Gender , Crime And Justice Flashcards
Gender patterns in crime using official statistics ?
-4 out of 5 convicted In england and Wales are male
-by the age 40 , 9% of females have a criminal conviction against 32% of males
-a higher proportion of female than male offenders are convicted of property offences except burglary
-a higher proportion of male than female offenders are convicted of violence or sexual offences
-males are more likely to be repeat offends , to have longer criminal careers and to commit more serious crimes .for example , men are 15 times more likely to be convicted of homicide
What are 2 arguments that have been put forward to support the view that women do in fact commit more crime ?
-typically “female” crimes are less likely to be reported . For example , shoplifting is less likely to be noticed or reported than violent or sexual crimes which are often committed by men . Similarly prostitution which females are more likely than males to engage in is unlikely to be reported by either party
-even when women’s crimes are detected and reported , they are less likely to be prosecuted or if they are prosecuted they are likely to be let off relatively lightly
What is the name of a thesis that suggests women do commit more crime ?
Chivalry thesis
What is the chivalry thesis ?
The chivalry thesis is where the criminal justice system system is more lenient with women and so their crimes are less likely to end up as official statistics . This in turn gives am invalid picture that exaggerates the extend of gender differences in rates of offending
What does Pollak argue regarding women less likely to be prosecuted - chivalry thesis ?
Pollak argues that men have a protective attitude towards women and men hate to accuse women and thus send them to their punishment , police officers dislike to arrest women , judges to find them guilty and so on
How do self report studies back up the chivalry thesis ?
Self report studies support the chivalry thesis because where individuals are asked about what crimes they have committed does suggest that female offenders are treated more leniently
How does Graham and Bowling’s study support the chivalry thesis ?
Graham and Bowling’s study supports the chivalry thesis by ;
Conducted a research sample of 1,721 14-25 year olds and found that although males were more likely to offend , the difference was smaller than that recorded in official statistics
They found that males were 2.33 more likely to admit to having committed an offence in the previous 12 months whereas the official statistics show males as 4 times more likely to offend
How did flood page et al study support the chivalry thesis ?
Flood page Et al found that 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
However , how are some ways court / official statistics can support the chivalry thesis include Hoods’s findings ?
-Females are more likely than males to be released on bail rather than remain in custody
-females are more likely to receive a fine or community sentence and less likely to be sent to prison . Women on average receive shorter prison sentences
-only 1 in 9 female offenders receive a prison sentence for shoplifting but 1 in 5 males
-Hoods study of over 3,000 defendants found that women were about one third less likely to be jailed in similar cases
Evidence against the Chivalry thesis - Farrington and Morris ?
Farrington and morris study of sentencing of 408 offences of theft in magistrates court found that women more not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences
Evidence against the Chivalry thesis - Box ?
Box review of British and American self report studies also concludes that women who commit serious offences are not treated more leniently / favourably than men
Evidence against the chivalry thesis - self report studies ?
Self report studies provide evidence that makes commit more offences , for example , young men are more likely than females to report binge drinking , taking illegal drugs , engaging in disorderly conduct
Evidence against the chivalry thesis - under reporting of male crimes against women , evidence from yearnshire about domestic violence against women ?
The chivalry thesis ignores the fact that many male crimes do go unreported . For example in 2012 , only 8% of females who had been victims of a serious sexual assault reported it to the police
Yearnshire found that a women typically suffers 35 assaults before reporting domestic violence
What are some reasons that women may appear to be treated more leniently ?
Some reasons that women may appear to be treated more leniently than men is ;
-may be simply because their offences are less serious
-women crime less serious and less likely to go to trial
-women offenders also seem more likely to show remorse , which may explain why they are more likely to receive a caution instead of going to court
How do double standards apply to bias against women ?
Double standards - courts punish girls but not boys for premature or promiscuous sexual activity
