Lecture 9: Female offending

Question 1

Female crime statistics

Answer 1

• Commit less crimes, 80,000 men in prisons whereas only 4,000 females in prisons in UK
• Pattern seen across the world
• USA = 6.9% female
• Thailand = 18.4% female

Question 2

Explanation: Socialisation process

Answer 2

-Men are more likely to adhere to gender roles so men are expected to be assertive, masculine and strong compared to caring and sympathetic females

Question 3

Crime type

Answer 3

• Most common offences by female = theft, driving under influence and drug abuse (non-violent)
• Crime more frequently committed by women = not sending children to school, non-payment of TV license and prostitution
• Women underrepresented in professional and organised crimes
• Al Capone proposed idea that men are more likely yo commit crimes for status and respect whereas women commit for small returns

Question 4

Overt or covert aggression

Answer 4

• It is not that females are less aggressive they just display it in different ways
• Females use covert aggression ways e.g. verbal aggression and online bullying

Question 5

Relational or stranger violence

Answer 5

• Women are more likely to commit acts of violence towards someone they know
• Men more likely to commit act of violence towards stranger

Question 6

Perceived rise in female offending

Answer 6

• May not be an actual rise
• Females in different decades may be too scared to report crimes as were not taken seriously by police however are now seen as more equal

Question 7

Female crime in the media

Answer 7

-Media’s perception idea that gender gap in violent crime is closing due to changing gender roles (rise of feminism)

Question 8

Women’s Liberation Theory

Answer 8

• Liberation movement led to more confidence, higher levels of self-esteem and self-sufficiency
• Fewer instances of violence by girls when sat in bedroom reading magazine (Campbell, 1981)
• Delinquent girls more likely to agree with statement “if a guy can do it why cant I?”
• Argument that women achieving more equal stats will mean they make more parallel gains in criminal world

Question 9

Description of female offenders (Lombroso, 1895)

Answer 9

• Female offenders have cranial abnormalities, procuring eyes, hairy moles and deep voice
• Argues all females born semi criminal but as long as they have religion and want children they are less likely to commit crimes
• This is not accepted as a theory now

Question 10

History of the criminal woman

Answer 10

• Lombroso (see above)
• Freud (1933) = criminal women unable to come to terms with femininity and driven by penis envy
• Pollak (1950) = idea that women can conceal sexual arousal and menstruation meaning they can conceal committing crimes and can manipulate men into committing crimes so they are not prosecuted

Question 11

Social control theory (Hirschi, 1969, 2002)

Answer 11

-Idea we all have criminal urges but we don’t all act on them
Committing crimes is linked to strength of prosocial bonds to society and these bonds include:
-attachment = emotional bond to family
-commitments = bond to employment and education
-involvement in society
-belief in rationalising criminal conduct
-conformity to societal norms

Question 12

Social control theory: Gender differences study

Answer 12

Alarid et al. (2000)

• Cross-sectional study of offenders at court who were ordered to boot camp
• Looked at both genders
• Supported the notion of a lack of gender differences in social control theory but with two exceptions
  1. Marital attachment uncorrelated with crime for men but correlated for women. Married women more likely to self-report that they commit crimes
  2. Lack of parental attachment correlated with violent crime for women

Question 13

Social Learning Theory (Burgess & Akers 1966)

Answer 13

• Idea that crime is learned
• Found correlation between criminal friends and self-reported delinquency - more of an associated for males than females
• Association with criminal peers is a strong predictor of delinquency - more of an association for males than females

Question 14

Hormones

Answer 14

• Case of women diagnosed with mental health
• Charge reduced from murder to manslaughter due to diagnosis of severe PMS
• However this is not allowed in the US as a defence

Question 15

General Strain Theory (Agnew, 1992)

Answer 15

• Stress causes negative emotions
• Strain can be caused by inability to achieve goals, the loss of positive factors and the introduction of negative factors
• Offers explanation for gender gap in crime e.g. females respond with depression and males respond with aggression
• Females have higher tolerance for life negative life events than males so are less likely to turn to violent crime

Question 16

Study of General Strain Theory (Hay, 2003)

Answer 16

• 182 adolescents (both genders used)
• Students in PE class took part
• Did a family strain questionnaire, a measure of negative emotions and protected delinquency questionnaire
• Found males were more likely to report physical punishment as a child
• When confronted with family strain, males and females experienced similar levels of anger but females had higher levels of guilt
• Family strain and anger had more profound effects on males

Question 17

Risk factors more prevalent in female offenders

Answer 17

(Found in both genders but more prevalent in females)

• Abuse and witnessing violence
• Family conflict
• Lack of commitment to schooling
• Depression/Self-harm
• Lower levels of self-esteem and more feelings of guilt

Question 18

Pathways to offending

Answer 18

• The normal functioning drug/property pathway = adolescent limited offenders due to environment get drawn into criminality during adult years due to drug use and parental stresses
• The battered women/victimisation pathway = women with severe child and adult history of abuse, chronic drug problems and unsafe houses
• The poor marginalized antisocial pathway = women who have educational deficits and poor employment skills, criminogenic need is to join an antisocial subculture and gain status through this
• The antisocial aggressive pathway = lifelong history of abuse, high amount of placement in foster care, antisocial peers and personality and mental health issues

Question 19

Developmental trajectories of antisocial behaviour in females

Answer 19

• Early onset/Life course persistent
• Adolescence limited
• Adolescence delayed onset

Question 20

Developmental trajectories of antisocial behaviour in females: Early onset/life course persistent

Answer 20

• Childhood factors e.g. harsh discipline and hyperactivity
• In adults this leads to violence, substance abuse and work issues n
• Behaviour manifests early on

Question 21

Developmental trajectories of antisocial behaviour in females: Adolescence-limited

Answer 21

• Influence of delinquent peers
• Desire for status
• Lack of discipline by parents
• Less violent than early onset offenders

Question 22

Developmental trajectories of antisocial behaviour in females: Adolescence delated onset

Answer 22

• Similar to early onset but onset of behaviour is in adolescence and then continues to adulthood
• It is early onset but doesn’t show until adolescence
• Leads to adjustment problems in adulthood such as addiction and mental health
• Trajectory different for males due to socialisation processes that discourage girls from adopting externalising behaviour (e.g. aggression)
• Also due to protective factors are more prevalent in females e.g. better school achievement

Question 23

Mental health and self-harm

Answer 23

• Women prisoners are 5x more likely to have MH concern than women in the general pop.
• Despite making up 5% of prison pop., women account for 28% of self-harm incidents, 37% of attempted suicides

Question 24

Psychopathic traits and predatory aggression traits

Answer 24

Psychopathic traits

• Pathological lying
• Lack of guilt and empathy
• Promiscuous sexual behaviour
• Impulsive and thrill-seeking

Predatory aggression
-Lack of attachment and bonding