gender and crime

• Chivalry Thesis


  men are socialised to act chivalrous towards women and are therefore less likely to arrest, prosecute or charge them
• Chivalry Thesis Research


  2009

  men average sentence for robbery 35 months

  female average sentence for robbery time 25 months
• Chivalry Thesis Trends


  women are under represented in official crime stats

  less likely to be sent to prison

  more likely to be cautioned
• Evidence against chivalry thesis

  more severe punishments for less serious offences

  rates of imprisonment have been rising in early 21st century

  many held on remand despite committing relatively minor crimes
• Feminists


  Criminal justice system is bias against women
• Walklate


  Rape trials are not taken seriously and the victim ends up being asked about sexual history

  majority of alleged rapists end up found not guilty
• Westmarland


  sex trafficking victims are treated with hostility

  Often end up deported back to home country and traffickers left unscathed
• Double Deviants


  breaking the social norms of the suggested way for women to behave. this leads to severe treatment
• Steward


  Gender played a part into decisions and also is linked to the moral judgement about the worth of an individual
• Double standards in the criminal justice system

  System is seen as gendered and women are treated particularly bad when deviating from the norm
• Biological Explanation


  A belief that women are innately different. More caring and nurturing
• "Natural women"


  less likely to commit crime as they are the norm
• Dalton


  Hormonal factors can influence a minority of women to commit crime
• Newburn


  Women commit every type of crime so there can't be anything in their nature excluding them from becoming criminals
• Dalton critique


  no convincing research linking cycles and crime
• Sex Role Theory


  women are less likely to commit crime as their roles prevent them from having the opportunity to

  girl are also socialised with different values which don't lead to crime
• Parsons


  girls have clear role models to follow that emphasis care and support
• Cohen


  delinquency is mainly done by males as women have the main socialisation role

  men may also lack a positive role model to steer them away from crime
• Farrington and Painter


  Failure of effective socialisation leads to a small proportion of women into crime
• Farrington and Painter Findings

  Female offenders more likely to have had harsh erratic parenting and little support/praise from their parents
• Alder


  rate of increasing female crime is linked to increased freedom and move away from traditional roles
• Descombe


  due to changing roles, females are as likely as men to risk take
• Westwood

  identities are always being reconstructed and reframed

  theres no longer a fixed female identity limiting our understanding
• Heidensohn

  Convicted offenders tend to score high on psych tests of femininity suggesting more male roles haven't been taken on
• Heidensohn social control

  women face greater social control giving them less opportunity to commit crime
• 3 settings of social control

  1. control at home through finance + lack of time

  2. control in public, fear of being attacked especially at night

  3. control at work, most managers are male and therefore can exercise greater control
• Citing Control Theory

  women tend to offend as they have no reason to conform and enjoyed little success in society
• Criminality

  criminality = drug addiction + search for excitement
• Citing Control Theory Research Carlen

  39 women aged 15-46 did in depth unstructured interviews

  found working class had not enjoyed the benefits of women's liberation

  Class and gender interacted in explaining the offending of these women