Gender And Crime

Question 1

Chivalry thesis

Answer 1

• argued most criminalist is agents eg police, magistrates and judges are men who are socialise to act in a chivalrous manner towards women
• Pollack; men have a protective attitudes towards women and ‘hate to accuse women and thus send them to their punishment’

Question 2

Support for chivalry thesis

Answer 2

• Graham and Bowling; research on a sample of 1721 14-25 year olds found that although males were more likely to offend, differences were smaller than in the official stats (more lenient with women)
• Flood-page et al; while only 11 female self-reported offenders has been cautioned or prosecutes, the figure for males was over one in seven self reported offenders- women more likely to be cautioned than prosecuted
• Ministry of Justice; 49% of females recorded as offending received a caution in 2007 whereas for males the figure was only 30%

Question 3

Evidence against chivalry thesis

Answer 3

• Farrington and Morris; study of sentencing 408 offences of theft in a magistrates office found that women were not sentenced more leniently in comparable cases
• Buckle and Farrington; study of shoplifting found that women were more likely to be prosecuted than their male counterparts
• women more likely to show remorse- might be why they receive more sanctions as opposed to going to court

Question 4

Heindensohn

Answer 4

• double deviance (bias against women)- courts treat women more harshly than males when they deviate from gender norms
  1) double standards- courts punish girls but not boys fo premature or promiscuous sexual activity and then end up in care
  2) women who don’t conform to accepted standards of monogamous heterosexuality and motherhood are punished more harshly

Question 5

Support for double deviance

Answer 5

• Stewart; found magistrates perceptions of female defendant’s characters were based on stereotypical gender roles
• Pat Carlen; argues that when women are jailed it is less for the seriousness of their crime but more according to the cours assessment of them as wives, mothers and daughters —> found Scottish judges wer more likely to jail women whose children were in care

Question 6

Explanations for female offending

Answer 6

• Biological factors (Lombroso and Ferrero)
• Functionalist sex role theory
• Control theory (patriarchal control)- Heindensohn
• Control theory (class and gender deals)- Carlenn

Question 7

Biological factors

Answer 7

• Lombroso and Ferrero; criminality is innate and there are very few few born female criminals
• biological factors such as higher levels of testosterone in males can account for gender differences in violent offending

Question 8

Functionalist sex role theory

Answer 8

• gender differences focused on the differences in socialisation of males and females
• boys encouraged to be tough and therefore disposed to more acts of violence —> engage in compulsory masculinity through aggression and anti social behaviour
• CRIT; Walklate; criticises sex role theory for making biological assumptions

Question 9

Control theory (patriarchal control)

Answer 9

• Heindensohn; females commit fewer crimes than men due to conformist behaviours of their patriarchal control which operates;
  
  • at home: women’s domestic role imposes restrictions on time/ movement- domestic violence is used if women reject
  • in public: women fear male violence in public (esp sexual violence), media reporting on rape cases
  • at work: behaviour controlled by male supervisors and managers, sexual harassment is widespread and keeps women in their place

Question 10

Control theory (class/ gender deals)

Answer 10

• Carlen conducted a study of 39 15-46 year old w/c women convinced of a range of crimes—> humans act rationally and are controlled by being offered a ‘deal’ (turning to crime if they don’t believe the rewards will be forthcoming and if crime appeals greater)
• the class deal; women who work will be offered material rewards with a decent standard of living/ leisure opportunities
• the gender deal; patriarchal ideology promises women material and emotional rewards from family life by conforming to the norms of conventional domestic gender role

Question 11

Liberation thesis (Adler)

Answer 11

• argues that as women become more liberated from patriarchy, their crimes become as frequent and serious as men’s
• changes in the structure of society have led to changes in women’s offending behaviour and indeed, the overall rate of female offending and the female share of offending have gone up
• increases of girls gangs (Dunscombe)

Question 12

Messerschmidt

Answer 12

• explanation for male offending, arguing a normative masculinity (what a real man should be) is what males have to constantly work at —> three different groups;
• white m/c males: independence, control and dominance are given up in school as boys are subservient to teachers with accommodating masculinity (school as emasculating) developing an oppositional masculinity by engaging in pranks and drinking etc
• white w/c males: school as emasculating but less chance of academic success, construct identity around violence/ physical aggression used against those who they perceive fail masculinity
• black lower class males: more problems finding secure paid employment (not breadwinners) so increased poverty, express masculinity in the street via gang crime

Question 13

Winlow

Answer 13

• postmodern deindustrialised society means a loss of manual jobs for w/c men and so expansion of service sector provides new means of expressing masculinity in night time economy
• men working in Sunderland, becoming bouncers in pubs and clubs providing paid work and illegal business ventures in drugs
• become opportunity to demonstrate masculinity through use of violence displaying bodily capital