Sociology-Crime-Gender Flashcards
What do Heidensohn and Silvestri say about differences in crime?
That gender differences are the most significant feature of recorded crime
What are examples of gender differences in crime statistics?
Four out of five convicted offenders in England and Wales are male. By age 40, 9% of females have a criminal convicted, compared to 32% males. Males are more likely to repeat offend (longer criminal careers/more serious convictions)
What are the gender differences in the type of crime committed?
Higher proportion of females convicted for property offences (Except burglary). Higher proportion of males convicted for violent offences
What are the two arguments about the underestimation of the amount of female crime?
Typical ‘female’ crimes are less likely to be noticed/reported. Even when they are detected/reported, they are less likely to be prosecuted, and if prosecuted they are more likely to be let off relatively lightly (Chivalry thesis)
What does the chivalry thesis argue?
Most criminal justice agents eg police, magistrates, judges, are male, and men are socialised to act in a chivalrous way towards women
What does Pollak 1950 argue?
Men have a protective attitude towards women and so hate to accuse/arrest/prosecute/find guilty, so the criminal justice system is often more lenient with women so their crimes don’t end up in the official statistics, giving an invalid picture that over exaggerates the gender gap in crime
What does evidence from self report studies show, in support of the chivalry thesis?
Where individuals are asked about what crimes they have committed, female offenders are shown to be treated more leniently
What did Graham and Bowling’s self report study show?
On a sample of 1,721 14-25 year olds they found that although males were more likely to offend, the difference was smaller than that recorded in the official statistics. Males were 2.33 times more likely to admit committing an offence in the previous 12 months, whereas official stats showed them as 4 times more likely
What did Flood-Page’s self report study show?
While only 1 in 11 female self-reported offenders had been cautioned or prosecuted, the figure for males was over one in seven self-reported offenders
What do official statistics show, in support of the chivalry thesis?
At first sight, court statistics appear to give some support to the chivalry thesis. Females are more likely to be released on bail, females are more likely to receive a fine/community service instead of prison (or receive shorter sentences), 1 in 9 female offenders receive prison sentences for shoplifting compared to 1 in 5 males
What did Hood’s study find?
Study of over 3,000 defendants found that women were about 1/3 less likely to be jailed in similar cases
What is evidence against the chivalry thesis?
Farrington and Morris’ study of sentencing of 408 offences of theft in a magistrates’ court found that women were not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences
What did Buckle and Farrington find?
Observational study of shoplifting in a department store witnessed twice as many males shoplifting as females despite official statistics saying male offenders are almost equal. This small scale study suggests that women shoplifters may be more likely to be prosecuted than males
Why may it seem like women are treated more leniently?
Because their offences may just simply be less serious, and women are more likely to show remorse and so therefore would be more likely to receive a caution rather than court
What do feminists argue about the criminal justice system?
Far from the criminal justice system being biased in favour of women as the chivalry thesis claims, it is actually biased against them (Heidensohn-courts treat females more harshly than males when they deviate from gender norms)
What are examples of the bias against women?
Double standards-courts punish girls but not boys for premature or promiscuous sexual activity (Sharpe analysed 55 youth worker records and found that 7 out of 11 girls were referred for support due to being sexually active, but none of the 44 boys were). Women who do not conform to accepted standards of monogamous heterosexuality and motherhood are punished more harshly
What did Stewart find?
Magistrates perceptions of female defendant’s characters were based on stereotypical gender roles, which supports the idea than women may be punished more harshly when not conforming to the accepted standards
What view does Carlen put forward in relation to custodial sentences?
When women are jailed, it is less for ‘the seriousness of their crimes and more according to the court’s assessment of them as wives, mothers and daughters’. In support, Scottish judges were more likely to jail women whose children were in care, than women who they saw as good mothers
Why do feminists argue that double standards exist?
Because the criminal justice system is patriarchal-this is clearly evident in the way they deal with rape cases as there have been many cases where male judges have made sexist/victim-blaming remarks
What does Walklate argue?
In rape cases it is not the defendant who is on trial but the victim, since she has to prove her respectability in order to have her evidence accepted
What does Adler say?
Women who are deemed to lack respectability, such as single parents, punks and peace protestors, find it difficult to have their testimony believed by court
What were the first explanations of gender differences in crime?
Biological rather than sociological. Eg Lombroso and Ferrero argue criminality is innate, but that there were very few born female criminals
What were the more recent psychological explanations of gender differences in crime?
They also argued that biological factors such as higher levels of testosterone in males can account for gender differences in violent offending
What are sociological explanations for gender differences in crime?
Sociologists take the view that social rather than biological factors are the cause of gender differences in offending. The three main explanations are sex role theory, control theory and the liberation thesis
What is the functionalist sex role theory?
It focuses on differences in the socialisation of males and females, eg boys encouraged to be tough, aggressive and risk taking, meaning they may be more disposed to commit acts of violence or take advantage of criminal opportunities when they present themselves
What does Parsons argue about gender differences in crime?
He traces differences in crime and deviance to the gender roles in the conventional nuclear family. Men take an instrumental, bread winner role that is mostly performed out of the house, while women perform the expressive role in the home, socialising the children
How does sex role theory lead to gender differences in crime?
Girls get access to an adult role model, but boys reject feminine models of behaviour that express tenderness, gentleness and emotion. Instead boys seek to distance themselves from such models by engaging in ‘compensatory compulsory masculinity’ through aggression and anti-social behaviour, which can then slip into acts of delinquency
How does Cohen link to sex role theory?
Men have much less of a socialising role than women in the conventional nuclear family, socialisation can be more difficult for boys than girls. The relative lack of an adult male role model means boys are more likely to turn to all male street gangs as a source of masculine identity where status is gained through acts of toughness, risk-taking and delinquency
What do New Right theorists argue about the absence of male role models?
The absence of male role models in the matrifocal lone parent family leads to boys turning to criminal street gangs as a source of status and identity
Why does Walklate criticise sex role theory?
For its biological assumptions. Parsons assumes that because women have the biological capacity to bear children, they are best suited to the expressive role, so although the theory tries to explain gender differences in crime in terms of behaviour learned through socialisation, it is based on biological assumptions about gender differences
What explanations on the gender differences in crime followed the functionalist sex role theory?
Feminists put forward alternative explanations. The two main approaches are control theory and the liberation thesis
Who talks about control theory?
Heidensohn: patriarchal control
What does Heidensohn argue?
The most striking thing about women’s behaviour is how conformist it is-they commit fewer and less serious crimes than men. In her view, it is because patriarchal society imposes greater control over women and this reduces their opportunities to offend
What areas do patriarchal control operate in?
The home, public and work
How is there patriarchal control at home?
Women’s domestic role imposes severe restrictions on their time/movement and confines them to the house for long periods, reducing opportunities to offend. Women who try to reject their role may be forced into it by their partner eg by domestic violence (Dobash and Dobash-men are ‘set off’ by their partners and control them through money). Daughters are also controlled by restrictions and rules, leading to a bedroom culture and lack of opportunity to engage in deviant behaviour on the streets
How is there patriarchal control in public?
Threat/fear of male violence (54% of women avoid going out in the dark for fear of being victims compared to 14% of men). Heidensohn- sensationalist media reporting rape and distorted media portrayals add to women’s fears. Also controlled in public by fear of being defined as not respectable eg avoiding pubs for fear of being seen as sexually ‘loose’. Lees also notes that boys in school maintain control through sexualised verbal abuse
How is there patriarchal control in work?
Women’s behaviour at work controlled by male supervisors and managers. Sexual harassment is widespread and keeps women ‘in their place’. Their subordinate position reduces opportunities to engage in major criminal activity at work. ‘Glass ceiling’ prevents women rising to senior positions to be able to commit fraud/white collar crime
What does Heidensohn also recognise about patriarchal control?
As well as reducing opportunities to offend, patriarchal control can also push women into crime eg to gain a decent standard of living such as Carlens study of class and gender deals
What was Carlens study?
Unstructured tape recorded interviews on 39 15-46 year old working class women who had been convicted of a range of crimes including theft, fraud, handling stolen goods, burglary, drugs, prostitution, violence and arson. 20 were in prison or youth custody at the time of the interviews
Why did Carlen use working class female offenders?
Although she recognises that there are some middle class female offenders, she argues that the most convicted serious female criminals are working class
What theory does Carlen use to explain female crime?
A version of Hirschi’s control theory
What does Hirschi argue?
Humans act rationally and are controlled by being offered a ‘deal’, of rewards in return for conforming to social norms. People will turn to crime if they do not believe the rewards will be forthcoming, and if the rewards of crime appear greater than the risks
What two types of rewards (‘deals’) does Carlen argue working class women are generally promised in return for conforming?
Class deals and gender deals
What is the class deal?
Women who work will be offered material rewards, with a decent standard of living and leisure opportunities
What is the gender deal?
Patriarchal ideology promises women material and emotional rewards from family life by conforming to the norms of a conventional domestic gender role
When does crime become more likely?
If the rewards are not available or worth the effort. This was the case in Carlen’s study
Why was crime committed in Carlen’s study, in regards to the class deal?
In terms of the class deal, the women had failed to find a legitimate way of earning a decent living and so felt powerless and oppressed eg 2/3 had always been in poverty. As they gained no rewards from the class deal, they felt they had nothing to lose by using crime to escape poverty
Why was crime committed in Carlen’s study, in regards to the gender deal?
In terms of the gender deal for conforming to patriarchal family norms, most of the women had either not had the opportunity to make the deal, or saw few rewards and many disadvantages in family life eg some had been abused by fathers/partners and over half of them had spent time in care which broke bonds with family and friends
What did Carlen conclude?
For the women in her study, poverty and being brought up in care/an oppressive family life were the two main causes of their criminality. Drug and alcohol addiction and the desire for excitement were contributory factors, but often stemmed from poverty of being brought up in care. Being criminalised and jailed made the class deal even less available to them and made crime even more attractive
What are Heidensohn and Carlen’s approaches based on?
A combination of feminism and control theory-Heidensohn shows the many patriarchal controls that help prevent women from deviating, and Carlen shows how the failure of patriarchal society to deliver promised ‘deals’ to some women removes the controls that prevent them from offending
What is a criticism of Heidensohn and Carlen?
Control theory and feminism can be accused of seeing women’s behaviours as determined by external forces such as patriarchal control or class and gender deals. Critics argue that this underplays the importance of free will and choice in offending
What is a further criticism of Carlen’s study?
Her sample was small and may be unrepresentative, as it largely consisted of working class and serious offenders
What is liberation thesis?
Put forward by Adler-argues that, as women become liberated from patriarchy, their crimes will become as frequent and as serious as men’s. Women’s liberation has led to a new type of female criminal and a rise in female crime rate
What, does Adler argue, has changed women’s offending behaviour?
Changes in the structure of society. As patriarchal controls and discrimination has lessened, and opportunities in education and work have become more equal, women have begun to adopt traditionally ‘male’ roles in both legitimate activity (work) and illegitimate activity (crime)
What is the result of liberation thesis?
Women no longer just commit traditional ‘female’ crimes such as shoplifting and prostitution. They now commit traditional ‘male’ crimes such as violence and white collar crimes. This is due to greater self confidence and assertiveness, and the fat that women now have greater opportunities in the legitimate structure eg senior positions in work gives the opportunity to commit serious white collar crimes such as fraud
What are some examples of supporting evidence for the liberation thesis?
Overall rate of female offending and the female share of offences rose during the second half of the 20th century eg between 1050s and 90s female share of offences rose from 1 in 7 to 1 in 6. Also female rime has shifted as there is a rise in females committing male crimes eg armed robbery. Girl gangs are another example-girls adopting ‘male’ attitudes and behaviours
What are the criticisms of the liberation thesis?
1)Female crime rate started to rise in 1950s but women liberation movement began in late 60s. 2) Most female criminals are working class who are most likely to be affected by women’s liberation. 3) Chesney-Lind-women branched out into typically male offences but only due to their link with prostitution which is a very ‘unliberated’ female offence. 4) Also little evidence that illegitimate opportunity structure of professional crime has opened up to women (Laidler and Hunt-USA female gang members were expencted to conform to conventional gender roles)
What is a strength of the liberation thesis?
Adlers thesis draws attention to the importance of investigating the relationship between changes in women’s position and changes in patterns of female offending, however it can be argued that she overestimates both the extent to which women have become liberated and the extent to which they are now able to engage in serious crime
What is a trend in official statistics that seems to support Adlers liberation thesis?
The female arrest and conviction statistics for violent crime eg Hand and Dodd-between 2000 and 2008 police stats show number of females arrested for violence rose by on average 17% each year. If these stats are an accurate picture of offending then it suggests females are increasingly committing typically ‘male’ crimes
What other sources paint a different picture of female crime, that does not support Adlers liberation thesis?
Steffensmeier and Schwartz found that while the female share of arrests for violence grew from 1 fifth to 1 third between 1980 and 2003, this rise in police stats was not matched by the findings of victim surveys (victims did not report any increase in attacks by females-similarly self report studies showed no upward trend in females’ criminality)
What do Steffensmeier and Schwartz conclude?
In reality there has been no change in women’s involvement in violent crime. They argue that the rise in arrests is due to the justice system ‘widening the net’-arresting and prosecuting females for less serious forms of violence than previously
Similarly, what does Chesney-Lind argue?
A policy of mandatory arrests for domestic violence has led to a steep rise in the female violence stats in the USA. Where a couple fight, both may be arrested, even though it is likely that the woman is the victim. Females previously ignored by the justice system now find themselves being labelled as violent offenders
What do Sharpe and Gelsthorpe note?
Net-widening policies are producing a rise in the official statistics for females’ violent crimes. There is a growing trend towards prosecuting females for low-level physical altercations, even in some cases for playground fights. Most convictions are for minor offences not involving weapons
What does Young say about the trend?
The trend is an example of ‘defining deviance up’ to catch trivial offences in the net
What does Worrall argue?
In the past, girls’ misbehaviour was more likely to be seen as a ‘welfare’ issue, whereas now it has been re-labelled as criminality
If female participation in violent crime is not in fact increasing, how do we account for the increase in criminalisation of females for this kind of crime?
One view is that it is a social construction resulting from a moral panic over young women’s behaviour
What is an example of the moral panic about girls?
Burman and Batchelor point to media depictions of young women as ‘drunk and disorderly, out of control and looking for fights’
What did Sharpe find?
Reports featuring binge drinking, girl gangs etc may be affecting the criminal justice system. Professionals such as judges, probation officers and police were influenced by media stereotypes of violent ‘ladettes’ and many believed that girls’ behaviour was rapidly worse
What did Steffensmeier et al find similar to Sharpe?
In the USA media-driven moral panics about girls were affecting sentencing decisions
What is the overall effect of the moral panic about girls?
A self fulfilling prophecy and an amplification spiral: reports of girls’ misbehaviour sensitise police and courts, who take a tougher stance, resulting in more convictions, which produces further negative media coverage etc
What do large-scale national victim surveys such as the Crime Survey for England and Wales show?
Gender differences in the level and types of victimisation, and in the relationship between victims and offenders
What do surveys say about homicide victims?
About 70% are male. Female victims are more likely to know their killer and in 60% of these cases, this was a partner or ex-partner. Males are most likely to be killed by a friend or acquaintance
What do surveys say about victims of violence?
Fewer women than men are victims of violence (2%vs4%). Women are most likely to be victimised by an acquaintance and men by a stranger, more women than men were victims of intimate violence during adult lives, ten times more women reported having been sexually assaulted than men, only 8% of females who had experience serious sexual assault reported it to the police (a third of those didn’t report it because they believed the police couldn’t do much to help)
Why is there apparently a mismatch between fear and risk?
Research shows women have agreater fear of crime but the CSEW shows they are at less risk of victimisation. However, some local victim surveys such as by Lea and Young have found that women are in fact at greater risk than men. There is evidence from early studies (Sparks et al) that show female victims of violence may be more likely to refuse to be interviewed
Why do victim surveys not necessarily convey the frequency or severity of the victimisation?
Eg in the case of domestic abuse, Walby and Allen have shown that women were much more likely to be victims of multiple incidents. Ansara and Hindin found that women victims experienced more severe violence and control
What does Cain say in relation to male crime?
Although criminologists have focused mainly on male criminality, until recently they have not generally asked what it is about being male that leads men to offend
Why has male crime been looked at recently?
Influenced by recent feminist and postmodernist ideas, sociologists have begun to take an interest in why men are more likely to commit crime. Their attention has focused on the concept of masculinity as a way of explaining men’s higher rate of offending
What does Messerschmidt argue?
Masculinity is a social construct or ‘accomplishment’ and men have to constantly work at constructing and presenting it to others. In doing so, some men have more resources than others to draw upon
What does Messerschmidt say about different types of masculinity?
He argues there are different masculinities that co-exist within society, but hegemonic masculinity is the dominant, prestigious form that most men wish to accomplish
What is hegemonic masculinity?
“Work in the paid-labour market, the subordination of women, heterosexism and the drive and uncontrollable sexuality of men”
What is the opposite of hegemonic masculinity?
Some men have subordinated masculinities. These include gay men, who have no desire to accomplish hegemonic masculinity, as well as lower class and some ethnic minority men, who lack the resources to do so
How does Messerschmidt see crime and deviance?
He sees crime and deviance as resources that different men may use for accomplishing masculinity. Eg class and ethnic differences among youths lead to different forms of rule breaking to demonstrate masculinity
What type of men/boys does Messerschmidt talk about?
White middle-class youths, white working-class youths, and black lower working-class youths
What does Messerschmidt say about white middle-class youths?
They have to subordinate themselves to teachers in order to achieve middle-class status, leading to an accommodating masculinity in school. Outside school, their masculinity takes an oppositional form, eg through drinking, pranks and vandalism
What does Messerschmidt say about white working-class youths?
They have less chance of educational success, so their masculinity is oppositional both in and out of school. It is constructed around sexist attitudes, being touch and opposing teachers’ authority. The ‘lads’ in Willis’ study are good examples
What Messerschmidt say about black lower working-class youths?
They may have few expectations of a reasonable job and may use gang membership and violence to express their masculinity, or turn to serious property crime to achieve material success
What does Messerschmidt say about class and male crime?
He acknowledges that middle class men too may use crime. The difference lies in the type of crime: white middle-class males commit white collar and corporate crime to accomplish hegemonic masculinity, poorer groups may use street robbery to achieve a subordinated masculinity
What are the criticisms of Messerschmidt?
Is masculinity an explanation of male crime or just a description of male offenders (danger of a circular argument), Messerschmidt doesn’t explain why not all men use crime to accomplish masculinity, and he over-work the concept to masculinity to explain virtually all male crimes from joy riding to embezzlement
What is postmodernity, and what effects has it caused?
In recent decades, globalisation has led to a shift from a modern industrial society to a late modern or postmodern de-industrialised society. This has led to the loss of many of the traditional manual jobs through which working-class men were able to express their masculinity by hard physical labour and by providing for their families
How has postmodernity led to male crime?
At the same time as job opportunities in industry have declined, there has been an expansion of the service sector, including the night-time leisure economy of clubs, pubs and bars. For some young working class men, this has provided a combination of legal employment, lucrative criminal opportunities and a means of expressing their masculinity
What is an example of postmodernity, masculinity and crime?
Winlow’s study of bouncers in Sunderland in the north east of England, an area of de-industrialisation and unemployment
What did Winlow find?
Working as bouncers in the pubs and clubs provided young men with both paid work and the opportunity for illegal business ventures in drugs, duty-free tobacco and alcohol and protection rackets, as well as the opportunity to demonstrate their masculinity through the use of violence
What does Winlow draw on?
Cloward and Ohlin’s distinction between conflict and criminal subcultures. He notes that in modern society there had always been a violent, conflict subculture in Sunderland, in which men earned status through their ability to use violence. However, the absence of a professional criminal subculture meant there was little opportunity for a career in organised crime
What has happened under postmodern conditions?
By contrast, an organised professional criminal subculture has emerged as a result of the new illicit business opportunities to be found in the night-time economy. In this subculture, the ability to use violence becomes not just a way of displaying masculinity, but a commodity with which to earn a living
How do men maintain their reputation and employability?
Men use their bodily capital eg many of the bouncers seek to develop their physical assets by bodybuilding
What does Winlow note about bodily capital?
It is not just a matter of being able to use violence and win fights, but of maintaining the sign value of their bodies, ‘looking the part’, so as to discourage competitors from challenging them (the signs of masculinity become an important commodity in their own right reflecting the idea that in postmodern society, signs take on a reality of their own independent of the thing they supposedly represent)
Why is Winlow’s study important?
It shows how the expression of masculinity changes with the move from a modern industrial society to a postmodern, de-industrialised one. At the same time, this change opens up new criminal opportunities for men who are able to use violence to express masculinity, by creating the conditions for the growth of an organised criminal subculture
