gender differences

Question 1

give a statistic regarding women committing crime

Answer 1

in 2018 women made up:
- 18% of the arrested population
- 25% of all criminal convictions
- 5% of prison population

Question 2

what did Pollak say

Answer 2

• women commit same amount of crime as men but are better liars and therefore get away with it
• women have learnt to deceive from a young age in order to hide menstruation and fake orgasms

Question 3

what theories suggest why women commit less crime than men

Answer 3

• differential socialisation - Parsons
• control theory - Heidensohn
• rational choice theory - Carlen
• less opportunity

Question 4

describe Parsons’ differential socialisation theory regarding why women commit less crime

Answer 4

• instrumental/expressive role
• McRobbie bedroom culture
• boys are socialised to be tough whereas girls passive and docile
• girls then lack values associated with delinquency

Question 5

what is an A03 point of Parsons’ differential socialisation theory regarding why women commit less

Answer 5

Dunscombe and Marsden suggest that women have less time to commit crime due to triple shift

Question 6

describe Heidensohn’s Control Theory regarding why women commit less

Answer 6

• patriarchal society controls women making it harder for them to commit crime
  1. control at home by fathers (eg curfew)
  2. control in public (eg harassment)
• as such women are constantly controlled throughout their lives so no opportunity to commit crime

Question 7

describe Carlen’s Rational Choice theory regarding why women commit less

Answer 7

• conducted interviews with 39 female offenders
• concluded that w/c women made a class deal and a gender deal that kept them under control
  CD= work hard in exchange for money to pay for consumer goods
  GD=