Gender and Crime Flashcards
4/5 prisoners are
men
_% of females vs __% of males are convicted of a crime by the age of 40.
9%
vs
32%
Francis Heidensohn noted that criminology as a field is flawed because of being…
Gender blind and broadly incomplete in weighing in the factor of gender.
In particular They suggest because it’s male dominated there’s a ‘vicarious identification’ with violent crime, and so that’s what’s unconsciously chosen to be studied more.
What would Functionalists suggest the reason is women commit less crime?
Because women are socialised to be cooperative.
They make role models of the same sex parent and are also subject to more behaviour supervision by the parents.
Why might women also not be able to commit crime as much as men.
What theory suggests why?
- The theory of marginalisation
Women as often subordinated and domesticated citizens have a more narrow scope of opportunities to commit crimes than their husbands might.
What’s hostile attribution bias in relation to socialisation (not psychology)
The theory that men are socialised to be combative and thus are more likely to interpret behaviour as a challenge.
This might explain why men are so overwhelmingly the perpetrators of violent crime.
Pamela Davis’ informative article on women and crime, concludes what?
Because women are socialised differently and hold different positions of status, crime committed by them is often material and about providing.
It is also true that not as much research into white collar, motivated by greed crime has been done about women.
Another benefit of women if and when they’re participating in organised crime is that they’re typically well connected socially and proficient in diffusing which makes their proximity to power something that can come about through networking and diffusing.
The liberation thesis of crime.
Explain it.
Women have been gradually lifted to the status of men through being granted more opportunities.
Culturally this has been internalised and made them more competitively masculine, a key element in what motivates male crime.
Traditional gender role expectations have become less influential on women in the 21st century.
What is the liberation thesis a good refute to?
The theory marginalisation that explains why men commit more crimes because of access to opportunities.
It would indicate this is lesser the case today in late modernity.
What is the chivalry thesis?
That women are treated less harshly by the justice system because of an infantilising of them from patriarchal biases.
They are seen as less in control of their emotions and actions, and so garner more sympathy.
Or there’s a ‘halo effect’ and women are not suspected at all, particularly if they are conventionally attractive.
Campbell noted something in their findings relating to the Chivalry thesis.
what?
That women are prosecuted far less and much more likely to be cautioned instead.
The case of Debra La’Fave
A woman convicted of a sexual offense with a minor.
It was noted that her conventional attractiveness and being a young woman likely was the reason she was neither bedevilled the same way or treated as harshly as a man of her age would have been.
An appreciation of power dynamics might be what’s informing the prejudice the Chivalry thesis claims.
why might this be?
Women are underestimated and seen as not the dominant power and manipulators that a man would be if they were in a sexual relationship with someone under age.
It’s a reflection of ungrained patriarchal attitudes undermining rulings.
What is Farrington and Morris’ evidence against the chivalry thesis?
After reviewing the cases of over 400 theft trials, they concluded that women were not given more observably lenient.
Pat Carlen studied who?
What were their findings.
What is the theory?
Interviewing working class women between the ages of 15 to 46 who had been convicted of a range of crimes.
The theory is ‘control theory’
Meaning that people commit crimes because they’re rationally driven by ‘deals’
This is similar to the social contract theory of Thomas Hobbs.
Their findings were that nearly
2/3 of them had been in poverty.
Many had been sexually and or physically abused.
Many had escaped those circumstances but been homeless.
The ‘deal’ broke down.
They turned to crime.
