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gender and crime (treatment by the system- harsh or lenient?- (Possible…
gender and crime
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official stats and crime. Pollack - sex difs in crime stats are mythical BOX however argues they are accurate as they are supported by the self report victim survey.
fem approach- there are many similarities between male and female criminals and any difference is a result of the way society polices men and women differently.
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gender and victimisation the official stats indicate women are less likely to be victims of crime however the majority of crimes commited against women in the home are under reported.
some socis like clemente & kleinman argue womens fears are exaggerated and the media create a moral panic.
Bias against women-
Evidence women are treated harsher when offence involves breaking the expectation of female behaviour. Which may mean there is double standards
Courts punish girls not boys for premature promiscuous sexual activity. They can end up in care without commiting a crime. sharpe (2009) - analysed 55 youth worker records and found 7/11 girls were referred for support because they were sexualy active but the 44 boys were not.
Pat Carlen (97) suggests women who are seen as having a more ‘conventional life’ are less likely to get a custodial sentence than girls who parents think they are beyond control - feminists argue double standards exist because the criminal justice system is patriarchal.
Liberation thesis- Freda Adler (1975)- women liberation = inc women participation in criminal activity. just like wom are penetrating labour market so they are moving in to criminal careers.
Denscombe 2001 changes in female roles over the past ten year means females are likely to engage in risk taking behavior- from indebted interviews examining the self images of 15-16 year old he found females were rapidly adopting what had traditionally been male attitudes such as looking hard and being in control.
evaluation most female criminals are working class- least likely to be influenced by women's liberation which benefits m/c women more
why has sociology ignored women in the study of crime- Frances Heidensohn- reasons why func, marx ,sub cultural and internationalist approaches to crime all tend to ignore women. 1- soc is dom by men who find female crime uninteresting 2- male socis are attracted to the glam of some male deviance eg- gangs and drugs. 3- early theories of crime can be criticized for being inf by 'the male norm'
how much female crime- oficial fuigers show that five times as many crimes are committed by men as by women. self report studies show men commit more crime but the ratio is smaller its more like 1.2 male crime for every female one. pollak argue that ofical stats underestimate female crime the low rate of recorded crime is a result of steryotypes women are treat dif in the criminal justice system.
the criminalisation of females - steffenmeier and schwartz- suggest theres been no change in women's involvement in violent crime - the rise of arrests is a result of the crim justice syst 'widening the net' - arresting and prosecuting females for less serious forms of violence than prev.