Gender, Crime And Justice

Question 1

What do official statistics show about gender differences?

Answer 1

A higher proportion of female than male offenders are convicted of property offences, however, a higher proportion of male than female offenders are convicted of violence and sexual offences

Question 2

What two arguments are put forward by sociologists to support the idea that female crime is underestimated?

Answer 2

Typically, female crimes such as shop lifting are less likely to be reported and when women’s crime is detected, they are less likely to be prosecuted

Question 3

Outline the concept behind the chivalry thesis

Answer 3

The thesis argues that most criminal justice agents are men, and men are socialised to act in a ‘chivalrous’ way towards women

Question 4

What is the consequence of the chivalry thesis?

Answer 4

The CJS is more lenient with women and so their crimes are less likely to end up in the official statistics which gives an invalid picture that exaggerates the extent of gender differences in rates of offending

Question 5

How does data from the Ministry of Justice support the Chivalry thesis?

Answer 5

The Ministry of Justice shows that 49% of females recorded as offending received a caution in 2007, whereas for males the figure was only 30%

Question 6

What evidence do Farrington and Morris provide that goes against the chivalry thesis?

Answer 6

In their study of 408 offences of theft in a magistrates court found that women were not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences

Question 7

Give two arguments against the chivalry thesis

Answer 7

Women’s offences are simply not as serious and women are more likely to show remorse

Question 8

How do feminists argue against the chivalry thesis?

Answer 8

They argue that the Criminal Justice system is biased against them

Question 9

How does Heidensohn support the feminist view?

Answer 9

He argues that the courts treat females more harshly than males when they deviate from gender norms

Question 10

Feminists argue that the Criminal justice system has double standards. What does this mean?

Answer 10

Courts punish girls but not boys for premature or promiscuous sexual activity

Question 11

How does Pat Carlen demonstrate the feminist view of the Criminal Justice system in relation to its bias against women?

Answer 11

She argues that when women are jailed it is less for the seriousness of their crimes and more according to the courts assessment of them as wives, mothers and daughters

Question 12

What biological explanations are there for the gender differences in crime?

Answer 12

Higher levels in testosterone in males can account for gender differences in violent offending

Question 13

What are the three main explanations of gender differences that are put forward by sociologists?

Answer 13

Sex role theory, control theory and the liberation thesis

Question 14

What do official statistics show about the significance of male offending?

Answer 14

They show that 4 out of 5 convicted offenders in England and Wales are male

Question 15

What does the sex role theory argue?

Answer 15

It argues that women are less likely to commit crime than men because there are core elements of the female role that limit their ability and opportunity to do so

Question 16

How does the idea of socialisation within the sex role theory explain why women are less likely to commit crime?

Answer 16

Girls are socialised differently to boys which lead them to hold values that simply do not lead to crime

Question 17

How does the idea of social control within the sex role theory explain lower levels of crime amongst women?

Answer 17

Females are less likely to commit crime because they are subjected to closer levels of supervision at home and in childhood

Question 18

How does the idea of marginalisation within the sex role theory explain lower levels of crime amongst females?

Answer 18

In order to commit crime, a person needs to have the opportunity to do so, so the narrower range of roles that women are allowed to have limits their opportunities to commit crime

Question 19

How does Sandra Walklate criticise sex role theory?

Answer 19

According to Walklate, Parsons assumes that because women have the biological capacity to bear children, they are best suited to the expressive role so it is therefore simply based on biological assumptions about sex differences

Question 20

What are the two main feminist approaches?

Answer 20

Control theory and the liberation thesis

Question 21

According to Heidensohn, why do women commit fewer crimes than men?

Answer 21

Because patriarchal society imposes greater control over women and this reduces their opportunities to offend

Question 22

How are women controlled at home according to Heidensohn?

Answer 22

Women’s domestic role, with its constant round of housework and childcare imposes severe restrictions on their time and movement and confines them to the house for long periods of time which reduces their opportunities to offend

Question 23

What do Dobash and Dobash show about how women are controlled at home?

Answer 23

The show that many violent attacks result from men’s dissatisfaction with their wives performance of domestic duties

Question 24

How are women controlled in public according to Heidensohn?

Answer 24

Women are controlled in public places by the threat or fear of male violence against them, especially sexual violence and also by their fear of being defined as not respectable

Question 25

How are women controlled at work according to Heidensohn?

Answer 25

Women’s behaviour at work is controlled by male supervisors and managers and the ‘glass ceiling’ prevents women from reaching the top positions where there is greater opportunity to commit fraud

Question 26

What does Carlen recognise about the class of most female offenders?

Answer 26

She recognises that most convicted, serious female offenders are working class although some are middle class

Question 27

Carlen argues that working class women are generally led to conform through the promise of two types of rewards, or ‘deals’. What are they?

Answer 27

The class deal and the gender deal

Question 28

How does the class deal lead women to conform?

Answer 28

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

Question 29

How does the gender deal lead 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 role

Question 30

What causes crime to become more likely amongst women according to Carlen?

Answer 30

If the rewards promised by the class and gender deal are not available or worth the effort

Question 31

What are the differences between Heidensohn and Carlen’s approaches to female crime?

Answer 31

Heidensohn shows the many patriarchal controls that help prevent women from deviating whereas Carlen shows how the failure of patriarchal society to deliver the promised ‘deals’ to some women removes the controls that prevent them from offending

Question 32

How can both control theory and feminism be criticised?

Answer 32

They are accused of seeing women’s behaviour as determined by external forces such as patriarchal controls

Question 33

Who puts forward the ‘Liberation thesis’?

Answer 33

Freda Adler

Question 34

What does Adler argue?

Answer 34

She argues that as women become liberated from patriarchy, their crimes will becomes frequent and as serious as men’s

Question 35

How has the lessening of patriarchal controls and discrimination, and the equalising of opportunities in education and work changed criminality amongst females?

Answer 35

They have begun to commit traditionally male crimes such as violence and white-collar crimes

Question 36

Give one piece of evidence which demonstrates that female offending has risen

Answer 36

Between the 1950s and 60s, the female share of offences rose from 1 in 7 to 1 in 6

Question 37

Give one criticism of liberation thesis

Answer 37

Most female criminals are working class - the group least likely to be influenced by women’s liberation, which has benefited middle-class women much more

Question 38

How does Messerschmidt use masculinity as an explanation of men’s higher rate of offending?

Answer 38

He argues that masculinity is a social construct or ‘accomplishment’ and men have to constantly work at constructing and presenting it to others

Question 39

How does Messerschmidt see crime and deviance?

Answer 39

He sees it as resources that different men use for accomplishing masculinity

Question 40

How can Messerschmidt’s theory be criticised as a circular argument?

Answer 40

He argues that masculinity explains male crimes (e.g violence) because they are crimes committed by males (who have violent characteristics)

Question 41

What has globalisation led to according to Winlow?

Answer 41

A shift from a modern industrial society to a postmodern de-industrialised society which has led to the loss of many traditional manual jobs through which working class men were able to express their masculinity by hard physical labour and providing for their families

Question 42

As job opportunities in industry have declined, there has been an expansion in the service sector, including the night-time leisure economy of clubs, pubs and bars. What has this provided for young, working class men?

Answer 42

A combination of legal employment, lucrative criminal opportunities and a means of expressing their masculinity

Question 43

What example does Winlow give for the increased opportunities for crime in the night-time economy?

Answer 43

He uses the example of bouncers in Sunderland which provided young males with paid work but also the opportunity for illegal business ventures in drugs, and to demonstrate their masculinity thought the use of violence

Question 44

In order to maintain their reputation and employability, what must men use?

Answer 44

Their bodily capital