gender, crime and justice Flashcards
examples of gender patterns
4/5 offenders are male
age 40, 9% of females and 32% of males have a criminal record
more females are committed of property crime and more males are committed of sexual/ violent offences
Pollak
men have perceived attitudes towards women, more lenient and less likely to end in official statistics.
flood page
1/11 females to 1/7 males have been prosecuted.
chivalry thesis
most justice agents are Men, socialised to act “chivalrous”
Farrington and Morris
408 offences, Females not treated more leniently.
buck and Farrington
women more likely to be witnessed and prosecuted for inspiring
Heidensohn
courts treats females more harshly when they deviate from social norms
Carlen
more likely to makes judgements on their roles as mothers than seriousness of crimes.
Cohen
men have less of a socialising role, boys turnt to street gangs. (new right theory)
AO3 of functionalist sex role
biologicals assumptions
heidenson
argues that women commit fewer and less serious crimes than men. in her view this is because patriarchal society imposes greater control over women and this reduces their opportunities to offend.
where does patriarchal control operate
at home an in public spaces and at work
control at home
house work and childcare imposes sever restrictions on time/movement and confines them to the house for long periods, reducing their opportunities to commit crimes.
Dobash and Dobash
many violent attacks result from men’s dissatisfaction with their wives performance of domestic duties
how are daughters subject to patriarchal control.
Girls are less likely to say out late. as a result they develop bedroom culture- there is less opportunity to commit deviant behaviours.
control in public
women are controlled in pubic places by fear of male violence e.g. going out in the dark. also the fear as being defined as not respectable or damaging “reputation”
control at work
women’s behaviour us controlled at work by male supervisors and managers. sexual harassment is widespread and helps keep women “in their place”
glass ceiling
prevents many women from rising to senior positions where there is greater opportunity to commit fraud.
AO3 of patriarchal control
patriarchy can push women into crime e.g. poverty
Carlen
study of thirty-nine 15-46 year olds WC women , unstructured interviews.
Hirschi control theory
humans are controlled by the offer of a “deal”. rewards are greater than the risk.
Carlen WC women led to conform by two ideals
- the class deal- women who work will offered material rewards, with a decent standard of living and leisure opportunities.
- the gender deal- patriarchal ideology promises women material and emotional rewards.
what happens if these rewards are not available
crimes become more likely
example of class deal
32 of them always been poverty couldn’t get a job, humiliated to go on benefits
example of gender deal
abused by partners spent in care
A03 for class and gender
sees women’s behaviour as determined by external forces, small sample.
Adler
argues that, as women become liberated from patriarchy, their crimes will become as frequent and as serious as men’s. women liberation has led to a new type of female criminal and a rise in a female crime rate.
why does Adler argue that the structure of society has led to changes in women’s offending behaviour
as patriarchal controls and discrimination has lessened, and opportunities in education and work have become more equal, women have begun to adopt traditionally “male role” in both legitimate authority (work) and illegimate authority (crime)
what happens when women no longer commit traditional female crimes such as shoplifting
they commit typically male offences such as crime of violence and white collar crime
why don’ t women commit traditional female crime
this is because of women’s greater confidence and assertiveness, and the fact that women have greater opportunities in the legitimate structure e.g. more women in senior position at work and this give them the opportunity to commit white collar crimes like fraud
evidence of liberation thesis
Adler argues that the patterns of female crime has shifted. she cites studies showing rising levels of female participation of crime previously regarded as “male”, such as embezzlement and armed robbery.
criticisms of liberation thesis
critics reject Adler’s thesis on several grounds.
- female critics rate began rising in the 1950’s- long before the women’s liberation, which emerged in the late 1960’s
- most female criminals are WC- the group least likely to be influenced by women’s liberation, which has benefitted women much more.
- overestimates both the extent to which women have become more liberated to the extent to which they are now able to engage in serious crime.
hand and Dodd (2009)
between 2000 and 2008, police statistics show the number of female arrested for violence rose by an average of 17% each year
steffensmeier and schawtz
found that while females share arrest for violence grew from one fifth to one third between 1980 and 2003 from police statistics
Burnman and Batchelor
point to media depiction of young women ad “drunk and disorderly, out of control and looking for fights
what do crime surveys show
gender differences in the level and type of victimisation and in the relationship between human and offenders.
homicide victims
about 70% are male. female victims are more likely to know their killer and 60% of these cases this was a partner or ex- partner. males are more likely to be killed by an acquaintance.
victims of violence
fewer women than men are victims of violence (2% vs 4%) in addition women are more likely to be victimised by an acquaintance more women than men were victims of intimate violence/ domestic violence/ sexual assault
Lea and Young
have found women in fact are at greater risk than men
what is hegemonic masculinity
work in paid labour market, the subordination of women, heterosexism and the driven and uncontrollable sexuality of men.
how does this compare to subordination masculinity
gay men, who have no desire to accomplish hegemonic masculinity, as well as lower class and some ethnic minority men, who lack resources to do
how do MC achieve masculinity
white MC youths have to subordinate themselves to teachers in order to achieve MC status; leading to an accommodating masculinity in school
how do WC achieve masculinity
have less chance of educational success, to their masculinity is oppositional both in and out of school.
how do black middle WC achieve masculinity
may have fewer expectations of a reasonable job and may use gang membership and violence to express masculinity
give two criticisms of messerschmidt
doesn’t explain why not all men use crime to accomplish masculinity
overworks the concept of masculinity to explain virtually all male crimes
how has globalisation lead to more criminal activity of the WC
this has lead to the loss of many of traditional manual jobs through which WC men were able to express their masculinity by hard physical labour and by providing for their families
what is bodily capital
many bouncers seek to develop their physical assertd by body buillding
