Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Topic 5- Gender Crime and Justice - Coggle Diagram
Topic 5- Gender Crime and Justice
Gender Patterns in crime
Heidensohn and Silvestri observe gender differences are the most significant feature of recorded crime. Official statistic shows
3 out of 4 convicted offenders in England and Wales are men
By the age of 40,9% of females have a criminal conviction as against 32% of males
A higher proportion of female than males offenders are convicted of property offences however a higher proportion of males are convicted of violent offences
Do women commit more crime?
Some sociologists and criminologists argue that the statistics underestimate the amount of females as against male offending. 2 argument have been put forward:
Typically female crimes are less likely to be reported. For example shoplifting is less likely to be noticed of reported than violent crimes which are normally committed by men.
Some claim that even when women's crime is detected or reported, they are less to be prosecuted or if prosecuted more likely to be let of lightly
The Chivalry Thesis
The chivalry thesis argue that most criminal justice agents such as police officers and magistrates are men and men are socialised to actin a chivalrous way towards women.
Pollak: Men have a protective attitude towards women and that men hate to accuse women of a crime.
The criminal justice system is also more lenient with women and so their crimes are less likely to end up in the official statistics. This gives an invalid picture that exaggerates the extent of gender differences in the rate of offending
Self Report Studies: Evidence from some self report studies does suggest that female offenders are treated more leniently. Graham and Bowling's research on a sample of 1721 14-25 year olds found that although males were more likely to offend, the differences were smaller than recorded in official statistics
They found that males were 2.33 times more likely to admit to have committed an offence in the previous 12 months whereas in official statistics show males are 4 times more likely to offend
Official Statistics: At first sight court statistics appear to support the chivalry thesis
Females are more likely than males to be released on bail rather than remanded in custody
Females are more likely than males to receive a fine or community sentence and less likely to be sent to prison. Hoods study off over 3000 defendants found that women were about 1/3 less likely to be jailed in similar cases
Evidence against the Chivalry thesis
Farrington and Morris's study of sentencing of 408 offences of theft in a magistrates court found that women were not sentenced more leniently for compatible offences
Buckle and Farrington's observational study of shoplifting in a department store witness twice as many males shoplifting as females despite the fact that the numbers of males and female offenders in official statistics are more than less equal. This suggests that women shoplifters may be more likely to be prosecuted than male counterparts
Self Report Studies: Provide evidence that males commit more offences. Young men are more likely than females to report binge drinking, taking illegal drugs or engaging in disorderly conduct. Studies suggest that the gender gap increases as the offences become more serious
Under-reporting of male crimes against women: Ignores the fact that many male crimes don't get reported. In 2012, only 8% of females who have been victims of a serious sexual assault reported it while Yearnshire found that a women typically suffers 35 assaults before reporting domestic abuse.
If a women appear to be treated more leniently it may be because their offences are less serious. The lower rate of prosecutions of females as compared with their self report offending may be because the crimes they admit to are less serious and less likely to go to trial.
Bias against women
Feminists argue that the criminal justice system is against women. As Heidensohn argues the courts treat females more harshly than males when they deviate from gender norms for example
Women who don't conform to accepted standards of monogamous heterosexuality and motherhood are punished more harshly. Steward found that magistrates perceptions of female defendants characters were based on stereotypical roles
Double standards- courts punish girls but not boys for premature sexual activity such as girls can end up in care without committing a crime
Carlen: when women are jailed its less for the seriousness of the crimes and more according to the courts assessment of them as wives, mother or daughters. Girls whose parents believe them to be beyond control are more likely to recieve custodial sentences
Walklate argues that in rape cases it isn't the defendant who is on trial but the victim since she has to prove her respectability in order to have her evidence accepted. Adler argues that women who are deemed to lack respectability such as single parents find it difficult to have their testimony believed