Gender and Crime

Patterns of victimisation

Men as victims of crime: men are at greater risk of a violent attack by strangers 70% of homicide victims are men. Women as victims of crime: Women are more likely to be victim of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking and harassment, people trafficking in times of armed conflict- mass rape as a weapon of war.

• Men maintain higher risk of being victim to personal crime rather than women.

• In 2020/21, 594 homicides were recorded, 70% of victims were male and 30% female.

Patterns of gender and crime

Official statistics: population- men: 49%, women: 51%, prosecutions: men- 79% and women- 21%, prison population: women- 4%, men: 96%.

Offender management: A greater proportion of female offenders are sentenced for offences that tend to receive shorter custodial sentence lengths. 2022 figures, 17% of females and 7% of males were serving sentences of less than 12 months.

Offences committed: TV license evasion was the offence with the highest proportion of female defendants in 2021. In 2021, 75% of those prosecuted for TV license evasion were female. This offence accounted for 18% of all female prosecutions.

Sociological explanations for why women commit less crime than men

Functionalism sex role theory (Parsons), Control theory- class and gender deals- Carlen, Control theory-Heidensohn.

Functionalism sex role theory- differential socialisation

Early sociological explanations of gender differences in crime focused on differences in the socialisation of males and females. For e.g, boys are encouraged to be tough, aggressive and risk-taking- disposed to commit acts of violence. Parsons traces differences in crime and deviance to the gender roles in the conventional nuclear family. Men take the instrumental breadwinner role whilst women perform the expressive role in the home. They take the main responsibility for for socialising the children. Girls have access to an adult role model, whereas boys reject feminine models of behaviours- they engage in ‘compensatory compulsory masculinity’, through aggression and anti-social behaviour.

Criticisms of Parsons

Walktale criticises Parsons as he assumed that because women are biologically able to bear children, they are best suited to the expressive role.