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Gender and crime - Coggle Diagram
Gender and crime
Sex role theory, control theory & females
Sex role theory:
- Parsons (functionalist)
- theory that males & females are socialised into different roles
- females passive & nurturing in domestic roles, men active & physical
Control theory:
- Travis Hirschi (functionalist)
- human beings controlled formally & informally
- humans controlled, regulated & integrated
- more control on how females behave e.g. peers informally
Frances Heidensohn:
- control of women
control in the home:
- domestic role confines them, if rejected may face violence, Dobash & Dobash
- daughters controlled, less likely to be allowed to come & go or stay out late, 'bedroom culture' of socialising at home, more housework
control in public:
- threat/fear of male violence, especially sexual e.g. Islington Crime Survey 54% women avoid going out after dark, 14% men
- media frightens women
- fear of being defined as not respectable e.g. wearing makeup gives a 'reputation'
- sexualised verbal abuse in schools, 'slags' if dont conform to roles (Sue Lees)
- ideology of separate spheres (certain places expected for women & men to be, women can't enter male dominated world, stops entering crime e.g. nocturnal economy)
control at work:
- male supervisors and managers
- sexual harassment
- subordinate position, reduces opportunities to engage in major criminal activities at work e.g. 'glass ceiling' prevents senior positions, less white collar crime
however
- Heidensohn also recognises patriarchy can push women into crime e.g. poor so turn to theft
Pat Carlen:
- 2 types of 'ideal' women are given in life
1) the class deal: material rewards for work
2) the gender deal: conform to gender roles, rely on man
- those without these deals are more likely to commit crime e.g. no class as failed school, no gender as dont want a man due to abuse
- she got this info from 1998 unstructured tape recorded interviews of 39 15-46yo W/C women convicted of crime
Sunita Toor:
- asian, middle easter, muslim etc women have lowest rates of offending
- strong social control in family, micro-mangaged
- 'honor' and 'shame' (of families)
- shame & dishonour of those that commit any crime, even minor things like smoking punished, puts off crime
- older male family members job to police the girls / women, as shame falls on them
- can cause honor crimes e.g. beating daughters to preserve honor
Criticism:
- deterministic of women, suggest they conform
- not really explaining different types of crime e.g. white collar
- men may not commit more but just typification of police
- Pat Carlen & Sanita Toor, small sample size / studies, generalisability problems
- Pat Carlen, ignores selective law enforcement
- ideology of separate spheres is outdated
- liberation these, W/C women are least liberated yet more likely to commit crime
Evaluation:
Freda Adler:
- liberation thesis
- as women have become more empowered, these is an increase in female crime
- can criticise control theory
- however, also supports control theory as women are less controlled (more empowered) they commit more crime
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Gender and victimisation
Patterns of violent crime:
- males more likely to be victims
Strangers or known offenders:
- women more likely to know offender, however there is a myth most cases women dont know offender etc (sexual violence)
- yet with men, more likely a stranger (physical violence)
Domestic abuse, sexual assault & sexual harassment:
- women victims
- they are soft figures, we cannot know true figures of abuse, likely a lot higher
- there is a dark figure (missing) of people that dont even know they are a victim e.g. male on male sexual abuse doesnt appear in crime survey
Murder patterns:
- more likely to be men victims
- yet media displays as women
- most likely male offenders
Secondary victimisation:
- occurs in courtroom & outside
- your entire life cross examined & all under scrutiny
- women violated all over again, so often drop causes
Chivalry thesis
Otto Pollak:
- chivalry thesis
- men believe women are weak, vulnerable & not a threat
- thus, treated more leniently by police, court etc - especially if she has children, believe it will cause more problems in society
- police more likely to target men e.g. stop & search
- court less likely to give custodial
Arguments against chivalry thesis (criticisms):
- women less likely to do the crimes that end them in prison
- feminists, it is less lenient when women commit violent crimes as more shocking (double-demonisation of female offenders); Frances Heidensohn, female offenders are double deviants for committing crime but also against social norms (especially if violent, sexual etc)
- Pat Carlen, status & background of the woman, if a woman is a good mother, wife, white, middle class, no drug/alcohol problem, children in her care etc, then more lenient, but not always
Evaluation:
- 2006 Home Office, self-report survey of young people, 17% females admitted, 26% males admitted
- women committing more crime than official statistics show, 95% prisoners male - chivalry?
- (however, maybe women not committing violent crime)
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