Gender, Crime and the Criminal Justice System Flashcards
Which gender is more likely to be a victim of crime in general?
Men with 24% vs Females with 20%
But risk does vary with crime type
Which gender is more likely to be a victim of Violent crime? And what age range are most at risk?
Men with 4% vs females with 2%
Ages 16-24
What crimes are women more likely to be victims of?
Domestic crimes 7.2% vs. 5%
Intimate crimes 7% vs 5%
Sexual violence crimes 3% vs. 0.3%
Stalking crimes 4.2% vs. 2.75%
Where is victimisation data derived from? Give issues with this?
- Survey data (BCS), Police stats and Academic research
- Crime victimisation is highly subjective
- Can be a victim without knowing or ability to remember
- unreported/dark figure
- methodological issues
What is positivist victimology?
- Defines victimology according to the law
- ideas of victim-precipitation/blaming
- biological theories and human nature e.g. women should cover themselves up as men cant help it
What is radical victimology?
- Includes victimisation beyond the confines of criminal law - larger society
- Human rights and the role of the state
- Led by feminism and left realists
What is critical victimology?
- Looks at the experiences of victims and the influence of social-political powers on them
- marxist and feminist influence
What is the contemporary approach to victimology? And what victim populations are mapped?
- Structurally-informed accounts of victims experiences
mapping child, male, LGBT and HBV victims
What is situational crime prevention and the issues surrounding it?
- Based on target-hardening and the removal of the victim therefore need to target harden vulnerabilities such as women e.g. cover up, walk home in groups, etc.
Problems: - ignore male and wider victims
- ignores the offender
- victim-blaming
- inaccurate and narrow-minded as assume women that are raped are solely raped by strangers
- Study of sex offending (Wortley and Smallbone, 2006)
What did Qing Li (2006) cyberbullying show about gender, traditional bullying and cyberbullying?
- 1in5 11-19 yrs have been cyberbullied
- traditionally, males are more likely to be bullied for atypical gendered behaviour
- Females are traditionally bullied regarding ‘attractiveness’
- 1/2 are bullied offline/traditional
- 1/4 bullied online
- 1/2 know someone who has been bullied online
- Online cyberbullying is very similar in gender relations to traditional bullying - Males are usually the perpetrator
- Female cybervictims are more likely to tell an adult
When has male rape been established, and is it treated equally to women?
only considered illegal in 1994
Women still only recieve 10 years max vs. 25 years for male-female rape cases
How many male rapes are reported? And why is this complicated?
1/10
still huge dark figure
men refute the role of the victim and vis-versa with females obtaining the offender role
Are male rapes homosexual?
no often straight men, not about attraction but more about dominance
What is a cultural myth about male rape victims?
Culturally not accepted and biologically impossible - wrong
Is male rape always violent?
NO
High proportion are, but it is not necessary to be a ‘legitimate’ victim
There is a gendered/hetrosexualised hierarchy or harm in our society
Women as offenders compared to men
Who commits more crime?
Who commits more severe crime?
Who desists readier?
Who peaks earlier at offending age?
Who is more likely to be a professional criminal?
Who is less likely to report committing a crime? and why?
men men females females men females, due to shame and remorse whereas men are more likely to exaggerate
How is more likely to... Receive a fine? non-custodial sentence? custodial sentence? discharge? immediate custody?
females males males similar rates males
What percentage of arrests are women? Also 1/? of arrests are women?
15%
1/5
What is the most common offence for a women to be arrested for?
Violence against the person
What is the most common offence for women to be found guilty of?
theft and handling stolen goods
Who is more likely to commit crimes of:
violence against the person?
theft and handling stolen goods?
fraud and forgery?
females 34% vs men 31%
Females 30% vs men 20%
Females 4% vs men 2%
What does it mean to say that criminology is ‘gender-blind’?
criminology is very male-centric and male theories and policies are made to ‘fit’ women - however this brings problems with generalisability
What did Carol Smart (1976) say about gender and criminology??
We must study more than just men and crime, but female and crime too to be able to have a better understanding of why crime happens and develop our understanding
Who said our associations between gender and crime as ‘profound, persistent and paradoxical’?
Heidensohn and Gelsthorpe 2008
What is the classical/biological theory of female offending?
- Lombrosco and Ferrero (1885) female offenders stand out cos they dont fit feminitiy
- Pollack (1950) they are monsters and unintelligent, men can be offenders but female offenders are inherently evil because women cant be offenders
What is the socialisation theory of female offending? Give a criticism
- Smart (1977); Heidensohn (1985-2002)
- in line with feminism, cant study women through a male-perspective/lens
- The nurture argument: men and females are socialised differently from a young age, hence act differently in later life
- However, doesnt explain crime beyond simply bad socialisation
What is the female emanicpation theory of female offending? Give a criticisms
(structural theory)
- Liberation causes crime (Adler, 1975; Simon; 1975)
- More opportunities for women to commit crime because they are no longer tied to house keeping and child rearing and access to the labour market
- Men are less likely to commit crime in the presence of women
- However, too deterministic
- and women do not have equal opportunities yet - very rash assumption
What is the female marginalisation theory of female offending?
(structural theory)
Leventhal (1977)
- Females are too restricted and marginalised therefore are more likely to commit crime as a result
Feminist methodology:
What is feminist empiricism?
What is feminist standpointism?
What is feminist deconstructionism?
- shift in ontology and epistemology
- Disagrees with objectivity and quantitative, movement towards qualitative and experiences
- Empiricism: giving females a voice, looking at their experiences, not just looking at men and male experiences
- Standpoint: womens experiences and ‘voice’ is the central to study and knowledge production
- Deconstructionism: focuses on post-modern issues like language, and gender is seen as a social construct not a statistical variable
What did Byrne and Trew (2005) study about gender and offending?
- studied offender accounts of why they committed the crime? how they orientate themselves to crime.
1) positive orientation: crime is accepted, positives are valued and forms a coherent part of their identity
2) negative orientation: rejection or distancing from crime, seen as unexpected and conflicts with ones identity
3) ambivalent/neutral orientation - crime neither good nor bad, or secondary to other problems - Male findings: rarely problematic, didnt cause too much conflict elements of identity, important/accepted part of life
- Female findings: often very problematic, negative feelings of shame and remorse, positive evaluations were made only if in relation to personal or financial issues
Why does Messerschmidt argue men commit crime?
- gender is a situational accomplishment
- crime is a means of doing gender as it is a performance of masculinity, compensates for threatened masculinity
- gender, race and class are categorises of structured action (however criticised for not using age or disability as categories of structured action)
What did Heidensohn (1996) say about women, femininity and crime?? (5)
1) Crime is not such a useful resource for achieving/doing femininity (compared to males, which it is)
2) Women face different opportunities, rewards and pressures than men
3) female roles mean that women often invest a lot in maintaining the social order e.g. primary caregiver
4) crime is less straightforward and less rewarding for women - harder to identify with, more problematic, etc
5) Suggested that it is the female situation which pushes them to commiting crime
