Steffensmeier & Allan 1996 Flashcards by Pat Hawkes

How can we explain female offending? (2)

Increased gender equality?

Women more ‘manly’ now?

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

How can we explain female offending?

This assumes more women commit crime in more gender-equal societies and over time, but the gender gap in crime has actually stayed quite stable over time & place. Many female
Offenders actually have more..

Traditional views on femininity

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Gender equality and crime diagram:

Gender equality -> masculinity & taste for risk -> higher female share of crime

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Could it have something to do with

Gender inequality?

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Gender inequality: increase in petty property crimes matched by increase in economic pressure on some groups of women, such as: (3)

Higher rates of divorce

Lone parenting

Crackdown on welfare

Steffenmeiser 1993

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Gender inequality:
Increased dependence on men involved in criminal activities? E.g. Women who commit very serious crimes (serial murder, sadistic sexual violence) are rare but often initiated by…

Male partners, e.g. Hindley & Brady ‘moors murders’

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Gender inequality:

Female teens who run away from physical/sexual abuse at home - struggle to live on streets which leads to

Prostitution, drug dealing, etc.

GILFUS 1992, CHESNEY-LIND 1999

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Gender inequality: diagram

Gender inequality -> victimisation and economic marginality -> higher female share of crime

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Criminologists agree that the gender gap on crime is universal. Women are always and everywhere less likely than men to…

Commit criminal acts

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Similarities between male and female offending:

More heavily heavily involved in minor property and substance abuse offences than in

Serious crimes

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Differences between male and female offending:

Men offend at much high rates than women for all crime categories except…

Prostitution

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Gender gap in crime is greatest for…

Serious crime

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

(Rise of girl gangs?)

Girls have long been members of gangs (Thrasher 1927) and some girls today continue to solve their problems of gender, race and class through

Gang membership

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

(Girl gangs)

Early studies (based on info from male informants) depicted female gang members as playing secondary roles such as…

Cheerleaders

Ignored girls violent behaviour

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

(Girls gangs)

Recent studies (rely more on female gang informants) indicate that girls’ roles in gangs have been considerably more varied than early stereotypes would have it.

(Campbell 1984) Girls’ status is determined as much or even more so by her…

Female peers

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

(Girl gangs)

(Fagan 1990) Girls appear to be fighting in more arenas and even using many of the same weapons as males, and the gang context may be an important source of initiating females into patterns of…

Violent offending

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

(Girl gangs)
Ganging is still a predominantly male phenomenon (roughly 90%). (Miller1980, Swart1991) The most common form of female gang involvement has remained as branches of…

Male gangs

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

(Bowker et. Al 1980) Girls are excluded from most of the…

Economic criminal activity

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Variety of evidence suggests that there is a considerable overlap in the…

“Causes” of male and female crime

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Explanation of serious female crime and of gender differences in serious crime is more…

Problematic

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Social backgrounds of female offenders tend to be quite similar to those of…

Male offenders

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Like male offenders, female offenders are typically : (4)

Low socioeconomic status

Poorly educated

Unemployed

Minority groups

Main difference in female offenders’ social profiles to males is the greater presence of dependent…

Children

Groups or societies that have high male rates also have high female rates.

Groups or societies that have low male rates also have low…

Female rates

Findings suggest that female rates respond to the same social and legal forces as...

Male rates

Causal factors of female offending that are consistent with those suggested by traditional theories of crime: (3)

Anomie Social control Differential association

Shortcomings of traditional theories Shed light on explaining overall patterns of female and male offending and why female offending is lower than males. But don't explain the differences between male and female offending, e.g. Why are female offenders less likely to participate in or lead...

Criminal groups?

Females are more likely to be solo or small groups of

Perpetrators

Most significant difference = male dominance in organised and highly lucrative

Crimes

Saying 'she did it all for love' is sometimes overplayed in reference to female criminality, the role of men in initiating women into crime (especially serious crime) is a consistent...

Finding

Gender gap also varies by...(4)

Age Race Geographic area Time

Gender gap in crime is less in social settings where female roles and statuses presumably differ less from those of men (developed nations) in urban settings compared to...

Rural settings

1970s several female criminologists suggested that increases in the female share of arrests could be attributed to gains in gender equality as a result of the women's movement (Adler, Simon). The media embraced this interpretation of the...

"Dark side" of female liberation

Plausible to argue that greater freedom has increased female participation in the public sphere (working, shopping, banking, etc.) and this could help account for some of the increases in the female share of arrests for:(3)

Petty property offences Fraud Forgery

Gender inequality and female offenders: Patriarchal power relations shape gender differences in crime, pushing women into crime through:(4)

Victimisation Role entrapment Economic marginalisation Survival needs

Gender ratio is most skewed in the disparity of males as offenders and females as victims of:

Sexual and domestic abuse

Steffensmeier (1993) several other factors that can help explain increases in the female percentage of arrests for property offences:(3)

Increased formalisation of law enforcement Increased opportunities for 'female' types of crime Trends in female drug dependency

Gender equality hypothesis criticisms:(3)

Criticisms of power control Traditional gender-role definitions of female offenders Homicide and burglary trends

Downfalls of gender-neutral theories: not very informative about the specific ways in which differences in the lives of men and women contribute to gender differences in...(3)

Type Frequency Context of criminal behaviour

Downfall of gender-specific theories: likely to be even less adequate if they require separate explanations for...

Female crime Male crime

4 key elements of a gendered approach: Perspective should help explain not only female criminality but male criminality as well, by revealing how the organisation of gender (norms, identities, dichotomy) deters or shapes delinquency by females but encourages it by...

Males

4 key elements of a gendered approach: Gendered perspective should account for gender differences in type and frequency of crime and context of ..

Offending

4 key elements of a gendered approach: Need to consider several key ways in which women's routes to crime may differ from those of men, e.g. Blurred boundaries between victim and victimisation, women's exclusion from lucrative crime opportunities, women's ability to exploit sex as an illegal money-making service and the greater need of street women for protection from..

Predatory/exploitative males

4 key elements of a gendered approach: Perspective should explore the extent to which gender differences in crime derive from complex social, historical and cultural factors AND from..

Biological and reproductive differences

Gender norms | Crime is almost always stigmatising for females, and its potential cost to life chances is much greater than for

Men

Gender norms Expectations regarding sexuality and appearance reinforce greater female dependency and surveillance by parents and husbands. And these expectations shape the deviant roles available to women, e.g.

Sexual media Service roles

Even prostitution (considered a female crime) is essentially a male-dominated/controlled criminal enterprise e.g.

Police Pimps Businessmen Clients

Gendered approach helps to clarify the gendered nature of both female and male offending patterns For women, 'doing gender' preempts criminal involvement or directs it into scripted paths. E.g. Prostitution = Violence =

Femininity Masculinity

Explanation of serious crimes by males and females is more problematic. Partly because the lower frequencies of offending complicate the task of

Quantitate analyses

qualitative studies reveal major gender differences in the context and nature of

Offending

Need to examine more closely whether various criminogenic factors (family, peers, schooling) vary by..

Gender

Study of criminal careers has centred almost exclusively on male

Offenders

Expanding research on female offending may seem hard to justify due to:(2)

Relatively low frequency of female crime Less serious nature of female crime

Study of gender and crime is a productive arena for exploring the general nature of:(2)

Gender stratification Organisation of gender