GENDER & CRIME

GENDER PATTERNS IN CRIME

Most crime appears to be committed by males

  • official statistics show that:
    • 3/4 convicted offenders in England & Wales are men
    • a higher proportion of female offenders are convicted of property offences (except burglary)
    • a higher proportion of male offenders are convicted of violence and sexual offences
    • males are more likely to be repeat offenders, have longer criminal careers and commit more serious crimes

  • Some sociologists argue that statistics underestimate the amount of female offending

  • two arguments have been put forward in support of this view:



    • 1) Female crimes are less likely to be reporte e.g shoplifting is less likely to be noticed or reported compared to violent or sexual crimes more often commited by men OR prostitution which females are more likely to engage in , is likely to go unreported by both parties


    • 2) Some claim hat even when woman's crimes are detected or reported they are less likely to be prosecuted or get off lightly if prosecuted

CHIVALRY THEISIS

  • Argues that most criminal justice agents such as police officers and judges are men, and men have been socialised to act n a chivalrous way towards women
  • POLLAK argues men have a positive attitude towards women and hate to accuse them, arrest them, prosecute them and fine them guilty
  • Therefore the CJS is likely to be more lenient with them so their crimes less likely to end up in official statistics with gives an invalid picture that exaggerates the extend of gender differences in rates of offending

EVALUATION (A03)

  • Court statistics appear to give some support to the chivalry thesis e.g females are more likely than males to receive a fine or a community sentence and less likely to be sent to prison
  • ignores the fact that Many male crimes dont get reported e.g in 2012 only 8% of females who have been victims of a serious sexuak assault reported it to the police
  • FARRINGTON AND MORRIS found that women were not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences
  • if women appear to ben treated more leniently it may simply be because their offences are less serious so less likely to go to trial

FUNCTIONALIST SEX ROLE THEORY

  • PARSONS argues that females carry out the 'expressive role' in the family which involves them caring for their children and being the emotional support system for their husbands
  • Because of this, girls grew up to internalise such values as caring and empathy which reduce the likelihood of them committing crime as these values are less likely to cause harm
  • Boys are encouraged to be tough, aggressive and risk taking which means they are more disposed to commit acts of violence and take advantage of criminal opportunities
  • Parsons argues that boys tend to reject feminine models of behaviour that express tenderness, gentleness and emotion and
    • they seek to distance themselves from such models by engaging in 'COMPENSATORY COMPULSORY MASCULINITY'
  • Because men have much less of a role inn socialising in the conventional nuclear family, socialisation is harder for boys
  • COHEN argues that a lack of an adult role model means boys are more likely toter to all-male street gangs as a source of masculine identity

EVALUATION (A03)

  • WALKLATE argues that parsons assumes that because women have the biological capacity to bear children, they are best suited to the expressive role
  • its less relevant to todays society due to the decline of traditional gender roles
  • Its mainly based on untested biological assumptions about sex differences

PATRIARCHAL CONTROL (HEIDENSON)

  • CONTROL AT HOME:
    • womens domestic role = constant rounds of housework and childcare causing restrictions on their time and confines them to their house for long periods reducing their opportunities to offend
    • women who try to reject their domestic role may find their partners seek to impose it by force though domestic violence
    • DOBASH & DOBASH 1979 found that many violent attacks result from mens dissatisfaction with their wives domestic duties
    • men also exercise control on their wives by denying them sufficient funds free leisure activities, restricting their time outside the home
    • daughters are less likely to be allowed to come and go as they please, stay out late so bedroom culture is developed, so have less opportunity to engage in deviant behaviour
  • CONTROL IN PUBLIC:
    • women controlled in public places by the threat or fear of male violence against them especially sexual violence
    • sensationalist media reporting of rapes adds to the fear
    • distorted media portrayals of a typical rapist being a stranger who carries out random
      attacks
    • also controlled by their fear of being defined as not respectable (dress, makeup demeanour defined as inappropriate can gain women a reputation) e.g going to pubs (fear of being seen as loose/sex worker)
  • CONTROL AT WORK:
    • controlled by male supervisors and managers
    • sexual harassment helps keep a woman in their place
    • womens subordinate position reduces their opportunity for committing criminal activity at work
    • e.g glass ceiling prevents women from rising to senior positions where there greater opportunity to commit fraud

CLASS & GENDER DEALS (CARLEN)

  • working class women are generally led to conform through the promise of 2 types or rewards/deals
  • THE CLASS DEAL: women who work will be offered material rewards with a decent standard of living and leisure opportunities
  • THE GENDER DEAL: patriarchal ideology promises women material and emotional rewards from family life by conforming to norms of a conventional domestic gender role
  • if these rewards are not available or not worth the effort, crime becomes more likely.

EVALUATION (A03):

  • accused of seeing womens behaviour as determined by external forces such as gender deals and underplays importance of free will and choice in offending
  • shows the failure of patriarchal society to deliver the promised deals to some women removes the controls that prevent them from offending

EVALUATION (A03)

  • shows the many patriarchal controls that help prevent women from deviating
  • underplays importance of free will, only sees behaviour as determined by patriarchal control
  • Carlen conducted a study of 39 15-46 year old working class women who had been convicted of a range of crimes including prostitution and theft.
  • the women had failed to find a legitimate way of earring a decent living and left them feeling powerless
  • as they gained no rewards from the class deal, they felt they had nothing to loose by using crime to escape from poverty
  • they reached the conclusion that crime was the only route to a decent standard of living
  • Carlens sample was small and may be unrepresentative as it only consisted of w/c and serious offenders

LIBERATION THEISIS (ADLER)

  • As women become liberated from patriarchy, their crimes will be as frequent and as serious as mens
  • as patriarchal controls and discrimination has lessens and opportunities in education and work have become more equal women have begun to adopt traditionally male roles in both legitimate and illegitimate activity
  • As a result, women no longer commit traditional female crimes such as shoplifting and prostitution, but male offences such as crimes of violence and white collar crimes
  • this is because of women's greater self confidence and assertiveness and the fact they have greater opportunity in the legitimate structure (work)

EVALUATION (A03)

  • Female crime rate began rising in the 1950s long before the womens liberation movement which emerged in late 1960s
  • most female criminals are W/C- the group least likely to be influenced by womens liberation
  • CHESNEY-LIND found evidence of women branching out into more typical offences such as drugs which is usually because of their link with prostitution ) an unliberated female offence)
  • little evidence that the legitimate opportunity structure of professional crime has opened up to women