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Gender Difference in crime: - Coggle Diagram
Gender Difference in crime:
Liberation thesis:
Adler - as women become liberated from the patriarchy their crimes will become more frequent and as violent as mens.
Women have begun to adopt traditionally 'male' roles in both legitimate activity and illegitimate activities.
Denscombe found that girls were just as likely to engage in risking taking behaviour as men.
From 2024-25 there was a 22.4% increase in the number of women being charged with committing a crime.
Chivalry thesis:
The criminal justice system is more lenient on women; thus, their crimes are less likely to end up in official statitics.
In 2025, 3149 women charged but only 1368 convicted.
Pollak - men are socialised to act in a 'chivalrous' way towards women, they are protective of women.
Only 1/9 women receive a prison sentence for shoplifting compared to 1/5 men.
Growing female criminality:
Supports Adler - female conviction for violent crime is increasing.
2000-2008 there was a 17% increase in women committing violent crimes per year.
Patriarchal control:
Dobash + Dobash - domestic violence is a result of men's dissatisfaction with their wives' performance of domestic issues.
Heidensohn - women are restricted by patriarchal society and the home, reducing their opportunities to commit crime.
Girls have a developed bedroom culture and complete more housework than boys restricting their time outside of the house to engage in deviant behaviour.
Sex-role theory:
Cohen - the lack of a male role model in single female headed household leads to boys turning to crime to express their masculinity.
Parsons - gender roles in the nuclear family are part of our childhood socialisation.
Class and Gender deal:
Hirschi - women turn to crime if they do not believe the rewards for conforming to social norms will be rewarding. If the rewards of crime are greater than the risk of the crime then they are likely to commit it.
Carlen - the most serious convicted female criminals are working class. Poverty and being raised in an oppressive household causes female criminality.
Masculinity:
Messerschmidt - masculinity is a social construct. Hegemonic masculinity is the dominant form that most men wish to achieve. Crime and deviance is how working-class men attempt to achieve this.
Post-modernity:
Winlow - post-industrialisation has led to a lack of masculine jobs. Men seek criminal careers instead to show masculinity and bodily capital.
Sunderland bouncer study.