Gender, Crime, and Justice Exam 1

Perceptions of criminals vs. perceptions of females?

Often judged differently from male criminals, influenced by traditional gender norms. Women who commit crimes are viewed as violating both legal and societal expectations

Female criminals?

• Early criminological theories focused on male crime and applied those conclusions to women without specific study

• Lombroso (1892) suggest that women were less intelligent and moral than men but committed fewer crimes due to their maternal instincts

• Women who committed violent crimes were considered especially deviant (Shipley & Arrigo, 2004)

What are the concerns and problems do women face?

• Bias and discrimination in the criminal justice system

• Wage gap and economic disadvantages

• Objectification and societal control of female sexuality

What is the wage gap?

As 2024, women earn 84% of what men earn

How does the wage gap vary by race and ethnicity?

• Black Workers: Earn ~24% less than White workers.

• Hispanic Workers: Hispanic women earn ~65% of White men's earnings.

• Asian Workers: Higher median earnings overall, but disparities exist among subgroups.

• Native American Workers: Among the lowest median incomes.

• The intersection of Race & Gender:

  • Black women: ~70% of White men’s earnings.

  • Hispanic women: ~65% of White men’s earnings.

• Causes: Education, job segregation, discrimination.

• Solutions: Policy changes, pay equity initiatives, and systemic reform.

What is the pink tax?

• Products and services marketed to women tend to be more expensive

• What have some states done?

  • Some states have passed laws banning gender-based price discrimination

• How have some companies responded?

  • Companies argue that price differences result from different production costs, formulations, and designs

Experience with bias?

University of Utah survey (2021) found that 77.4% of women felt they experienced sexism, often in unconscious ways.

• i.e lower salaries, patronizing comments, and gender-based assumptions

Societal viewpoint of female sexuality?

Female sexuality is simultaneously desired and shamed. Women’s bodies are also objectified and scrutinized more than men’s

What is objectification theory?

Women socialized to internalize others’ views of their bodies while also being sexualized linking to them being perceived as less competent

In the eyes of society what about women necessitated control

Maintaining order and traditional gender roles. Those who defy it are seen as threats

Female representation in Criminology?

Classical criminological theories were created by men and focused on male crime. Chesney-Lind is present which she described the exclusion of female perspectives as the “stag” effect

What is the “stag” effect in Criminology?

Developed by men and based on male criminals which created theories that often ignore or misrepresent female criminal behavior because they were not designed to include women’s experiences

Depictions in historical social artifacts?

• Women were often portrayed in extremes: virtuous or sinful, submissive or dangerous

  • Greek Mythology

How were females and males represented?

• Males: Powerful, heroic, dominant

• Female: Obedient, temptresses, sources of chaos, virtuous, deceitful

Early female crimes

• Witchcraft

• Scolding

• Sexual offenses

Witchcraft

• Why was there such fear of witchcraft? Stems from religious beliefs, societal anxieties, and the need to control unexplained events

• Why were women more likely to be accused of this? They weren’t up to traditional gender role standards so accused of being a witch

Scolding

What was scolding? Women who spoke out or were considered argumentative were labeled as “scolds”

Sexual Offenses

• What happened to women accused of sexual offenses? They faced harsh punishments, often more severe than men. Double standards appear

• Brothels and prostitution? Prostitution was a survival strategy for many women, yet they were criminalized while male clients weren’t punished. It was seen as a necessary evil to cure men’s sex needs

Historical expectations of females and their behavior?

Women were expected to be passive, chaste, and submissive. Upper-class women were kept uneducated and dependent while Lower-class women had to work but were still subjected to moral expectations

How did women’s role compare before/after the Revolutionary war?

• Before: Some could own land and vote based on land ownership

• During: Women took on traditionally male jobs, protested, and contributed to the war effort

• After: A stronger division between private (women) and public (men) spheres developed

How did women indirectly become involved in politics?

Through social justice efforts, moral reform movements, and charity work

What matters did they become involved in (hint: morality)?

Brothels, temperance, and social welfare

How did expectations of women vary by class?

• Upper-class: Dependent, confined, expected to be demure

• Lower-class: Expected to work but held to different moral standards

• Courtesans: Used societal double standards to gain influence and wealth

Courtesans

What were they? Educated, stylish, and had great social skills that allowed them to navigate male-dominated spaces. Acquired wealth, property, and status as a sex worker but more advanced/wealthy

Slaves

• What made female slaves doubly vulnerable? Due to both gender and racial oppression. Subjected to sexual abuse and harsh punishments

• Missouri v. Celia (1855) Celia, a female slave, was raped by her owner, Newsom. She killed him in self-defense but was still convicted and executed

• What happened to mixed-race children? They still considered slaves and lacked legal rights

Coverture

• Legal doctrine that women’s identities were absorbed by their husbands upon marriage. Married women could not own land, sign contracts, or control their wages

Feme covert vs. fem sole.

Covert: Women who were married and had no independent legal rights

Sole: Single women had more legal autonomy

Treatment of suffragettes?

Viewed as unpatriotic, especially during WWI. Often physically attacked and arrested. Mention of Night of Terror (1917) were they were arrested and brutally mistreated

What paradigm is feminist criminology categorized under?

Conflict paradigm

• Focuses on conflict:

  • Those in power create the rules and seek to maintain power

• Focuses on critical:

  • How the current society contributes to the ongoing nature of the issue

What is feminism?

Challenges traditional gender roles and seeks equality. Feminist criminology emerged during 2nd wave of feminism as a response to traditional criminology which was presented as sex-neutral

Viewpoints/treatment of those involved in feminist movements?

• Critiques often dismissed feminist perspectives

• Chesney-Lind criticized traditional criminology’s “add women and stir” approach

• Feminist criminology suffered from a “stag” effect, where male perspectives dominated

Issues regarding traditional criminological theories

• Stag effect: Criminology has historically been male-centered, leading to the exclusion of female perspectives.

• Gender Ratio: In 2022, females made up 50.5% of the U.S. population but accounted for only 7.13% of the prison population. Female arrests in 2022: 1,722,924 (compared to 4,681,475 male arrests)

• Generalizability

  • Results generated from male samples are not representative of the female population

  • The sample must resemble the population of interest

    • This allows results to be generalized to the population

      • If a sample does not resemble the population?

        • Cannot assume that the results can be accurately generalized

Early explanations of females and female crime?

Lombroso

Argued women were less intelligent and lacked morality, making them less criminal than men.

• Two types of women: Good and Bad.

• Suggested that female criminals were "monsters" and had masculine traits.

Early explanations of females and female crime?

Pollak

Claimed women were deceitful and influenced by hormonal changes.

• Argued that women committed as much crime as men but were better at hiding it.

Early explanations of females and female crime?

Freud

Believed female crime stemmed from penis envy.

• Suggested that aggressive women were trying to become men and sought revenge

What did these early theories focus on?

• Focused more so on heteronormative stereotypes.

• Highlighted lack of knowledge regarding female and the female experiences

Liberal Feminist theories

• What did it focus on? Existing social structures and opportunities

• Opportunity Hypothesis

• Masculinity Hypothesis

Opportunity Hypothesis

Rita Simon (1975) - Women committed fewer crimes due to a lack of opportunities; as opportunities increased, so did female crime.

Masculinity Hypothesis

Freda Adler (1975) - Argued that as women took on more traditionally male roles, they became more aggressive and criminal.

Radical Feminist theories - What needed to happen to the social structure?

• Argued society was based on patriarchy; males dominated virtually every aspect of society, including politics, family structure, and economy

  • Atkinson (1969), “Battle of the sexes is an overused term, battle implies balance of power, whereas when one side suffers all the losses, this is a massacre. Women have been massacred as human beings over history.

• Gender identities created and enforced

  • Reproduction was the cause of this.

• Argued that the current social structure would not allow for female growth

  • Social structure needed to be challenged and changed

Marxist Feminist theories - Types of crimes females engage in?

• Struggle between social classes

  • Male dominance emerged from men’s ownership and control of the means of economic production

    • Men control economic success and flow from capitalism

    • Women’s actions that threatened male dominance?

      • Sex Offenses or “Sex Offenses”?

    • Sources of female crime?

      • Property Crimes

• Males dominate capitalism & own the means of production

• Women are an exploited working class

• Male ownership of women’s bodies & sexuality

What types of crimes females engage in based on the Marxist Feminist theories?

1. Women violating sexual expectations or taking control of their bodies, prostitution, birth control, abortion, pre-marital sex.

2. Property crimes due economic hardship & financial need

3. Frustration over social status & oppression

Economic Marginalization Hypothesis

• Female offenders?

  • Poor

  • Under-employed/unemployed

  • Lack alternative means

  • Often have a dependent.

Socialist Feminist theories

• Considered a combination of Radical and Marxist viewpoints

• Women’s role in reproduction led to the division of labor

• This led to men’s control of the economy

• Emphasized control of reproductive systems and capitalism

  • Natural reproductive differences between the sexes underlie male-female relationships

    • Sexual division of labor!

  • Reproductive differences made female dependent on men for survival

What did women need to do to grow and gain rights based on socialist feminist theories?

To gain rights, women needed to:

• Challenge capitalism & patriarchy

• Achieve economic independence (fair wages, jobs)

• Organize collectively (unions, activism)

• Demand reproductive rights (birth control, healthcare)

• Push for state support (maternity leave, childcare)

• Resist traditional gender roles

Core Idea: Women's oppression is tied to both capitalism & patriarchy—true liberation requires economic and social change.