Topic 7 Gender, Crime and Justice

Question 1

What are the key differences between male and female offending patterns?

Answer 1

4 out of 5 convicted offenders in England and Wales are men. By the age of 40, 9% of females have a criminal conviction, where 32% of males.

Question 2

What is the chivalry thesis?

Answer 2

A theory that women are treated more leniently within the criminal justice system. They see that traditionally men should be honourable towards women, so they protect them by letting them off and giving less harsh punishments.

Question 3

What was Graham and Bowling’s research for the chivalry thesis?

Answer 3

• They researched a sample of 1,721 fourteen to twenty five year olds
• They found that although males were more likely to offend, the differences was smaller than that recorded in official statistics
• They found that males were 2.33 times more likely toadmit to committing an offences
• Women are also more likely than men to be cautioned

Question 4

What did Flood-page find for the chivalry thesis?

Answer 4

• While only 1 in 11 female self-reported offenders had been cautioned or prosecuted. the figure for men was 1 in 7.

Question 5

What statistics support the chivalry thesis?

Answer 5

Only 1 in 9 female offenders receive a prison sentence for shoplifting, but 1 in 5 males

Question 6

How is Alice Morris’ study used as evidence against the chivalry thesis?

Answer 6

Her study of sentencing 408 offences of theft in a magistrates court found that women were not sentenced more leniently

Question 7

How is Buckle and Farrington’s study used as evidence against the chivalry thesis?

Answer 7

They carried out an observational study of shoplifting in a departmental store and witnessed twice as many males shoplifting than females

Question 8

How can the chivalry thesis be criticised?

Answer 8

Alice Morris’ study of sentencing 408 offences of theft in a magistrate, found that women were not sentenced more leniently. Women offenders are more likely to how remorse, this may help to explain why they are more likely to receive a caution instead of going to court.

Question 9

What does the functionalist sex role theory discuss?

Answer 9

They discuss that boys and girls are socialised differently; therefore, they commit different crimes. Girls are socialised into a bedroom culture, where they express tenderness, gentleness, and emotion. Boys reject this and engage in ‘compensatory compulsory masculinity’ through aggression and anti-social behaviour, which can slip into acts of delinquency.

Question 10

What does Cohen argue as part of the functionalist sex role theory?

Answer 10

• the relative lack of a male role model means boys are more likely to turn to all-male street gangs as a source of masculine identity. In these subcultural groups, status is earned by acts of toughness, risk-taking and delinquency

Question 11

What do the New right argue causes male crime?

Answer 11

The absence of male role model in matrifocal lone parent families lead to boys turning to criminal street gangs as a source of status and identity

Question 12

Why does Walklate criticise sex role theory?

Answer 12

Walklate criticises sex role theory for its biological assumptions. Parsons assumes that because women have the capacity to bear children they are best suited to the expressive role. Thus, although the theory tries to explain gender differences in crime in terms of behaviour learned through socialisation, it is ultimately based on biological assumptions about sex differences

Question 13

What are the three ways women are controlled according to Heidensohn?

Answer 13

• at home, through domestic work, financial control, DV and forced to do the emotional work
• at work through discrimination, clothing, and control over promotions, because of the glass ceiling. Because of this, they cannot commit white collar crime because they can’t be in high positions of power within the workplace.
• in public, through cat calling, clothing and being scared to walk alone.

Question 14

What are class and gender deals?

Answer 14

The class deal is the idea that women who work will be offered material rewards (money), with a decent standard of living and leisure opportunities. The gender deal is the idea that the patriarchal ideology promises women material and emotional rewards from family life by conforming to the normal of a conventional domestic gender role. Therefore, Carlen discusses that if a woman has a job or family, she will not commit a crime.

Question 15

What does the liberation thesis argue?

Answer 15

Adler argues that as women become more liberated from patriarchy, their crimes will become frequent and as serious as men’s. Women are now partaking in traditionally masculine crimes, like violence and white-collar crime. This is because of women’s greater self-confidence and assertiveness and the fact they now have greater opportunities in the legitimate structure.

Question 16

What are the patterns of victimisation in terms of gender?

Answer 16

70% of homicide victims are male. Female victims of homicide 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. Fewer women than men are victims of violence. Women are most likely to be victimised by an acquaintance, men by a stranger. Ten times more women reported being sexually assaulted than men. Only 8% of females who had experienced sexual assault reported it to the police.

Question 17

According to Messerschmidt, why do men commit more crime?

Answer 17

Messerschmidt argues that masculinity is a social construct, and men have o constantly work at constructing and presenting it to others. He argues that different masculinities co-exist within, but hegemonic masculinity is the dominant type that men wish to accomplish. White middle-class males commit white-collar crime to accomplish hegemonic masculinity, working class boys commit street robbery to achieve subordinated masculinity, as they lack the resources for hegemonic masculinity.

Question 18

What is bodily capital?

Answer 18

The idea that men develop their physical assets to maintain their reputation and employability. Violence becomes not just a way of displaying masculinity, but a commodity in which to earn a living in a living in a post-modern world in which the nighttime economy thrives.

Question 19

Define the chivalry thesis?

Answer 19

This is the view that the criminal justice system is biased in favour of women, so they are less likely than men to be charged, convicted or punished. This is because of male-dominated police, courts and prosecuting authorities

Question 20

Define double standards?

Answer 20

This is the opposite of chivalry thesis, they argue that the CJS is biased against women. Courts punish girls but not boys for promiscuous sexual activity. Those who don’t conform to accepted standards are punished more harshly.

Question 21

Define sex role theory?

Answer 21

They believe that gender differences in crime are the result of differences in socialisation between boys and girls. Boys are encouraged to engage in aggressive and anti-social behaviour, which can slip into acts of delinquency.

Question 22

What is the patriarchal control theory?

Answer 22

Heidensohn believes that women commit less crime because the patriarchal society imposes greater control over women and this reduces their oppurtunities to offend. This control operates at home, work and in public spaces.

Question 23

What was Carlen’s study for the class and gender deal theory?

Answer 23

He studied thirty nine 15-46 year old working class women, who had been convicted pf a range of crimes. 20 were in prison or youth custody at the time of the interviews

Question 24

Define the class deal?

Answer 24

Women are led to conform through this deal. Women who work will be offered material rewards, with a decent standard of living and leisure oppurtunities. As such working women who recieve these, don’t commit crime.

Question 25

Define the gender deal?

Answer 25

Women are led to conform through this deal. Women who conform to the norms of a conventional domestic gender role don’t commit crime because they receieve material and emotional rewards from family life

Question 26

Define the liberation thesis?

Answer 26

As society becomes less patriarchal and more equal, women’s crime rates are becoming similar to men’s. This has led to a new type of female crime. They are now committing more typically male violent crimes and have more oppurtunity to commit white collar crime.

Question 27

Define hegemonic masculinity?

Answer 27

This is discussed by Messerschmidt and it refers to the dominant, prestigious form of masculinity that men wish to accomplish.

Question 28

Define bodily capital?

Answer 28

Men develop their physical assests to maintain their reputation and employability. Violence becomes not just a way of displaying masculinity, but a commodity in which to earn a living in a post-modern world in which the night time economy thrives

Question 29

What is the double standards theory?

Answer 29

• Heidensohn argues that the CJS is biased against women. Courts punish girls but not boys for promiscuous sexual activity.
• Those who don’t conform to accepted standards are punished more harshly.
• The courts treat females more harshly than men when they deviate from gender norms.

Question 30

What are the non-sociological theories of female crime?

Answer 30

• Biological explanations - Lombroso argued that criminal behaviour is innate, but that there were very few ‘born female criminals’
• Psychological explanations - argued biological factors such as higher levels of testosterone in males can account for gender differences in violent offending