Gender and Crime

Gender and Crime

Starter:

Despite the statistics showing that the number of male and female persons is almost equal, there is a significantly larger number of men who are arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and put into prison than that of female criminals. We can suggest that socialisation has a huge impact on the presence and perception of female criminality.

The Statistics:

Men are more likely to be found guilty of offences than women, for example:

• About 60 times more likely for sex offences.

• About 14 times more likely for robberies.

• About 13 times more likely for possession of weapons.

• About 10 times more likely for public order offences.

• About 8 times more likely for violence against someone.

• About 7 times more likely for criminal damage.

• About 4 times more likely for theft.

Gender and Crime:

• Why do women commit less crime than men? (and the chivalry thesis)

• Growing female criminality.

• Why do males commit more crime than women?

Why do women commit less crime than men?

Parsons: Sex Role Theory

Parsons argues that because females carry out the ‘expressive role’ (caring for a child and looking after the emotional needs of their husband)

• Girls grow up to internalise these characteristics, which reduces the chances of them committing crime as someone who has these attitudes wouldn’t hurt another human being.

• The early socialisation of men into traditional masculine identities is partly responsible for the high male crime rates

• Parsons supported that masculinity was internalised during adolescence which leads to boys being more delinquent than girls.

Sunderland (Supporting Theorist): Rough and Tough

Sunderland reinforces this by stating ‘boys are taught to be ‘rough and tough’’, which encourages delinquency - further leads to crime.

Evaluation (AO3):

• Less relevant in today’s society - due to decline in traditional roles (postmodernism)

Carlen: Class and Gender Deals for Women

Carlen argues that working-class women generally conform to society’s values and goals through the promise of two types of deals and rewards.

Class Deal - Working-class women encouraged through careers that if they get into standard work, they will gain material rewards that help with standards of living and leisure opportunities.

Gender Deal - Patriarchal ideology promises women material possessions and emotional rewards through family life. Encourages conforming to traditional family in order to receive rewards.

If women don’t conform to these two deals, they will end up being oppressed and victims of injustice - compared to when men rebel, they don’t have patriarchy holding them down as much.

Heidensohn (1996): Women and Social Control

• Control of family members and social expectations continues for women in adulthood, sort of acts like surveillance.

• Fathers always have control of their daughters, and carry on when women get a husband - husband has control over wife.

• Whereas, working-class men have freedom - where they can go to the ‘pub’ and socialise with friends - women have to stay home and complete domestic tasks and child care duties.

• Due to constant surveillance, women are forced into a ‘bedroom culture’, therefore not committing crime due to control - whereas men have more freedom in the comfort of their own home, therefore have more time to commit crime.

Chivalry Thesis:

Chivalry suggests that women who commit crime are awarded more lenient sentences than males who commit crime. One possible reason for the lenient sentencing is that women are generally viewed as the caregiver, or the loving mother.

Pollack: 

Pollack argues men have a protective attitude towards women and thus are more lenient, so their crimes are less likely to end up in official statistics. For instance, women are more likely to be ‘let off’ for crimes such as speeding.

Evaluation (AO3):

• Walklate (2004) - Criticises the chivalry thesis and the functionalist sex role theory for making stereotypical assumptions about women, especially that all women have a maternal instinct.

Growing Female Criminality:

Adler (1975): Liberation Thesis

• Proposed that the emancipation of women, and increased economic opportunities has led to an increase in the female crime rate.

• Therefore, women attain social positions similar to men.

• As the employment pattern of men and women become more similar, so do their crimes.

Denscombe (2001): Ladette Culture

• Denscombe argues that women are becoming more masculinised and adopting many of the behaviours and sexual attitudes of young men. 

• This has led to a ‘ladette’ culture where women were having aggressively masculine behaviours in response to traditional gender stereotyping and social control. 

• This ‘ladette’ culture includes binge drinking, gang cultures and risk taking (for example smoking).

• This increase in behaviour is likely to lead to arrest; drunken behaviour and the violence associated with this.

• The police are prosecuting girls by taking their actions more seriously rather than dealing with it informally by other means.

Evaluation (AO3):

• Carol Smart - women seen as double (/triple) deviants.

• Radical Feminism - Ladette Culture theory is sexist - pushes patriarchal ideology that women must be labelled as ‘masculine’ when not conforming to traditional female stereotypes.

Why do men commit more crime than women?

Parsons: Sex Role Theory

Parsons argues that because females carry out the ‘expressive role’ (caring for a child and looking after the emotional needs of their husband)

• Girls grow up to internalise these characteristics, which reduces the chances of them committing crime as someone who has these attitudes wouldn’t hurt another human being.

• The early socialisation of men into traditional masculine identities is partly responsible for the high male crime rates

• Parsons supported that masculinity was internalised during adolescence which leads to boys being more delinquent than girls.

Connell: Hegemonic Masculinity

Explained that hegemonic masculinity was the idea that masculinity held a hierarchy between different types of masculinity - and that there is a mutual agreement with others that certain types of masculinity overpower women and most men. 

• Socialisation into hegemonic masculinity leads to males reacting to perceived challenges to their position.

• Challenges to masculinity at home - domestic violence.

Applications of hegemonic masculinity:

• Young males seeing physicality rather than intellect as pathways to goals.

• Laddish and anti-school subcultures.

• Youth masculine cultures represented as risk-taking and physical prowess - e.g gang cultures

Messerschmidt (1993): Asserting Masculinity 

• Argues men commit crime to assert an ‘accomplished masculinity’

• This is to make up for other areas that they failed at in → school, work, family life.

• Through crime, men are able to show themselves to others as ‘real men’ → they feel validated instead of a failure.

• Violence is an acceptable way of expressing an individual's manhood, therefore (arguably) men from poorer backgrounds will commit more of it in order to gain some accomplishment, which explains why there is an increase in mens crime.

Violence = Alternative to ‘masculine validating resource’

Lyng (1990): Edgework

• Argues that crime is a means whereby people could get a thrill by engaging in risk-taking behaviour.

• This means going to the edge of acceptable behaviour and challenging the rules of what is acceptable.

Postmodernity encourages and rewards this.

• Individuals see risk taking as a challenge and crime happens directly as a result of the rules being there in the first place.

• Most young people do not set out assessing the chances they will be arrested.

• This is why an increase in control of culture in society does nothing to deter but actually increases law breaking as they are faced with more ‘thrilling’ challenges.