Gender, Crime and Justice

Question 1

Briefly outline four patterns of crime in relation to gender.

Answer 1

• 4/5 convicted offenders (E+W) are male.
• By the age of 40, 9% of females have a criminal conviction, as against 32% of males.
• Higher proportion of females are convicted of property offences (except burglary). Higher proportion of males are convicted of violence or sexual assault.
• Males are more likely to be repeat offenders, to have longer criminal careers + to commit more serious crimes. E.g men: 15x more likely to be convicted of homicide.

Question 2

Briefly outline two arguments put forward to suggest that statistics underestimate the amount of female crime.

Answer 2

• ‘Female’ crimes less likely to be reported. e.g shoplifting: less likely to be noticed or reported than violent/sexual crimes committed by men. Similarly prostitution: unlikely to be reported by either party.
• Women are less likely to be prosecuted or, if prosecuted, more likely to be let off relatively lightly.

Question 3

Briefly outline what is meant by the chivalry thesis.

Answer 3

Most criminal justice agents - such as police officers, magistrates and judges - are men, and men are socialised to act in a ‘chivalrous’ way towards women.

Question 4

How do self-report studies support the chivalry thesis?

Answer 4

Flood-Page et al: while only 1 in 11 female self-reported offenders had been cautioned or prosecuted, the figure for males was over 1 in 7 self reported offenders.

Question 5

Briefly outline three ways in which official statistics support the chivalry thesis.

Answer 5

• Females: more likely than males to be released on bail rather than remanded in custody.
• Females: more likely to receive a fine or community sentence, and less likely to be sent to prison. Women on average receive shorter prison sentences.
• One in nine female offenders receive a prison sentence for shoplifting, but one in five males.

Question 6

Identify three statistics that can be used as evidence against the chivalry thesis.

Answer 6

• Farrington and Morris’ study of sentencing of 408 offences of theft in a magistrates court found that women weren’t sentences more leniently for comparable offences.
• Box’s review of British and American self-report studies concludes that women who commit serious offences are not treated more favourably.
• Buckle and Farrington’s observational study of shoplifting in a department store witnessed twice as many males shoplifting as females. Suggests women more likely to be prosecuted than men.

Question 7

How do self-report studies provide evidence against the chivalry thesis?

Answer 7

Young men: more likely to report binge drinking, taking illegal drugs or engaging in disorderly conduct.

Hales et al: they were significantly more likely to have been offenders in all major offence categories.

Other studies: gender gap increases as offences become more serious.

Question 8

Briefly explain how the under-reporting of male crimes against women provides evidence against the chivalry thesis.

Answer 8

• Ignores the fact that many male crimes don’t get reported.
• E.g: In 2012, only 8% of females who had been victims of a serious sexual assault reported it to the police.
• Yearnshire: A woman typically sufferes 35 assaults before reporting domestic violence.

Question 9

Briefly explain how the under-reporting of crimes of the powerful provides evidence against the chivalry thesis.

Answer 9

• Underrepresented in self-report and victim surveys.

- More likely to be committed by men by virtue of their more privileged position in the job market.

Question 10

What reason might there be for women being treated more leniently by the criminal justice system?

Answer 10

• Their offences are less serious.
• E.g: Lower rate of prosecutions of females as compared with their self reported offending may be because the crimes they admit to are less serious and less likely to go to trial.
• Women: more likely to show remorse (caution instead of court).

Question 11

Briefly explain two ways in which the courts may treat women more harshly, according to Heidensohn.

Answer 11

• Double standards: Courts punish girls (not boys) for premature or promiscuous sexual activity. Sharpe: analysis of 55 youth worker records, 7 out of 11 girls were referred because they were sexually active, but none out of 44 boys.
• Women who don’t conform to accepted standards of monogamous heterosexuality and motherhood are punished more harshly. Stewart: magistrates’ perceptions of female defendants’ characters were based on stereotypical gender roles.

Question 12

According to Carlen, why are women more likely to be jailed?

Answer 12

Scottish judges were much more likely to jail women whose children were in care than women they saw as good mothers.

Question 13

According to Walklate, what do women have to prove in rape trials?

Answer 13

Their respectability in order to have their evidence accepted.

Question 14

According to Adler, why might some women not be believed in court?

Answer 14

Women who are deemed to lack respectability, such as single parents, punks and peace protesters, find it difficult to have their testimony believed by the court.

Question 15

Give an example to explain how gender role socialisation may explain gender differences in crime.

Answer 15

Boys are encouraged to be tough, aggressive and risk taking, and this can mean they’re more disposed to commit acts of violence.

Question 16

According to Parsons, how do gender roles in the nuclear family help to explain gender differences in crime?

Answer 16

• Boys reject feminine models of behaviour that express emotion.
• Instead they distance themselves from such models by engaging in ‘compensatory compulsory masculinity’ through aggression which could lead to deviance.

Question 17

According to Cohen, what is the effect of the lack of a male role model on boys?

Answer 17

Boys are more likely to turn to all-male street gangs as a source of masculine identity.

Question 18

According to the New Right, what is the effect on boys of living in a matrifocal lone parent family?

Answer 18

Leads to boys turning to criminal street gangs as a source of status and identity.

Question 19

Briefly explain Walklate’s criticism of sex role theory.

Answer 19

• Criticises it for its biological assumptions.
• Parsons assumes that because women have the biological capacity to bear children, they’re better suited to the expressive role.

Question 20

According to Heidensohn, what is striking about women’s behaviour?

Answer 20

• How conformist it is.
• They commit fewer and less serious crimes than men.
• Heidensohn: patriarchal society imposes greater control over women which reduces their opportunities to offend.
• Patriarchal control operates: home, public, work.

Question 21

Briefly explain how control at home reduces women’s opportunities to offend.

Answer 21

Women domestic role restricts their time, movement and confines them to the house for long periods.

Question 22

According to Dobash and Dobash, how are men able to control women in the home?

Answer 22

• Many violent attacks result from men’s dissatisfaction with their wives’ performance of domestic duties.
• Also: financial power. Deny women funds for leisure activity restricting their time outside the home.

Question 23

Briefly explain what is meant by ‘bedroom culture’ and how this affects opportunities for deviance.

Answer 23

Girls: Less likely to be allowed to come and go as they please or stay out late. Required to do more housework than boys.
Result: They develop a ‘bedroom culture’, socialising at home with their friends rather than in public. Therefore have less opportunity to engage in deviant acts on the street.

Question 24

Briefly outline how the following control women in public places:

• The threat of violence
• Media reporting

Answer 24

• The threat of violence: Islington Crime Survey found that 54% of women avoided going out after dark for fear of being victims of crime, against 14% of males.
• Media reporting: Adds to women’s fear. Distorted media portrayals of the typical rapist as a stranger who carries out random attacks frightens women into staying indoors.

Question 25

Briefly outline how the following control women in public places:

• Definitions of respectability
• In school

Answer 25

Definitions of respectability: Dress, make-up + ways of speaking/ acting that are defined as inappropriate can gain a girl/woman a ‘reputation’.
E.g: women on their own may avoid going to pubs for fear of being regarded as sexually loose or prostitutes.

In school: Lees - In school, boys maintain control through sexualised verbal abuse, for example labelling girls as ‘slags’ if they fail to conform to gender role expectations.

Question 26

Briefly explain how the following factors control women’s behaviour and opportunity to commit crime in work:

• Sexual harassment
• The ‘glass ceiling’

Answer 26

Sexual harassment: Widespread and keeps women ‘in their place’. Women’s subordinate position reduces their opportunities to engage in major criminal activity at work.

The ‘glass ceiling’: Prevents many women from rising to senior positions where there’s greater opportunity to commit fraud. Result: decreases chances of committing white collar crime.

Question 27

According to Hirschi, how are humans controlled?

Answer 27

• By being offered a ‘deal’, of rewards in return for conforming to social norms.

Question 28

Briefly explain how the class deal leads working-class women to conform.

Answer 28

Women who work will be offered material rewards, with a decent standard of living and leisure opportunities.

Question 29

Briefly explain how the gender deal leads women to conform.

Answer 29

Patriarchal ideology promises women material and emotional rewards from family life by conforming to the norms of a conventional domestic gender role.

Question 30

Give three example of ways in which the women in Carlen’s study had failed to achieve the class deal.

Answer 30

• 32 of them had always been in poverty.
• Some found that qualifications gained in jail had been no help in gaining work upon release. Others had been on training course but still couldn’t get a job.
• Many had experienced problems and humiliations in
  trying to claim benefits.

Question 31

Give three examples of ways in which these women had not achieved the gender deal.

Answer 31

• Some had been physically or sexually abused by their fathers, or subjected to DV by partners.
• Over half had spent time in care, which broke the bonds with family and friends.
• Those leaving or running away from care often found themselves homeless, unemployed and poor.

Question 32

What was Carlen’s conclusion about the women in her study?

Answer 32

• Poverty and being brought up in care or an oppressive family life were the 2 main causes of their criminality.
• Drug+alcohol addiction, and the desire for excitement, were contributory factors, but often stemmed from poverty or care.

Question 33

Briefly outline a criticism of control theory and feminism.

Answer 33

Both can be accused of seeing women’s behaviour as determined by external forces such as patriarchal controls or class and gender deals. Critics argue that this underplays the importance of free will and choices in offending.

Question 34

According to Adler, what will be the impact on female crime rates of women being liberated from patriarchy?

Answer 34

Their crimes will become as frequent and as serious as men’s

Question 35

According to Adler, given the changing structure of society, what will be the changes to the types of crime committed by women?

Answer 35

Women no longer commit ‘female’ crimes such as shoplifting and prostitution. They now also commit typically ‘male’ crimes such as violence and white collar crime.

Question 36

Give three points of evidence in support of Adler’s thesis.

Answer 36

Overall rate of female offending and the female share of offences rose during 2nd half of 20th Century. E.g between 1950s-1990s, female share of offences rose from 1 in 7 to 1 in 6.

Adler: pattern of female crime has shifted. Cites studies showing rising levels of female participation in crimes previously regarded as ‘male’ e.g embezzlement and armed robbery.

Recently: media talk of growth of ‘girl gangs’.
- Denscombe of Midlands teenagers’ self-images found that females were as likely as males to engage in risk-taking behaviour + girls were adopting more ‘male’ stances e.g desire to be in control and look ‘hard’.

Question 37

Briefly outline three criticisms of Adler’s thesis.

Answer 37

• Female crime rate began rising in 1950s (long before women’s liberation movement, which emerged in late 1960s).
• Most female criminals are w/c (group least likely to be influenced by women’s liberation - benefited m/c women much more). Chesney-Lind, USA - poor and marginalised women more likely than liberated women to be criminals.
• Chesney-Lind found evidence of women branching out into more typically male offences e.g drugs. However, usually bc of link with prostitution (a very unliberated offence).

Question 38

What do the statistics appear to suggest about females and violent crime?

Answer 38

Females are increasingly committing typically ‘male’ crimes, since violent offending has traditionally been a male form of crime.

Question 39

What is meant by net widening?

Answer 39

Steffensmeier and Schwartz: No change in women’s involvement in violent crime. Rise in arrests due to justice system ‘widening the net’ - arresting and prosecuting females for less serious forms of violence than previously.

Question 40

According to Chesney-Lind, why has there been a rise in females’ violent crime?

Answer 40

Where a couple fight, both may be arrested, even though it’s likely that the woman is the victim. Females previously ignored by justice system now find themselves being labelled as violent offenders.

Question 41

According to Sharpe and Gelsthorpe, what is the pattern of females’ violent crimes in the UK?

Answer 41

Growing trend towards prosecuting females for low-level physical altercations, even in some cases for playground fights.

Question 42

Briefly explain what Young means by ‘defining deviance up’.

Answer 42

To catch trivial offences in the net.

Question 43

According to Burman and Batchelor, what is the role of the media in the criminlisation of females?

Answer 43

Media depictions of young women as ‘drunk disorderly, out of control and looking for fights’.
Reports featuring binge drinking, girl gangs and so on may be affecting CJS.

Question 44

What do the homicide victim statistics show about differences between male and female victims?

Answer 44

• About 70% are male.
• Female victims: more likely to know their killer + in 60% of these cases, this was a partner or ex-partner.
• Male victims: most likely to be killed by friend or acquaintance.

Question 45

Briefly outline four gender differences between men and women’s likelihood of being a victim of violence.

Answer 45

• Women: most likely to be victimised by an acquaintance, men by a stranger.
• More women than men: victims of intimate violence (domestic abuse, stalking etc) during adult lives (31% vs 18%).
• 10x more women reported having been sexually assaulted than men.
• Only 8% of females who had experienced serious sexual assault reported it to police. 1/3 of those who didn’t report it said they believed police couldn’t do much to help.

Question 46

Why is it difficult to determine whether it is men or women who are more likely to be victims of violent crime?

Answer 46

Research shows women have a greater fear of crime but the CSEW shows they’re less at risk of victimisation.

Question 47

According to Messerschmidt, what is masculinity?

Answer 47

A social construct or ‘accomplishment’ and men have to constantly work at constructing and presenting it to others.

Question 48

Define hegemonic masculinity.

Answer 48

Work in the paid labour market, the subordination of women, heterosexism (i.e difference from and desire for women) and the driven and uncontrollable sexuality of men.

Question 49

Briefly explain what is meant by subordinated masculinities.

Answer 49

Includes gay men, who have no desire to accomplish hegemonic masculinity, as well as l/c and some ethnic minority men, who lack resources to do so.

Question 50

Briefly outline how each of the following groups use rule breaking to demonstrate masculinity:

• White middle-class youths
• White working-class youths
• Black lower working-class youths

Answer 50

White m/c youths: have to subordinate themselves to teacher to achieve m/c status, leading to accommodating masculinity in school. Outside school: masculinity takes oppositional form e.g through drinking and pranks.

White w/c youths: less chance of educational success, so masculinity is oppositional in + out of school. Constructed around sexist attitudes, being tough + opposing teachers authority. Synoptic link: Willis ‘the lads’.

Black lower w/c youths: few expectations of reasonable job + may use gang membership + violence to express masculinity or serious property crime to achieve material success.

Question 51

Briefly outline the impact on jobs of a move from modern to postmodern society.

Answer 51

• Loss of many traditional manual jobs through which w/c males were able to express masculinity (hard labour + providing for families).
• Expansion of the service sector, including clubs, pubs and bars.
• For some w/c this has provided combination of legal employment, lucrative criminal opportunities and ways to express masculinity.

Question 52

According to Winlow, how are bouncers able to demonstrate their masculinity?

Answer 52

Provided paid work and opportunity for illegal business ventures in drugs, duty-free tobacco etc and opportunity to demonstrate masculinity through violence.

Question 53

Briefly explain how the subculture in Sunderland has moved from a violent subculture to a professional criminal subculture?

Answer 53

Always been a violent, conflict subculture in Sunderland, in which ‘hard-men’ earned status through their ability to use violence. However, the absence of a professional criminal subculture meant there was little opportunity for a career in organised crime.

Question 54

Briefly explain what Winlow means by ‘bodily capital’.

Answer 54

To maintain their reputation and employability, the men must use their bodily capital. For example, many of the bouncers seek to develop their physical assets by bodybuilding.

Question 55

What is the importance of Winlow’s study?

Answer 55

• It shows how expression of masculinity changes with move from a modern industrial society to a postmodern de-industrialised one.
• This change opens up new criminal opportunities for men who are able to use violence to express masculinity, by creating conditions for growth of an organised criminal subculture.