Ch1: Women, Gender and Crime

sex

refers to the biological or physiological characteristics of what makes somoeone male or female

gender

refers to the sex to talk about the segregation of men and women in jails or prison

third wave feminism

addresses the multiple, diverse perspectives of women, such as race, ethnicity, nationality, and sexuality

gender gap

research tells us that the ____, or difference between male and female offending, is larger in cases of serious or violent crimes, while the gap is narrower for crimes such as property and drug related offenses

Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)

• dataset includes a number of demographics variables to evaluate a number statistics, including age, gender, race/ethnicity, location (state) and region (metropolitan, suburban, and rural)

• they are typically reported to the greater society through news media outlets and form the basis for headline stories that proclaim the rising and falling of crime

• this data is only represented statistics on only those crimes that are reported to the police

what type of crimes does UCR mostly report

• aggravated assualt

• forcible rape

• murder

• robbery

• arson

• burgurlary

• larceny-theft

• motor vechile theft

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

• catalog involves data on 22 offenese cateogories and includes 46 specific crimes known as Group A offense. Data on 11 lesser offenses (Group B) are also collected.

• cases that involve more than one specific offense will now count all the different offenses that are reported and not just the most serious event

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

• represents the largest victimization study conducted in the US

• they are designed to supplement the data from UCR and provide data on crime from the victim’s perspective

dark figure of crime

the hidden mass of unreported and unrecorded criminal offenses that never show up in offical police statistics

crime rate

compares the number of occurences of a particular crime to the size of the population

National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS)

November 1995 and May 1996 and represented one of the first comprehensive data assessments of violence against women of intimate partner abuse, stalking, sexual assault

National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS)

reports victimization from a variety of crimes, including sexual assault, intimate partner abuse, and stalking

feminist methodology

refers to the process by which data are gathered and the relationship between the researcher and the subject

what is the first step to feminist methodology

acknowledge the influence of gender in a society as a whole

what is the second step to feminist methodology

challenging traditional relationship between the researcher and the subject and its linlk to scientific research and the validity of finding

what is the third step to feminist methodology

engaging in consciousness raising about the realities of women’s lives as part of the methodology process

what is the fourth step of feminist methodology

empowering women within a patriarchal society through their participation in research

what is the fifth step of feminist methodology

an awareness by the researcher of the ethical costs of the research process and a need to protect their subjects

radical feminist theory

stresses that patriarchal gender arrangements lead to men’s efforts to control women’s sexuality often through violence and abuse

liberal feminism

suggests that gender oppression would be reduced or eliminated by altering the way that girls and boys are socialized and by reforming laws and their implementation

• an example would be eliminating bias in sentencing of women and men through racial groups

socialist feminism

to understanding that not just gender but also class results in oppression