gender and offending

• men more likely to commit crime than women
• carlen and heichensohn - sex role theory


  suggest females have more to lose if they turn to crime

  • their socialisation means their central role as ’guardians of domestic mortality’ carries an expectation to set a good example
• control theory

  women experience higher levels of control than men in all spheres of life
• control theory

  agencies of social control restrict women’s opportunities to commit crime
• control theory

  males dominate, women are controlled in private and public spheres
• anderson - chivalry thesis 


  suggest a stereotypical view of females as ‘helpless and naive’ as the criminal justice system is ‘paternalistic’
• anderson - chivalry thesis 


  criminal justice system is more likely to treat females more leniently than men and let them off for offences
• home office 2008


  first time female offenders are half as likely to be given a sentence of immediate imprisonment than men
• female offenders are generally treated as less serious than male offenders - labelling theory
• the mad and bad theory - smart

  carlen - women twice as likely to be denied bail when charged with drug offences and three times as likely for serious offences involving dishonesty
• growing female criminality - adler


  argues that changes in typical gender roles are to blame for such increases in female offences

  • this change is due to the growing independence of women and a lack of traditional controls
• messerschmidt 


  suggests men turn to crime as a way of asserting masculinity as they don’t want to be regarded as wimps