Race, Class, Gender & Crime Exam 2

Gender Gap in Crime: Historical Patterns

• Most criminological theories were developed by men to explain why (some) men and boys break the law

• Historically, women and girls are excluded from much of criminological research

• Sex/gender is one of the strongest correlates of criminality across time

Gender Gap in Crime is Narrowing: Convergence Theories and Current Trends

• Changes in Conviction Rates

  • increased convictions for women and decreased convictions for men (especially for nonviolent crimes)

• The Liberation Hypothesis

  • As women gain more social power and freedoms, they may have more opportunities to commit crime

• Economic Marginalization Hypothesis

  • as women experience increasing economic hardship relative to men, the gender gap in crime may narrow

Gender Gap in Crime: Explanation for Differences

• Research has focused mainly on men!

• This is because:

  • women make up a small percentage of people in prison (<15%) and a small number of people arrested each year (<30%)

  • criminal justice authorities are more likely to oppose research on women than on men — viewed as “niche” or too specialized

  • women and their crimes have been deemed insignificant or less deserving of resources compared to men

Theories of Female Offending: Early Theories (Biological Determinism)

• 1. Innate biological characteristics, not society, are responsible for criminal behavior

• 2. women have a different biological makeup than men; simple and less rational

• 3. offending women are “masculine”

• 4. differences between male and female criminals are due to sex, not gender differences

Theories of Female Offending: Early Theories (Atavism)

• Deviants are less evolved than law-abiding citizens

• women display fewer signs of degeneration than men

• women had not evolved as much as men

• minority women were deemed less evolved

• Women with stronger jaws, cheekbones, and coarser features were deemed more criminal

• Lombroso and Ferraro provided two categories available to women, both considered inferior to men:

  • Bad, primitive, and masculine women

  • law-abiding, civilized, and feminine women

• AKA Madonna/whore duality or good girl/ bad girl duality

• early studies confused promiscuity with crime

Theories of Female Offending: Early Theories (Freud)

• women are anatomically inferior to men

• the deviant woman wants to be a man

  • develops “penis envy”

  • rebellion against natural feminine roles

• women can be cured if they adjust to their “proper” lady roles

Theories of Female Offending: Early Theories (Pollak)

• assumes that male and female crime rates are similar

• female treatment is “masked” by their lenient treatment in the crime processing system

• women are better at hiding their crimes since they are inherently deceitful… explained by the fact they can hide their orgasms….

• women are instigators of crime rather than perpetrators

Theories of Female Offending: Feminist Critiques

• took issue with the fact that socially undesirable characteristics were attributed to women and assumed to be intrinsic characteristics of their sex

• called attention to the structural features of society and the gendered natures of the roles of men and women

• critiqued early theories for being sexist, classist, and racist

Theories of Female Offending: Cycle of Violence

• many women who engage in crime have histories of childhood physical and sexual abuse and violent victimization

• trauma affects emotional regulation, mental health, and drug and alcohol problems that increase the likelihood of offending

• early life experiences with victimization propel many women into crime

Theories of Female Offending: Modern Explanations

• Gendered Pathways

  • Life-course perspective

  • focuses on girls’ and women’s life histories

  • identifies early life experiences that put individuals on developmental pathways to crime

  • recognizes the roles of violence, trauma, and substance abuse in shaping criminal pathways

  • considers race/ethnicity influences on crime, violent partners, and drug use

  • Childhood:

    • violent and unstable family backgrounds

    • sexual abuse and incest

    • multiple types of abuse and neglect

    • caring for others at an early ahe

    • educational neglect and racial violence

  • Adolescence:

    • survival strategies

      • fleeing abusive homes, running away

    • onset of delinquency

      • drug use, truancy, stealing, “hustling” money for food

    • adultification

      • an adolescent, because of the need for survival, young people take on adult roles too soon

      • street work and revictimization

      • abusive relationships

      • addiction, mothering, caretaking

Feminization of Poverty

• gender divergence in drug arrests, women’s continue to grow as men’s return to early 1990s level

Processing of Women and Girls in the Criminal Justice System: Chivalry Hypothesis

• leniency for girls and women

• afforded to certain women under certain circumstances

Processing of Women and Girls in the Criminal Justice System: “Evil Woman” Hypothesis

Women are treated more harshly than men, leniency for boys and men

Processing of Women and Girls in the Criminal Justice System: Are women and men treated equally in case processing?

• early studies found strong evidence of chivalry in women’s treatment

  • now, findings are more mixed

  • women in general recieve lighter sentences since they commit less serious crimes than men

Processing of Women and Girls in the Criminal Justice System: Importance of Race, Class, and Gender Combined

• Judges consider three main factors when making sentencing decisions:

  • blameworthiness: how culpable the defendant is

  • community protection: risk posed to the community

  • practical constraints: practical realities of the CJ system that may infleunce sentencing choices beyond just the defendant’s blameworthiness or the need for community protection

• perceptual shorthand: don’t have enough time or information about a defedant’s case

  • attribution about a defendant’s character and future behavior based on stereotypes and other extralegal variables such as race, gender, or class

Juvenile Justice Processing: Gender Differences in Processing

• female juvenile misconduct was traditionally depicted as sexual or “relational” in nature — distorted and inaccurate

• different societal responses to girls’ minor social deviance versus boys — parents more likely to refer daughters than sons

• JJ system has reinforced a cultural double standard by selectively attending to female sexual and family problems

Juvenile Justice Processing: Treatment of Girls in the System

• girls are more likely than boys to be referred for status offenses

  • “Juvenile only” offenses that would not be crimes if committed by adults

  • historically, girls referred for these kinds of offenses recieved much harsher treatment in the system

• chivalry/paternalism hypothesis:

  • police are less likely to arrest female youth suspected of person or property crimes

  • female youth are less likely to be formally charged

  • female youth are less likely to be incarcerated than male youth

Juvenile Justice Processing: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Class

• juvenile justice officials often make disposition recommendations using class-based standards

• “middle class measuring rod”

• influence of gender on system actors’ decisions depends on race and class

Juvenile Justice Processing: Gender and Culturally Responsive Treatment and Programming

• programming that addresses and supports the psychosocial developmental process of female youth, while fostering connections in the context of a safe and nurturing environment

  • counseling support and education around issues of sexual abuse, domestic violence, sexuality, and pregnancy; womens’ empowerment

• attention to cultural background, language barriers, and immigration concerns

  • economic needs, housing, jobs, and medical services

Juvenile Justice Processing: Probation Officer Perceptions

• stereotypical views of girls outweighed realities (criers, liars, manipulators)

• Three themes:

  • Gap between views of girls as “whiny and manipulative” and the realities of the girls lives

  • gap between views of girls families as “trashy” and irresponsible and the realities of the girls family circumstances

  • lack of knowledge and understnading regarding culturally and gender-appropriate treatment for girls and reality of limited programming

Juvenile Justice Processing: Probation Officer Perceptions (Theme 1: Perceptions of Girls vs. Realities)

• fabricating reports of abise

• whining too much

• attempting to manipulate the court system

  • 20% depicted as sexually promiscuous

  • 16.5% as liars and manipulators

• viewed girls as “harder to work with",”too many issues,” and “too needy”

• disconnected between these perceptions and the realities of their lives

Juvenile Justice Processing: Probation Officer Perceptions (Theme 2: Perception of Girls’ Families)

• officers spoke of girls’ mothers in terms similar to those used to describe themselves

• class was an important factor: some girls labeled as delinquent because they were homeless or living in poverty

• language barriers, poverty, discrimination

• realities: girls’ family systems troubled and fragmented, substance abuse compounds problems

Juvenile Justice Processing: Probation Officer Perceptions (Theme 3: Gender-Specific Needs)

• probation officers reported girls more likely to be referred for status offenses

  • boys more likely to be rewarded for sexual behavior, girls more likely to be punished

• some rejected the need for gender-specific programming

• many stated they were “confused at what is best”

• most officers understood need for self-esteem, parenting, and sex education for girls

  • only resources offered were Planned Parenthood and Parents Anonymous

Punishment of Girls: School Discipline & Black Girls: Key Concepts

• Adultification

  • they take on adult roles quicker because of need for survival

• Constant Surveilliance Without Recognition

  • they are more likely to be under constant surveillance by school administrators and disciplines for “disobedience” and “defiance'“

  • black girls faced excessive punishemnt for subjectivr behaviors (like “attitudes”), while similar actions by non-Black peers went unchallenged

  • beyond formal discipline, they experienced constant surveillance and harassment, with normal activies being treated as infractions

  • though suspended less than boys, black girls reported persistent monitoring and discipline for minor actions like chewing gum

  • “unarchived” punishments (being sent out, public shaming) were common by rarely documented in discipline records

• “Afterlife of Slavery”

  • black lives are still imperiled and devalued by a racial calculus and a political arithmetic that were entrenched centuries ago. This is the afterlife of slavery — skewed life chances, limited access to health and education, premature death, incaraceration, and impoverishment

• Institutional Responses

  • fears of school shootings drive the creation of disciplinary policies, monitoring, and use of law enforcement/SROs

  • expanded surveillance and control

  • less about controlling violence, these policies regulate students’ non-violent movements, labeling expressions and forms of communication as “defiance” and “disobediance” — disproportionately affect Black students

  • interpretations are highly subjective

Punishment of Girls: School Discipline & Black Girls: Case Study Findings

• School discipline policies criminalize Black girls’ responses to trauma and structural violence rather than addressing their needs, demonstrating how educational institutions often reproduce intersecting racial, gender, and economic inequalities through surveillance and punishment rather than support

Sexual Victimization: Defining Sexual Assault: Evolution of Definitions

• traditionally, narrow legal definitions of rape were used:

  • “carnal knowledge by a male of a female, forcibly and against her will”

  • “unlawful sexual intercourse committed by a man with a woman who is not his wife, through force and against her will”

• FBI revised the definition:

  • “the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”

• Colorado Law

  • any forced or non-consensual act of sexual penetration

Sexual Victimization: Defining Sexual Assault: Role of Consent

• lack of consent occurs in the following circumstances:

  • when physical force is used, threatened, or implied

  • when someone is physically unable to indicate consent

  • when someone is mentally incapacitated or mentally disabled

  • when someone is under the age of consent

  • consent not possible in some relationships (prisoner, patient, student)

Sexual Victimization: Defining Sexual Assault: Colorado Age of Consent

• consent is impossible for minors under 17

Sexual Victimization: Reporting and Investigation: Barriers to Reporting

• sexual assault is highly underreported

• false reports are rare, but media makes it seem like its more common

• barriers to reporting:

  • most sexua assault assailants are known to victims

  • perception that police will not take allegations seriously

  • don’t want to face offender again or relive abuse s

  • tranger rapes far more likely to be reported to police

Sexual Victimization: Reporting and Investigation: Police Response

• if victims decide to call the police, this is where the case processing begins

• police decide the amount of investigative resources to devote to the case

• they also determine whether to make an arrest of an identified suspect and to refer the case to the prosecutor

• these decisions largely determine the fate of the case

• police are mobilized as soon as there is notification that a sexual assault has taken place

• police are supposed to:

  • protect, interview, and support the victim

  • collect and preserve evidence

  • investigate the crime and apprehend the offender

• when police percieve barriers:

  • if victims do not report their assault quickly

  • if victims do not perserve evidence

  • if victims do not recieve a forensic medical exam

• these decisions are influenced by:

  • legally relevant characteristics

  • legally irrelevant characteristics

Sexual Victimization: Reporting and Investigation: Role of Forensic Evidence

• Medical Examination

  • many hospitals have established procedures for sexual assault victims and minimizing the emotional trauma they experience

  • a support person (advocate or nurse) will remain with the victim throughout

  • Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE)

    • conduct forensic exam (rape kit)

Sexual Victimization: Reporting and Investigation: Rape Kit Backlog

• rape kits went untested in many areas

• 2017: NYC, an estimated 17,000 kits went untested, in Houston there were 6,000, in Detroit, LA, and Memphis there were more than 11,000 each

• since then: widespread reforms passed

Sexual Victimization: Reporting and Investigation: Case Attrition Patterns

Sexual Victimization: Prosecution Challenges: Downstream Orientation

• Prosecutors orient toward “the jury”

Sexual Victimization: Reporting and Investigation: Legally Relevant vs. Irrelevant Factors

• legally relevant case characteristics (offense seriousness)

• legally irrelevant offender and victim characteristics (race)

Sexual Victimization: Reporting and Investigation: Victim Credibility

• prosecutors unlikely to file charges in cases where victims could be perceived by judges and juries as “blameworthy”

• prosecutors work off stereotypes of “real rapes” and “genuine victims”

• file charges in cases where they think they will readily secure a conviction

  • a “standup” victim is an essential element of a strong case

Sexual Victimization: Reporting and Investigation: Case Rejection Norms

• norm is case rejection

  • decisions have implications for promotion, transfers, their own reputation of their unit, and their branch office

Sexual Victimization: Reporting and Investigation: Problematic Factors Affecting Charging Decisions

• engaged in risky behavior

• worked in the sex industry

• entered the assailant’s home willingly

• dated or were romantic with the assailant

• were sexually assaulted in the past

• have a criminal history

• lived or spent time in dangerous neighborhoods

• did not get a Forensic Medical Examination

• did not fight back physically

• have poor “moral character”

Rape Culture: Contemporary Understanding: An Intersectional Analysis

1. Myths: specifci archetypal stories about rape

2. Discourses: general beliefs and attitudes

3. Practices: individual actions that reinforce myths/discourses

These elements together:

• shape how we interpret victimhood and perpetration

• determine innocence and guilt

• define power and powerlessness

• normalizes sexual violence as a tool to maintain power structures

Rape Culture: Contemporary Understanding: How Rape Culture Maintains Power

• cultural interpretation of what “counts” as rape

• who is recognized as victim/perpetrator

• how institutions respond

• how myths adapt to maintain control

Rape Culture: Contemporary Understanding: Myths

1. The Black Male Rapist Myth

• emerged during the recontruction period

• had not existed prior to emancipation

• used to justify lynching, served economic purposes

• The “Bad Man” Rapist Myth

• emerged in the 1970s

• portrayed rape as committed by violent predatory males, strangers, “bad apples”

Rape Culture: Contemporary Understanding: Consequences of Rape Myths

• Political Impact:

  • gained support for anti-rape reforms, but obscured everyday nature of rape

  • protected perpetrators who were judged to be “good guys”

• These myths worked together to:

  • justify ongoing white male dominane

  • deflect attention from white male rape

  • support other myths about who could/couldn’t be victimized

Rape Culture: Contemporary Understanding: Discourses

• 1. Cultural Attitudes About Men’s Behavior:

• male sexual aggression seen as inevitable

• male sexual desire framed as “nature and uncontrollable”

• 2. Cultural Attitudes About Women:

• viewed as both “demure and (secretly) desirous of being raped”

• expected to be responsible for preventing assault

• 3. Discourses About Race and Sexuality

• used to deny Black women’s victimization

Rape Culture: Contemporary Understanding: Practices

• Individual Practices

  • self-regulating behaviors

  • objectification in daily interactions

  • decisions not to report assault

• Institutional Practices

  • prosecutorial discretion

  • media representation

  • university responses

  • police investigation choices

Rape Culture: Contemporary Understanding: Mainstream Understanding of Rape Culture

• 1970s through today

• normalizes aggressive male violence against women

• centers on patriarchal oppression

• reflects primarily white, middle-class women’s experiences

• fails to capture how rape culture maintains many forms of domination

• white supremacy; heteronormativity; capitalist exploitation

Winston/Kinsman Case: Timeline of Key Events

• December 7, 2012: initial report to Tallahassee Police

• January 2013: Winston identified as assailant

• February 2013: police investigation suspended

• Late 2013: state prosecutor files no charges

• December 2014: FSU conduct hearing finds Winston “not responsible”

Winston/Kinsman Case: Intersectional Analysis

• Race and Gender:

  • Myth of Black male rapist seemingly disrupted

  • But Winston neither exonerated nor condemned

  • Kinsman simultaneously cast as:

    • white female victim and opportunistic liar

• Economic and Institutional Power

  • college football’s “plantation power dynamic”

  • financial stakes for FSU ($43M to $70M)

  • investigation timing and conduct hearing scheduled around football

  • protection of athletic interests

Winston/Kinsman Case: Systems Reinforcing Power

• 1. “Protection” as Control

• TPD’s failure to investigate created dependency

• Winston remains “manageable” asset

• 2. Double-Bind for Both Parties

• Winston: simultaneously “not guilty” but never innocent

• Kinsman: simultaneously potential victim and opportunistic liar

• 3. Power Maintained Through:

• economic control of Black athletes

• white overs