Increase in female crime Flashcards
the increasing female crime rate:
There has been a growing number of females crimes since the 1950’s.
In 1957, men were responsible for 11x as many crimes as women, but by 2014 this had lowered to just 3x more.
From 2002-2014 male crime decreased, however during this time female crime rate increased.
Although the female crime rate began to decrease from 2010, it was at a much slower rate than that of men.
The number of crimes committed by girls (age 10-17 years) rose by 25% between 2004-2010, with significant increases in minor assaults, robberies, public order offences and criminal damage.
Adler: The liberation thesis
If patriarchal society exercises control over women to prevent them from deviating from gender ideals like Heidensohn suggests, then it would seem logical to assume that, if society becomes less patriarchal and more equal, women’s crime rates will become similar to men’s.
This is the LIBERATION THESIS put forward by Feminist Adler.
Adler argues that as women become liberated from patriarchy, their crimes will become as frequent as men. Women’s liberation has led to a new type of female criminal i.e. female gangs, and a rise in the female crime rate.
Patriarchal control and discrimination has lessened. As a result, women have begun to adopt traditional male roles in both legitimate (work) and illegitimate (crime) spheres.
Liberation has led to a new type of female criminaland a rise in the female crime rate e.g.girl gangs(is this a good thing?)
More women are in senior positions giving them more opportunity to commit serious white-collar crimes.
Evaluation of the liberation thesis:
Evidence to support this is: The overall rate of female offending has gone up.
Denscombe (2001) – study of west midland female gangs. There is a much more masculine ‘ladette’ culture amongst young women which is characterised by binge drinking, gang culture, risk taking, violence, and the desire of being in control.
The Female crime rate began to rise in the 1950s, long before women’s liberation in the 1960’s.
Most female criminals are working class – who have not experienced women’s liberation.
Heidensohn and Silvestri (2012) argue that women haven’t started to commit more crime due to being liberated, but instead, the increasing crime rates are a result of labelling from the criminal justice system who want to ‘crack down’ on women deviating from their gender roles.
Lind(1997)– women are branching into male crimes such as drugs, but only due to prostitution which is an unliberated lifestyle.
Feminisation of poverty?
Figures show that women continue to be more likely to live in poverty* than men (20% compared to 18%).
The proportion of single women living in poverty is 25%, while the figure for poor single men has decreased to 23% (from 26% in 2016/17).
45% of single parents – the vast majority (90%) of which are women – are living in poverty.
Not all women who live below the poverty line turn to crime to support their family, doesnt explain non-utilitarian crime
Females and violent crime:
For example, according to Hand and Dodd (2009), between 2000-2008 police statistics show the number of females arrested for violence rose by 17% EACH YEAR!
Similar trends have been found in other countries including Canada, Australia and the USA.
This suggests that females are increasingly committing typically ‘male’ crimes, since violent offending has traditionally been seen as a ‘male’ form of crime.
