Gender, Crime, Justice Flashcards
Gender patterns in crime - OFFICIAL STATS
4/5 convicted offenders are male
Age 40: 9% female, 32% male with criminal conviction.
The chivalry thesis
Most criminal justice agents (police, judges…) are men, who are socialised to act in a ‘chivalrous’ way towards women.
Pollak - the chivalry thesis
The criminal justice system is more lenient with women = female crimes less likely to end up on official stats = gender differences in stats
Official stats on chivalry thesis
- Females are more likely than males to be released on bail rather than remanded in custody.
- Females are more likely than males to received a fine or community sentence and less likely to be sent to prison.
- 1/9 females go to prison for shop lifting
BUT! 1/5 MALES go to prison for shop lifting
Evidence against the chivalry thesis
2 factors
BUCKLE AND FARRINGTON -
Observed shoplifting in a department store, twice as many males than females.
Many male crimes get under-reported:
8% of females that had victims of sexual assult reported it.
YEARNSHIRE LINKS!!!!
Bias against women - double standards
Sharpe -
Found out of 55 youth worker records: 7/11 were referred fro support because they were sexually active but none out of the 44 boys.
Bias against women - SMART
SMART -
Double standards exist because the CJS is patriarchal, shows this in rape cases: quotes from Judge Wild:
‘Women who say no do not always mean no. It is not just a question of how she says it, how she shows and makes it clear. If she doesn’t want it she only has to keep her legs shut’.
Functionalist sex role theory - Parsons
New Right agree
Because different gender roles in nuclear family = men instrumental, women expressive role - women give a good adult role model to younger girls but not boys.
Boys turn to gangs for a masculine identity because of lack of male role model - COHEN
Heidensohn: Patriarchal control
Patriarchal society has greater control over women which decreases their opportunities to offend.
- Control at home - DOBASH X2, also girls are less likely to come and go as they please = develop ‘bedroom culture’.
- Control in public - Women are controlled in public places by the threat/fear of violence = 54% women don’t go out in dark, 14% of men don’t go out in dark.
Carlen: class and gender deals
Studied 39ppl 15-46yrs W/C women who had been convicted.
Hirschi - states that humans act rational and are controlled by being offered a ‘deal’ of rewards from conforming to social norms.
—> Carlen: Class deal: work for material awards, gender deal: patriarchy ideology promises women material and emotion rewards from family life.
IF REWARDS NOT AVAILABLE OR WORTH THE EFFORT = TURN TO CRIME!!!
Quote: ‘crime was the only route to a decent standard of living. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain’.
Criticism of Carlen: class and gender roles
Women’s behaviour is accused of seeing women’s behaviour as determined by an external force - patriarchal control or gender.
Liberation thesis - ADLER
By women being liberated from patriarchy their crimes will be more frequent and be the same as men = new type of female crime.
Women now more opportunities = more women doing ‘traditionally’ male crimes: white collar crime, violence.
Support:
Recently, more ‘girl gangs’ from media - girls now wanna engage in risk-taking behaviour too look ‘hard’.
Criticism for liberation thesis
More criminals are W/C (carlen)
Hand and Dodd - violent female crime
17% rise every year in females committing violent crimes - traditionally male.
‘Net widening’ of crime
There has been an widening of crime in the CJS - prosecuting females for less serious forms of violence than previously.
