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Flashcards by Chloe Woods, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Chloe Woods
over 7 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Gender Patterns in Crime As Heidensohn and Silvestri (2012) observe, gender differences are the most significant feature of recorded crime. For example OS show that: -4/5 convicted in England and Wales are male -By age 40, 9% of females have a criminal conviction, as against 32% of males. | Among offenders, there are some significant gender differences. For example, OS show that: -A higher proportion of female than male offenders are convicted of property offences (except burglary). A higher proportion of male than female offenders are convicted of violence or sexual offences. -Males are more likely to be repeat offenders, to have longer criminal careers and to commit more serious crimes. For example, men are about 15x more likely to be convicted of homicide. |
| Do women commit more crime? Some sociologists and criminologists argue that the statistics underestimate the amount of female as against male offending. Two arguments have been put forward in support of this view. _Typically 'female' crimes are less likely to be reported -Even when women's crimes are detected or reported they are less likely to be prosecuted or, if prosecuted, more likely to be let off relatively lightly. | The Chivalry Thesis The second argument is the leniancy/'chivalry' thesis. The thesis argues that most criminal justice agents - such as police officers, magistrates and judges - are men, and men are socialised to act in a 'chivalrous' way towards women. |
| The Chivalry Thesis E.g Pollak (1950) argues that men have a protective attitude towards women and that 'men hate to accuse women and thus send them to their punishments, police officers dislike to arrest them, district attorneys to prosecute them, judges and juries to find them guilty and so on.; | The Chivalry Thesis The CJS is thus more lenient with women, and so their crimes are less likely to end up in the OS. This in turn gives an invalid picture that exaggerates the extent of gender differences in rates of offending. Self-Report Studies: The CT has been hotly debated. Ev from some SRS- where individuals are asked about what crimes they have committed - does suggest that female offenders are treated more leniently. |
| The Chivalry Thesis For example, Graham and Bowling's (1995) research on a sample of 1,721 14-25- year-olds found that although males were more likely to offend, the difference was smaller than that recorded in the OS. They found that males were 2.33 times more likely to admit to having committed an offence in the previous 12 months - whereas the OS shows males as 4x more likely to offend. | The Chivalry Thesis Similarly, Flood-Page et al (2000) found that, while only 1/11 female self-reported offenders had been cautioned or prosecuted, the figure for males was over 1/7 self-reported offenders. Official Statistics- At first sight, court statistics appear to give some support to the CT. |
| The Chivalry Thesis For example - ♀ are more likely than ♂ to be released on bail rather than remanded in custody - ♀ are more likely than ♂ to receive a fine or a community sentence, and less likely to be sent to prison. - ♀ on average receive shorter prison sentences -Only 1/9 ♀ offenders receive a prison sentence for shoplifting, but 1/5 ♂. Similarly Hood's (1992) study of over 3000 defendants found that ♀ were about 1/3 less likely to be jailed in similar cases. | Evidence against the chivalry thesis Farrington and Morris' (1983) study of sentencing of 408 offences of theft in a magistrates' court found that ♀ were not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences. Box's (1981) review of British and American S-RS also concludes that ♀ who commit serious offences are not treated more favorably than ♂. |
| Evidence against the chivalry thesis Similarly, Buckle and Farrington's (1984) observational study of shoplifting in a department store witnessed twice as many ♂ shoplifting as ♀ - despite the fact that the numbers of ♂ and ♀ offenders in the OS are more or less equal. This small-scale study thus suggests ♀ shoplifters may be more likely to be prosecuted than their ♂ counterpart. | Evidence against the chivalry thesis S-RS also provide ev that ♂ commit more offences. E.g. young ♂ are more likely than ♀ to report binge drinking, taking illegal drugs or engaging in disorderly conduct. Hales et al (2009) found that they were significantly more likely to have been offenders in all major offence categories. Other studies suggest that the gender gap increases as the offences become more serious. |
| Evidence against the chivalry thesis Under-reporting of ♂ crimes against ♀. The CT also ignores the fact that many ♂ crimes do not get reported. E.g, in 2012, only 8% of ♀ who had been victims of a serious sexual assault reported it to the police, while Yearnshire (1997) found that ♀ typically suffers 35 assaults before reporting DV. | Evidence against the chivalry thesis Crimes of the powerful also under-represented in S-R and victim surveys, and these are also more likely to be committed by ♂ by virtue of their more privileged position in the job market. If ♀ appear to be treated more leniently, it mat simply be because their offences are less serious. For example, the lower rate of prosecutions of ♀ as compared with their S-R offending may be because the crimes they admit to are less serious and less likely to go to trial. ♀ offenders also seem more likely to to show remorse, and this may help to explain why they are more likely to receive a caution instead of going to court. |
| Bias against women Many feminists argue that, far from the CJS being biased in favor of ♀, as the CT claims, it is biased against them. As Heidensohn (1996) argues, the courts treat ♀ more harshly than ♂ when they deviate from the gender norms. For example: -Double standards- Sharpe found from her analysis of 55 youth workers , that 7/11 ♀ were referred for support because they were sexually active, but none out of the 44 boys. -♀ who do not conform to accepted standards of monogamous heterosexuality and motherhood punished more harshly. As Stewart (2006) found, magistrates' perceptions of ♀ defendants' characters were based on stereotypical gender roles. | Bias against women Carlen (1997) puts forward a similar view in relation to custodial sentences. She argues that when ♀ are jailed, it is less for 'the seriousness of their crimes and more according to the court's assessment of them as wives, mothers and daughters'. Girls whose parents believe them to be beyond control are more likely to receive custodial sentences than ♀ who live more 'conventional' lives. Carlen found that Scottish judges were much more likely to jail ♀ whose children were in care than ♀ who they saw as good mothers. |
| Bias Against Women Feminists argue that these double standards exist because the CJS is patriarchal. Nowhere is this more evident than in the way the system deals with rape cases. There have been numerous cases of male judges making sexist, victim blaming remarks. | Bias Against Women For example, Smart quotes Judge Wild as saying that 'women who say no do not always mean no. It is not just a question of how she says it, how she shows and makes it clear. If she doesn't want it she only has to keep her legs shut.' Similarly, as Walklate (1998) argues, in rape cases it is not the defendant who is on trial but the victim, since she has to prove her respectability in order to have her evidence accepted. According to Adler, women who are deemed to lack respectability, such as single parents, punks and peace protesters, find it difficult to have their testimony believed by the court. |
| Explaining Female Crime Functionalist Sex Role Theory Early sociological explanations of gender differences in crime focused on differences in the socialisation of ♂ and ♀. For example, ♂ are encouraged to be be tough, aggressive and risk taking, and this can mean they are more disposed to commit acts of violence or take advantage of criminal opportunities when they present themselves. | Functionalist Sex Role Theory Parsons (1955) traces differences in c+d to the gender roles in the conventional nuclear family. While ♂ take the instrumental role, performed largely outside the home, ♀ perform the expressive role in the home, where they take the main responsibility for socialising the children. |
| Functionalist Sex Role Theory While this gives ♀ access to an adult role model, it tends to mean that ♂ reject feminine models of behaviour that express tenderness, gentleness and emotion. Instead, ♂ seek to distance themselves from such models by engaging in 'compensatory compulsory masculinity' through aggression and anti-social behaviour, which can slip over into acts of delinquency. | Functionalist Sex Role Theory Because ♂ have much less of a socialising role than ♀ in the conventional nuclear family, socialisation can be more difficult for boys than girls. According to Cohen (1955), this relative lack of an adult ♂ role model means boys are more likely to turn to all-male street gangs as a subcultural groups, status is earned by acts of toughness, risk-taking and delinquency. |
| Functionalist Sex Role Theory Similarly New Right theorists argue that the absence of ♂ role model in matrifocal lone parent families leads to boys turning to criminal street gangs as a source of status and identity. Walklate (2003) criticises SRT for its biological assumptions. According to Walklate, Parsons assumes that because ♀ have the biological capacity to bear children, they are best suited to the expressive role. | Functionalist SRT Thus, although the theory tries to explain gender differences in crime in terms of behaviour learned through socialisation, it is ultimately based on biological assumptions about sex differences. More recently, feminists have put forward alternative explanations for ♀ patterns of c+d. Feminists locate their explanations in the patriarchal nature of society and ♀ subordinate position in it. We can distinguish between 2 main feminist theories -Control Theory -The Liberation Thesis |
| Heidensohn: Patriarchal Control Heidensohn argues that the most striking thing about ♀ behaviour is how conformist it is- they commit fewer and less serious crimes than ♂. In her view, this is because patriarchal society imposes greater control over ♀ and this reduces their opportunities to offend. This patriarchal control operates at home, in public spaces and at work. | Heidensohn: Patriarchal Control Control at home- ♀ domestic role, with its constant round of housework and childcare, imposes severe restrictions on their time and movement and confines them to the house for long periods, reducing their opportunities to offend. ♀ who try to reject their domestic role may find that their partners seek to impose it by force, through DV. As Dobash and Dobash show. |
| Heidensohn: Patriarchal control Daughters too are subject to patriarchal control. Girls are less likely to be allowed to come and go as they please or to stay out late. As a result, they develop a 'bedroom culture', socialising at home with friends rather than in public spaces. ♀ are also required to do more housework than ♂. As a result, they have less opportunity to engage in deviant behaviour on the street. | Heidensohn: Patriarchal control Control in public- ♀ are controlled in public places by the threat or fear of ♂ violence against them, especially sexual violence. E.g the Islongton Crime Survey found that 54% of ♀ avoided going out after dark for fear of being victims of crime, as against only 14% of men. Heidensohn notes that sensationalist media reporting of rapes adds to ♀ fear. Distorted media portrayals of the typical rapist as a stranger who carries out random attacks frightens ♀ into staying indoors. |
| Heidensohn patriarchal Control ♀ are also controlled in public by their fear of being defined as not respectable. Dress, make-up, demeanor and ways of speaking and acting that are defined as inappropriate can gain a girl or woman a 'reputation'. For example, ♀ on their own may avoid going into pubs - which are sites of criminal behaviour - for fear of being regarded as sexually 'loose' or even as prostitutes. | Heidensohn Patriarchal Control Similarly, Sue Lees (1993) notes that in school, boys maintain control through sexualised verbal abuse, for example labelling girls as 'slags' if they fail to conform to gender role expectations. |
| Heidensohn: Patriarchal Control Control At Work ♀ behaviour at work is controlled by ♂ supervisors and manager. Sexual harassment is widespread and helps keep ♀ 'in their place'. Furthermore, ♀ subordinate position reduces their opportunities to engage in major criminal activity at work. For example, the 'glass ceiling' | Heidensohn: Patriarchal Control Control At Work In general, these patriarchal restrictions on women's lives mean they have fewer opportunities for crime. However, Heidensohn recognises that patriarchy can also push some ♀ into crime. For example, ♀ are more likely to be poor and may turn to theft or prostitution to gain a decent standard of living. |
| Carlen: Class and Gender Deals |
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