gender x crime Flashcards
carlen
- unstructured interviews ( 39 wc women convicted of committing a range of crimes)
- class deal:
women who work will be offered material rewards w decent standard of living + leisure
however women who failed to find legitimate ways of earning were left in poverty + feeling powerless and oppressed ,, no longer had anything to lose and turned to crime to escape poverty as class deal was not met
Carlen found that running away from home left these women poor + unemployed & meant crime was the only route to decent standard of living
- gender deal :
patriarchal ideology promises women material + emotional rewards from family life by conforming to the norms of a conventional domestic role. The failure to deliver promised deals removes controls that prevent offending.
Carlen found that these women gained few rewards - physical + sexual abuse by fathers + partners & spent time in care = broken family bonds
carlen - conc + eval
-poverty + being in care or an oppressive family were the 2 main causes of criminality
- desire for excitement ( drugs, alcohol) stemmed from poverty or care which were contributing factors
- the class deal was less available to those who had been to jail making crime more attractive as they struggled to get jobs with criminal convictions.
EV: - deterministic ignores free will
- sample is small + unrepresentative = largely wc serious offenders
- however study could be realistic as less women could be convicted of committing serious crimes so the sample has to be small
heidensohn
- women controlled in 3 spheres:
controlled at home: - domestic role imposes restrictions on time + movement confining them to the home, reducing opportunities to offend.
women who go against domestic role subjected to dv - dobash 2 - daughters controlled by curfews + required to do more housework reducing opportunity to commit crime by socialising into conformity
ev: less control at home - less likely to follow trad life path, women choosing to stay single and not have babies.
@ work:
- controlled by male supervisors etc + subjected to sexual harassment so women avoid staying longer at work.
- subordination reduces opportunity to commit white collar crimes due to glass ceiling
ev: women now breaking thru glass ceiling
in public:
- controlled by threat or fear of male violence against them ( fear of victimisation esp of sexual assault)
- Islington crime survey : 54% women avoid going out after dark of fear of being victim of crime
- fear of gaining a reputation by being out after dark - women stay inside during prime time for crime.
ev: adler - women now have more freedom in public
- women do still commit crime
chivalry thesis
- courts treat women more leniently than men
- Pollack: men socialised to behave more leniently towards women seeing them as ‘sad not bad’
double deviance
Heidensohn - women treated more harshly by CJS for deviating against their gender norms e.g. Lucy Letby
- deviated from accepted norms by breaking law + deviated from gender norms which is punished by the patriarchy
Bias against women
- Adler : women deemed to lack responsibility e.g. single parents find it harder to prove their testimony in court
- walklate : case isn’t dependent on trial rather the victim themselves as women have to prove their respectability
E.G. Maxine Carr - had nothing to do with the murder of 2 schoolgirls but was associated with male killer. Media in turn treated her as tho she was killer even tho she only provided false alibi.
- Carlen : Scottish judges more likely to jail women whose children were in care rather than those who were good mothers
why are women committing crime
- liberation thesis/ rise in feminism = no longer limited to submissive role + can choose to commit crime as they no longer face restriction from patriarchy
ev: wc women least likely to benefit from liberation as they lack access to gained legitimate opportunities - left realists: relative dep - women earning less due to gender pay gap - official stats: theft rates higher among women
why are men committing crime
- crisis in masculinity: men are turning to crime to gain status which is less available at work
- murray : rise of dysfunctional families (lone parent) = inadequate socialisation due to lack of paternal role model, boys turn to gangs for father figure + status - gangs teach masculinity + norms associated with gangs
- interactionists: boys negatively labelled - sfp - master status
messerschmidt - men
- hegemonic masculinity is the form of masculinity most men wish to achieve e.g. Andrew Tate - paid labour, subordination of women, heterosexism, uncontrollable sexism
- some men have subordinated masculinity and are shamed in society e.g. gay men, wc men, ethnic minorities etc who lack resources
Cohen
- lack of adult male role model means more Boys turn to all male street gangs as a source of masculine identity
e.g. Acacia Crips - Poo (leader) acts as father figure to young boys with fathers in prison
Parsons
- functionalist sex role theory:
- men n women naturally suited to these roles
- boys reject female role models that express emotion + distance themselves from these models by engaging in ‘compensatory masculinity’ = aggression + anti skl behaviour which can slip into delinquency
EV: walklate - criticises for biological assumptions - deterministic
Adler
- as women become liberated from patriarchy their crimes become as frequent + serious as men
- liberation led to rise in female crime rate
- women began to adopt trad male roles like breadwinner in legitimate + illegitimate activities ( rise in participation of women in crimes previously regarded as male e.g. embezzlement + girl gangs) e.g. Elizabeth Homms - fraud thru blood testing company, didn’t have the equipment but took investments as tho she did
EV: women no longer treated leniently rather as equal to men
- crime rates have been increasing all this time
- wc women least likely to access benefits of liberation e.g. legitimate jobs
denscome
- women just as likely as males to engage in risk taking behaviour + girls adopting More male stances such as desire to be in control or look hard
