Crime & Deviance: Gender & Crime Flashcards
Summary:
‘Applying Material from Item B and your own knowledge, evaluate sociological explanations of female crime. (30 marks) ‘
Official statistics show men commit more crime than women, however sociologists disagree on the reasons why.
Some sociologists argue female offending rates go unnoticed and unpunished because the criminal justice system treats women more leniently, through ideas such as the chivalry thesis (Pollak).
However, some sociologists believe the gender differences in offending are due to the way women are socialised meaning they have less opportunity or desire to commit crime.
On the other hand, other sociologists argue women do commit crime, but men merely commit more due to the idea of ‘masculinity’.
WHY DO WOMEN COMMIT LESS CRIME THAN MEN
What is the Patriarchal Control Theory?
Heidensohn argues that women commit fewer crimes than men because patriarchal societies control women more effectively than men.
Control of woman at home
- The time spent on housework and in caring for children means that women have little time for crime.
- Daughters are given less freedom than sons to come and go as they please.
Another example of how men exercise patriarchal control, according to Dobash and Dobash is through their financial power.
This limits the funds given for women’s leisure activities, limiting the freedom that the woman has, thus making it more difficult for them to commit a crime.
What is a criticism of the Patriarchal Control Theory?
This is criticised by some sociologists who would argue this approach is deterministic because it suggests that woman are controlled and determined by the patriarchal control.
This approach would have implications on the legal system which is built upon principles of free will, raising questions as to whether certain crimes were committed due to the fault of the woman or as a way to rebel against oppression by men in the patriarchal society.
Therefore, this approach ignores the underlying fact that people have free will and choice in deciding to commit a criminal offence.
WHY WOMEN COMMIT LESS CRIME THAN MEN
What is the Functionalist Sex Role Theory?
According to Parsons girls are socialised differently to boys. The values that girls are brought up to hold are those that simply do not lead to crime.
Parsons argues that due to their biology and the way they are socialised, women are nurturing by nature, and therefore are incapable of/ do not want to commit crime. For example, woman are too preoccupied being a mother.
Furthermore women biology means that they are better suited to take on the expressive role in the family by nature and carry out the main responsibility of nurturing and socialising children.
This means that girls have a clear role model and child-rearing is often performed by the mother and therefore women are incapable of or do not want to commit crime because women are too preoccupied being a mother.
What did Albert Cohen say about absent fathers and how they increase the likelihood of men committing crime?
Moreover, due to absent fathers (through work or lone parents families) boys tend to reject feminine models of behaviour and engage in ‘compensatory compulsory masculinity’ through aggressive and anti social behaviour.
For example, young boys may look up to their father who constantly go out to earn money and provide for the family. As a result of this, these young may start committing crimes such as drug dealing to acquire this money that their father gets as they cannot get a job at such a young age..
Therefore, Cohen argues that due to this lack of adult male role model boys turn to all male street gangs as a source of masculine identity, leading to a high potential of crime for men.
What is a criticism of the Functionalist Sex Role Theory?
Walklate criticises Parsons for assuming that just because the woman have the biological ability to bear children that they are best suited to the expressive role.
For example, women are able to perform, the instrumental role as the breadwinner just as well as men, despite biological differences between men and woman.
Therefore, the functionalist sex theory is based on biological assumptions about sex differences between men and women, which are in fact social constructs; that are not real in objective reality and have been made up by society.
WOMEN COMMITING CRIME
What is the Control and Rational Choice Theory?
Carlen argues that working‑class women have been controlled through the promise of rewards stemming from the workplace and family – the class deal and the gender deal.
The class deal offers material rewards such as consumer goods for the respectable working class women who work dutifully for a wage.
The gender deal offers psychological rewards from either their labours or the ‘love’ of a male breadwinner.
However, when these rewards are not available, or are not seen as worth the sacrifice, the deals break down and criminality becomes a possibility.
Woman from deprived or dysfunctional backgrounds may then make the rational choice to commit crime because they have little to loose because they are already poor and crime offers additional benefits like money and material goods, that would entice working class women to commit crime, providing a reasonable explanation as to why working class women commit more crime than middle and upper class women.
What is a criticism of the Control and Rational Choice Theory?
Carlen’s sample only consisted of 39 convicted female offenders, making it very small.
This small sample may be unrepresentative because it largely focused on working class offenders and therefore ignores middle class female offenders.
For example, middle class women commit various types of crime such as fraud or tax evasion despite having high economic capital.
WOMEN COMMITING CRIME
What is the Chivalry Thesis?
- This refers to the idea that woman are less likely to be persecuted for their crimes.
Pollack argues that men have a protective attitude towards woman so they are unwilling to arrest, charge, prosecute or convict them.
For example, The Civil Justice System is more lenient to women because their agents of control such as juries and police officers are socialised to act more ‘chivalrously’ to women.
This leads to an invalid picture of gender differences in rates of offending, as woman are less likely to be reported as having committed a crime
What is evidence against the Chivalry Thesis?
Dobash and Dobash found that it is unlikely for police to arrest a man for domestic violence as the female victim is often not taken seriously.
This is evidenced by higher reports yet significantly lower conviction rates within domestic violence cases, involving female victims.
Therefore, this contradicts the notion of the Chivalry Thesis, which suggests that the criminal justice system is more sympathetic towards women, however this not consistently the case as evidenced in domestic violence conviction statistics.
What is evidence for the Chivalry Thesis?
There is research support for the Chivalry Thesis through court statistics.
They have found that woman are more likely to be released on bail and are more likely to be given a shorter sentence than men for the same crime.
Moreover, the fact that only 1/9 female offenders receive prison sentences for shoplifting whereas 1/5 men do, supports the idea of the chivalry thesis that women are less likely to be prosecuted for their offences when they may have committed a similar amount of crime.
WOMEN COMMITING CRIME
What is the Female Liberation Theory?
Adler claimed that women being liberated due to the changing norms and values regarding women in society has led to a new type of female criminal and an increase in woman’s contribution to crime.
This means that woman gained access not only to new legitimate opportunities as a result of liberation but also to new illegitimate opportunities such as crime.
For example, there has been an increased strain on women to become providers for themselves and their families.
This is significant because this means if they are unable to provide for themselves and their families through legitimate means, like men, they too would commit crime.
Therefore, due to the rise of feminism and changing norms and values regarding woman, woman now have more opportunities to commit criminal offences, and thus explain the rising criminality rate of women across the years.
What is a strength of the Female Liberation Theory?
One strength of the Female Liberation Theory is that there is research support.
Denscombe found that teenage girls are just as likely to engage in risk taking behaviour and that girls are more likely to take a ‘male stance’.
For example, there has been a rise in female ‘road culture’ where they want to look ‘hard’, meaning appearing stoic and cool.
