Sociology - C&D - Theories - Feminisim

Question 1

What is the liberation thesis of crime also known as?

Answer 1

The Emancipation thesis

Question 2

Who came up with the liberation thesis?

Answer 2

Adler and Simon (1975)

Question 3

What does the liberation thesis by Adler and Simon (1975) link the women’s liberation movement to and why?

Answer 3

Links it to an increase in female crime due to more work opportunities and changing self concept

Question 4

What did Adler and Simon’s (1975) Liberation thesis use to show how female crime increased in male dominated crimes?

Answer 4

International statistics from the 1960s

Question 5

Why do women have more legitimate and illegitimate opportunities? (According to Adler and Simon’s (1975) Liberation thesis)

Answer 5

because women’s societal position is becoming similar to men so have more legitimate and illegitimate opportunities

Question 6

What is the advantage of Adler and Simon’s (1975) Liberation thesis?

Answer 6

• Heidensohn 2002 supports it as there has been an increase in the proportion of crime by women

Question 7

What are the disadvantages of Adler and Simon’s (1975) Liberation thesis?

Answer 7

• Chesney-Lind 1997 contradicts, finding no link as poor marginalised women were more likely to commit crime rather than liberated women
• Heidensohn contradicts as criminals are least likely to be feminist as masculine women are less delinquent

Question 8

What three types of feminism did Smart and Harding (1986) distinguish to explain crime?

Answer 8

Feminist empiricism, Standpoints feminism, feminist postmodernism

Question 9

Feminist Empiricism

Answer 9

Research on crime is sexist, leaving out women so more empirical research is needed. Smart has seen an increase in criminology studies of women over the years but it’s made little difference to the whole study. Feminist criminologists can fill in gaps but the discipline of criminology will stay sexist

Question 10

Standpoint Feminism (Radical)

Answer 10

We must listen to oppressed and disadvantaged women to create true knowledge, women actively against the patriarchy understand society. Needs to develop further to explain male involvement in crime and masculinity.

Question 11

What victims do standpoints feminists listen to?

Answer 11

listen to victims of rape, sexual harassment and domestic violence, and these accounts are intended to replace the dominant accounts of crimes which have tended to come from male police officers and male criminologists

Question 12

feminist postmodernism

Answer 12

Reject the idea that one criminological theory can explain crime and that men and women are the same. Criminology needs to stop looking for essential characteristics of crime and claims made by other theorists about crime needs to be deconstructed.

Question 13

Why do feminist postmodernists believe masculinity or femininity cannot explain crime?

Answer 13

Crime has no core essential characteristics through which it can be understood. People have fractured identities, everyone is different and crimes are too so the causes of crime differs

Question 14

What is the advantage of Smart and Harding (1986)’s research?

Answer 14

Carlen supports some of the arguments as it is unlikely that one theory can explain all crime and agrees there is no fundamental set of characteristics that distinguishes all criminal behaviour

Question 15

What are the disadvantages of Smart and Harding’s (1986) research?

Answer 15

• Carlen disagrees with post modern feminists about celebrating lifestyles of oppressed women due to connections between female criminality, homelessness and drug addiction
• Feminist approaches has been criticised for ignoring women from ethnic minorities

Question 16

What does Carlen see crime as due to her research?

Answer 16

Sees crime as progressive and focuses on the hardships criminal women have experienced. These hardships are not to be celebrated or respected.

Question 17

What would black feminism focus on (Smart criticised for ignoring ethnic minorities)?

Answer 17

Black women who may commit crime due to being marginalised in society.

Question 18

Who looked at “Criminalising girls survival” in 1995?

Answer 18

Chesney-Lind

Question 19

What does Chesney-Lind argue in her feminist research on “Criminalising girls survival” in 1995?

Answer 19

Parents and social controls supervise young females more and they are more likely to be reported, experience sexual abuse and run away (often being returned or facing life on the streets where they turn to crime)

Question 20

How is the female response shaped by the patriarchy according to Chesney-Lind 1995?

Answer 20

Males dominate the family and women “live life as escaped convicts”

Question 21

What did Chesney-Lind 1995 find both male and female offenders have traits of?

Answer 21

Single parent families, poverty, low self control, low IQ, ADHD, disorganised neighbourhoods

Question 22

What Gender ratio problem did Chesney-Lind find?

Answer 22

Emphasises how women are less likely to be involved in criminal activity so criminology must be able to explain why this is apparent in “all nations, communities, ages and for all crimes across the whole period of history”

Question 23

What is the disadvantage of Chesney-Lind’s (1995) ideas?

Answer 23

Can be criticised for implying that women are unfairly prevented from committing the same amount of crime as men (is it correct to say that women would benefit from having an equal involvement in crime?) But this is a negative idea.

Question 24

What are the advantages of Chesney-Lind’s (1995) ideas?

Answer 24

• Supported by sex role theory by Sunderland
• Research from Blom and Van Den Berg supports it

Question 25

Why does Sunderland's Sex role theory support research by Chesney-Lind?

Answer 25

It also focuses on young females being heavily controlled and supervised by those parents moreso than males so females have less chance to commit crime and if they do it's more likely to be reported

Question 26

Why are female crime more likely to be reported?

Answer 26

Because it's deemed as shocking as it's rare for females to commit crime

Question 27

Why does research by blom and van den berg support the idea from Chesney-Lind?

Answer 27

Supports idea that females commit crimes such as prostitution as they are also addicted to heroin creating a vicious cycle

Question 28

What does Chivalry Thesis focus on?

Answer 28

The idea that females are treated more leniently than males by the police and courts. Males dominate the justice system and see women as vulnerable so women may get let off with just a warning

Question 29

What was the most common offence for female defendants in 2021?

Answer 29

Theft from shops, accounting for 21% of all f prosecutions compared to 8% for m

Question 30

What evidence did Farrington and Morris find about female and male offenders?

Answer 30

Women received less severe punishments than males and were more likely to be first time offenders, plead guilty and commit less serious crimes. They concluded m and f are treated the same

Question 31

What did government stats report for all female offenders cautioned/convicted in 2021?

Answer 31

35% were first time offenders compared to 22% for males

Question 32

What are the disadvantages of Chivalry Thesis?

Answer 32

- Klein (1973) criticised it for being too simplistic - Hedderman and Gunby (2013) found that sometimes they turned to crime due to being victims instead

Question 33

Why did Klein (1973) criticise Chivalry thesis for being too simplistic?

Answer 33

It is racist and classist, applying to white mc women who are unlikely to come in contact with the CJS and there are other factors that need to be addressed such as class and ethnicity.

Question 34

Why do Hedderman and Gunby (2013) criticise Chivalry thesis?

Answer 34

The fact that women commit crimes is not due to chivalry but due to mitigating circumstances they found themselves in, supported by Carlen