Gender Crime and Justice Flashcards
Functional sex role theory(explanation of female crime
Focuses on differences in socialisation of males and femals.For example, boys are encouraged to be tough aggressive and risk taking and this can meant they are more disposed to commit acts of violence.
Parsons Men take instrumental role and women take expressive role.
gives girls access to an adult role model. He argues it tends to mean that boys reject feminine models of behaviour that express gentlessness. Boys engage in complusory masculinity through aggrression which causes acts of delinquency.
Socialisation is more difficult for boyss. According to chohen this relative lack of an adult role model means boys are more likely to turn to all male street gangs as a source of masculine idetitnywhichlinks to subculutural groups as status is earned by acts of toughness. Similarly new right aruge matrifocal lone parent families lead to boys to turn to gangs as a sourc eof status and identity.
criticsims of functionals sex role theory
Parson assumes that because women have biological capacity to bear children they are best suited to the expressive role.
Heidoshn Control Theory
Heindoshn Patriarchal control
Argues women’s behaviour is conformist and that their patriarchal position in society makes their crime rates lower than men’s.
* Control at home- women’s domestic role involves constant housework and childcare: means they’re always in the house and have less
opportunities to offend.
* Control in public- by the threat of/acts of male violence against them, meaning women fear staying out at night. They’re also controlled by fear of
not being respected- will avoid pubs so they’re not seen negatively- therefore they avoid sites of crime and cannot commit crimes like sex work. 54% of women fear of goin
* Control at work- women’s behaviour is controlled by male managers/supervisors-sexual harassment keeping them ‘in their place’. This limits
women from top positions that would enable them to commit white collar/corporate crimes.
Eval:shows may patrrchal controls that help prevent women from deviating
however can be accused of seeing womens behaviour determined by external forces such as patriarchal controls
Liberation Thesis
Women’s crime is on the rise because they are becoming
more free from patriarchal society.
* Less discrimination paired with more work/education
opportunities mean women now have traditionally male
roles that give them access to illegitimate opportunity
structures.
* This means women don’t just commit ‘female’ crimes like
shoplifting and prostitution, but ‘male’ crimes too like
violence and white collar crime.
* EG: both female offending and share of offences rates
went up in the second 1⁄2 of the 20th century- time were
things like Equality Act were liberating women, women’s
shift to crimes like embezzlement and rise of girl gangs in
2010s.
Criticisms of Explanation of female crime
Female crime rates were rising in the ‘50s, women’s
liberation emerged in the ‘60s.
* Even though women are now involved in ‘male’ crime like
drugs, it’s linked to prostitution which isn’t liberated.
* Most offenders are WC, the group least affected by
liberation.
* Laidler & Hunt (2001)- little proof of illegitimate structure
being opened to women- females in gangs still expected
to conform to conventional gender roles
Chivarly Thesis
Most CJS are men and are socialised into acting in a “chivalrous” way towards women
Pollack states men have a protective attitude thereby criminal justice system is more lenient with women and so their crimes are less likely to end up in official statistics. Gives an invalid picture that exaggerates the extent of gender differences in rates of offending.
For-Court stats- females more likely to get bail, or a
fine/community sentence instead of incarceration.
Against: Double deviance thesis- women are treated more
harshly by courts because they’ve deviated from both law
and gender norms (EG: Myra Hindley).
statistics of female crime
9% of women have a conviction by age 40,compared to 32% of
males.
Males are more likely to be repeat offenders, havelonger criminal records, and commit more serious crimes.
‘Female’ crimes are less likely to be reported, such asshoplifting going unnoticed compared to male violence.
Carlen :Gender and class deals initially what is it
Carlen study within a unstructured tape interview found that Working class women who was convicted of range of crimes :Prostitution fraud theft. Recognised that there are mostly convicted serious female criminals that are working class
Argues WC women are led to conform through 2 deals.
* Class deal- working women are offered material rewards, decent living standards and leisure opportunities.
* Gender deal- Women conforming to the traditional gender role in return get material and emotional rewards from family life.
this is because the control theory carlen uses she assumed there offered a deal in order to be controlled.
Effects of class and gender deals on females
Carlen argues women turn to crime when the reward
isn’t worth the effort of the deal/deal isn’t available.
* Women in the study who failed to get the class
deal felt powerless and oppressed- 32 of them
were always in poverty, some found prison
qualifications still didn’t get them a job.
* Women in study found gender deal to have
disadvantages or never had the opportunities to
make the deal- some were abused by
fathers/experiences domestic violence, others
spent time in care which broke family bonds.
criticisms of class and gender deals
Control theory and feminism can be accused of seeing womens behaviour as determined by external forces such as patriarchal controls or class and gender deals.
Carlens sample was small and may be unrepresentative consisting as it did largely of working class offendors
a statistic to support Adlers liberalisation thesis
Hand & Dodd (2009)- between 2000-08, female arrests for violence
rose by 17%/year-
Female and Violent crime
Evidence from other sources that dont match up The rise in arrests still doesn’t match victim surveys, as they don’t report a rise in attacks by females.
* Net widening- there hasn’t been a rise in female crime, the justice
system has just started arresting women for less serious offences than
before.
This concern about rising female crime may just be a moral panic about girls’
behaviour, as media depictions showed them as drunk and disorderly/out of
control/looking for fights.
Gender and Victimisation
Homicide-victims 70% men, and female victims are more likely to know
their killer as 60% of the time it was a partner/ex-partner.
* Violence- overall men are mostly victims, but more women are victims
of intimate violence (domestic, sexual assault, stalking).
This suggests that even though men are the victims more, females have a
greater fear of being a victim.
