Gender and Crime

• The Chivalry thesis

  • Some argue that women are more deviant than they appear and are protected by a ‘chivalry factor’ by police, courts etc.

  Pollak

  • Men have a protective attitudes towards women - police hate to arrest them
  • The CJS are more lenient - so official stats lack validity
• Evidence for the Chivalry Thesis

  • Police/courts are mainly men - raised to be chivalrous to women
  • Self - report studies show more women do crime - Graham and Bowling
  • Flood-page found that women were less likely to be charged compared to men
• Evidence against ‘Chivalry thesis’

  Farrington and Morris

  • Study found that women were not sentenced more leniently in comparable cases

  Buckle and Farrington

  • found women were more likely to be prosecuted for shop lifting than men.

  Heidenson

  • argues that courts treat women more harshly than men for deviating from their gender roles.
• Biological Theory

  • Argues that normal females have a disposition that repels them from deviant behaviour and criminal behaviour
  • This theory has little support in sociology, yet links between female crime and hormonal and menstrual factors has been made.
• Sex Role theory

  Parsons

  • Socialisation - gender roles
  • Girls follow female role model - caring and gentle
  • argued that females generally lack the values that are typically associated with delinquency
• Social control - Patriarchy

  Heindensohn

  • Women are controlled by patriarchal society - no opportunity to offend
  • Home - nuclear family, domestic roles, domestic violence and men controlling the finance
  • Public - fear sexual violence and bad reputation - Lees
• Control Theory

  Carlen

  • Controlled by being offered a deal , ‘class deals’ (material rewards) ‘gender deals’ (material/emotional rewards)
  • Genders deals failed - poor family life / abuses domestic violence.
  • Many turned to drug / alcohol addiction
• The Liberation Thesis

  Alder

  • As women are liberated from patriarchy, their crimes will become more frequent and serious.

  Evidence

  • Female offending has increased
  • More females committing crimes such as armed robbery
  • Growth of ‘ladette’ and girl gangs more likely to engage in ‘male crime’
• Bias Against women

  • Feminists argue that the CJS is biased against women - prosecuting them more

  Heidensohn

  • argues that courts treat females more harshly than males when hey deviate from gender norms - they are ‘double deviants‘
• Postmodern, deindustrialised society

  Winlow

  • Expansion of the services sector - clubs and bars - = Sunderland bouncers involved in drugs, duty free, tobacco and violence
  • In this subculture men must use their bodily capital to maintain reputation and employability
  • The signs of masculinity become a commodity in ther own right.
• Types of masculinity

  Messerchmidt

  • Hegemonic masculinities - Dominant type of masculinity, highly valued.
  • Subordinated Masculinities - Less powerful, low status such as homosexuality.
• White middle class males

  • Experience school as emasculating
  • Adopt an accommodating masculinity
  • Compensate for this out of school by adopting a more ‘oppositional masculinity’ - engaging in pranks excessive drinking and ‘high spirits’
• White working class males

  • Less chance of academic success, so denied this route to hegemonic masculinity
  • Construct their masculinity around physical aggression / violence
  • Use violence against those whom they perceive fail to their perception of ‘masculinity’
• Black Lower class youth

  • Not breadwinners
  • Less likely to gain status via material goods
  • tend to express masculinity in ‘the street’ via violence and crime
  • Using gang membership and violence / property crime to make themselves more masculine