (1993) young men seek compen for lack of bread winner role thro agres masc - control over tech (stolen cars) public space (streets) & other (asian shop owners & women)

Question 14

Enjoyment of Deviance

Answer 14

Katz (1988) crimo failed to understand role of pleasure - search = meaningful when equated w/in masc stress on status control over others & success - violent crime = seductive undertaken for chaos, thrill & potential danger

Question 15

Women as Victims

Answer 15

sig propor of crime = against women - mainly by men & violent = sig under rep
25% sig violence = in home - 1in 4 women exper = 1 in 10 each year

Question 16

Rape

Answer 16

Home Office (2001) - 1 in 20 women 16-60 = raped 45% by current partner = assoc w/ male power, dom & toughness - not sexual desire
substan num of rapists only aroused after terror & degraded vic
Brownmiller (1975) rape = part of system of male intim to keep women in fear

Question 17

Domestic Violence

Answer 17

Stanko (2000) dv = every 6 secs in Brit
1/4 of all violent crime = doms
45-70% of cases father = violent to child & mother

Question 18

BMA Report on Domestic Violence

Answer 18

m than 1 in 4 women exper dv
1in10 every yr
= punched chocked bitten burning starving knifing & being forced to have sex
m likely to occur during preg

Question 19

Meanings of Domestic Violence

Answer 19

pub admis of dv can make women feel sense of fail
sup for battered parents X always there from police, fam
police prev viewed doms as priv & didn’t intervene - 1990s treated same as other violence

Question 20

Explaining Women as Victims

Answer 20

rela between crime & wider patri soc control of women in soc
trad gender soc - male dom
linke between crisis of masc & crimes against women
mens reac to dem of kabour force & growing econ & culture power of women
sexual obj of women - women as prop

Question 21

Evaluation of Women as Victims

Answer 21

should ref fem as raising awareness
some may ? whether fems have exag male power &/ extent on victimisation
recog soc change - inc level of violent crime by females against female