L9 - Female Offending Flashcards
(47 cards)
Describe the trend of prison sentences for female offenders.
Disproportional rise in female prison sentences in the last few decades
Compare the recidivism rates between men and women.
- Non violent crimes = approximately the same rates of men (Blanchette & Brown, 2006)
- Violent crimes = approximately half that of men (7% vs. 14%; Bontaet al. (2003).
- Sexual crimes = much lower than men (1.5% vs. 13.5%; Cortoni et al., 2010).
What are the 3 most common crime types for female offenders according to the FBI (2010)?
- Theft
- Driving under the influence
- Drug abuse violations
What are the only offences committed more by women than men according to the Home Office, (2006)?
- Education act offences (not sending kids to school)
- Non payment of TV license
- Prostitution
Female offenders are under-represented in what, according to the Home Office, (2006)?
Professional and organised crime
According to Campbell (2002), what are the main differences between the reasons that men and women offend?
Women:
- are more responsive to their/their families needs (rather than hedonistic pleasures)
- offenders view it as a form of work
- tend to commit more frequent offences with smaller returns
- attempt to conceal their offending, whereas men are likely to advertise it in order to gain status and respect.
According to Crick & Grotpeter, (1995), women are more likely than men to use which aggression methods?
Covert aggression (online bullying, verbal/non verbal aggression)
Blanchette and Brown (2006) found what significant difference in the people that men and women are aggressive towards?
Women are significantly more likely to act aggressively to someone that they know/have an existing relationship with, rather than a stranger.
(relational violence vs stranger violence)
What are two reasons for the perceived rise in female offending rates?
- Female crime reporting and convicting may have changed in recent years (Carrington, 2006; Worrall 2008)
- Decrease in tolerance for female violence (Chesney‐Lind & Pasko, 2013; Zahn et al., 2010).
What did Brinkworth (1994) suggest about a particular type of cocky, feminist aggressive female offenders?
They ‘know’ the CJS, so try to play it by dressing smart and acting innocent.
According to Alder (1975), what lead to an increase in ‘masculine’ crimes committed by women?
The women’s liberation movement, which led to more confidence, higher levels of self-esteem and self-sufficiency.
What did Lombroso suggest about the traits of females that increases their propensity for criminality?
They are immature, sharing traits with children, including vengefulness, jealousy, and cruelty. Every woman naturally has a moral deficiency; she is a semi-criminal
What did Lombroso suggest might stop females from offending?
Their criminal characteristics can be subdued by religion, maternity, sexual frigidity, or lesser intelligence.
What does Hirschi’s (1969, 2002) Social Control Theory suggest?
That external factors, namely the strength of our bonds to society, mediate our suppression of criminal urges, which we all have.
What are the 5 factors that Hirschi’s (1969, 2002) Social Control Theory suggests mediates offending?
- Attachment (emotional bond to family/friends/teachers etc…)
- Commitment (aspirations for employment/education)
- Involvement (conventional activities/voluntary employment etc…)
- Belief (rationalizing criminal conduct)
- Conformity (to societal norms)
What did Alarid, Burton and Cullen (2000) find about gender differences in the social control theory?
Largely supported the notion of a lack of gender differences in social control theory, with two exceptions:
- Marital attachment was uncorrelated with crime for men but correlated for women (married women more likely to self-report that they commit crime – drugs/property offences)
- Lack of parental attachment was particularly strongly correlated with violent crime for women
What are 3 aspects of Social Learning Theory in relation to crime?
- Crime is learned (punishment and reward shape behaviour, i.e. Conditioning)
- We learn through imitation/modelling
- More likely to commit crime if exposed to/associates with criminal others
How did Burgess and Akers (1966) explain the lack of female offending, using Social Learning Theory?
There are very few female role models who are offenders.
What did Benda (2005) find about female offending and criminal partners?
Having a criminal partner is related to offending more in females than males.
What is Agnew’s (1992) General Strain Theory?
Everyday stress can cause negative emotions such as anger
How does Agnew (1997) try to explain the gender gap in crime using her General Strain Theory?
Emotional responses to everyday strain results in aggression in males and depression in females.
Hay’s (2003) test of General Strain Theory revealed what differences between genders, that helps explain why males react aggressively to general strain and why females become more depressive?
- Males were more likely to report physical punishment from parents for rule-breaking
(may explain further delinquent behaviour) - Females experience significantly higher levels of guilt when confronted with family strain,
- Family strain and anger had more profound effects on males than on females
Name 7 risk factors that are significantly more prevalent in violent female offenders than violent male offenders.
- Abuse and witnessing violence
- Parental factors
- Broken family
- Lack of commitment to schooling and lower levels of academic achievement.
- Depression/self-harm
- Lower levels of emotional/affective empathy.
- Lower levels of self-esteem and higher levels of guilt
Name 4 frequent female pathways to offending as suggested by Brennan et al., (2012)?
- The “normal functioning” drug/property pathway
- The battered women/victimization pathway
- The poor marginalized antisocial pathway:
- The antisocial aggressive pathway
