Gender and crime

• What are the types of crime committed by women?

  Property offences except burglary, shoplifting, fraud especially benefits, prostitution.
• What are the types of crime commuted by men?

  Violent crime, assault, sexual offences, white collar crime and corporate crime.
• What are the prison statistics?

  By the age of 40 9% of women have a conviction against 32% of Men.
• What is the chivalry thesis?

  • Men are socialised to act in a ‘chivalrous’ towards women.

  • Women are naturally much more secretive and subversive so better at getting away with crime
• What did pollak say?

  Statistics underestimate female criminality

  • Woman are more likely to take part in crimes that are less likely to be

  reported ( e.g. shoplifting)
• What do self report studies suggest?

  Self report studies suggest the gender gap is narrower than the Official Statistics suggest

  • Offending, Crime and Justice survey 2006: 5353 respondents, 20 core offences (not homicide or sexual offences). Showed a gap between male and female crime rates (26% v 17%) – smaller than the gap shown in OS
• Women are less likely to be remanded in custody

  Women are less likely to be given a custodial sentence

  • Women likely to receive shorter sentences (10.5 months compared to 19.7 months)
• What are evaluations of the chivalry thesis pollak?

  There are now more women in the CJS which disregards the chivalry thesis.

  Women may get treated more leniently as their crimes tend to be less serious.

  Women face double deviancy in the CJS especially when their crimes go against traditional gender norms.
• Shoplifters cost uk retailers £12m a day 
• What did flood and hood say?

  • Only 1 in 11 female self-reported offenders had been cautioned, figure for males was 1 in 7 self-reported offenders (flood)
  • Looking at 3,000 defendants, women 1/3 less likely to be jailed in similar cases. (hood)
• What’s the sex role theory parsons?

  -Primary socialisation prepares girls for their expressive role as mothers e.g playing with babies -To be caring and empathise with others – traits inconsistent with criminality

  -Boys encouraged to be active, tough and risk takers
• Evaluation of sex role theory?

  Walklate: makes a biological assumption about the roles of men and women. It assumes that women are the more nurturing due to childbearing and therefore find their role models in their mothers.
• What’s the control theory Heidensohn ?

  women commit less crime than men due to the amount of patriarchal control women are subjected to. This control is in the home e.g housework , workplace e.g sexual harassment and public arenas Male use of force and violence Holding on to a ‘good reputation’ which mean that women have less opportunities to commit crime.
• What’s an evaluation for control theory?

  Patriarchal control can push people into crime rather than preventing it.

  Equal opportunities could be reducing patriarchal control.
• What’s the control theory carlen?

  GENDER DEAL - Stick to the stereotypes of women and you will be rewarded with emotional rewards.

  Class deal - Work Hard, earn a decent wage and you will be rewarded with material goods and a good lifestyle
• What’s happens if the rewards aren’t available?

  If these rewards are not available or not worth the sacrifice, criminality becomes an option

  Poverty, familial abuse and being brought up in care led to women rejecting these deals – they had little experience of the benefits of the deals – Little to lose by breaking the law
• What’s some evaluations of the liberation theory?

  • Suggests that women are influenced by external factors which under plays the role of free will
  • small sample sixe of working class women involved in fairly serious offences
• What’s the liberation thesis Adler ?

  As women's lives become less restricted to the domestic sphere they have more access to illegitimate opportunities

  According to Adler’s research, arrest stats from 1960-1972 show a dramatic increase in female criminality (277% increase in female robbers)

  • Liberation in the 21st century – Rise of the ladette (media portrayal) – binge drinking, involvement in gangs, fighting. Girls are no longer spectators but involved in violent crime
• Evaluation of the liberation thesis ?

  • Crime rates in women started growing in the 1950’s before the liberation movement.
  • A majority of female

   criminals are W/C so less likely to  be influenced by liberation movement. Chesney-Lind -women branching into male crimes is linked to female crimes.
• What’s the feminisation of poverty?

  Women are more likely to be living under the poverty line which can force them into criminal activity in order to make ends meet.
• What are some statistics of the feminisation of poverty?

  • Figures show that women continue to be more likely to live in poverty* than men (20% compared to 18%).

  • The proportion of single women living in poverty is 25%, while the figure for poor single men has decreased to 23% (from 26% in 2016/17).

  • 45% of single parents – the vast majority (90%) of which are women – are living in poverty.
• What’s an evaluation to feminisation of poverty?

  Not all women who live below the poverty line turn to crime to support their family.

  Doesn’t explain non- utilitarian crime.
• What’s the masculinity theory?

  Messerschmidt – men commit crime in order to show their masculinity and prove that they are men. He clarifies between Hegemonic and Subordinate masculinity
• What’s the theory on masculinity theory?

  Could be considered a description of offenders rather than an explanation.

  Not all men commit crime to accomplish masculinity.

  Too far reaching.
• What’s the labelling theory?

  Mere often stereotyped as being more violent than women which can lead to a self fulfilling prophecy on how they should behave. Additionally men are labelled as providers for the family and may turn to crime in order to do this.
• What’s an evaluation for the labelling theory?

  Not all men a criminal.

  Rise of the symmetrical family and women in the world of work means that men are no longer seen as the sole providers for family.
• What’s opportunity for men?

  Men have more opportunity to commit crime both blue collar and white collar crime. Men are more likely to be in situations that can lead to violent action and have access to commit white collar crime.
• What’s an evaluation for opportunities to do crime?

  It doesn’t explain why men commit the crimes they do and not all men commit crime,