Social Distribution of Crime by Gender

SEE FEMINIST NOTES FOR LIB THESIS, PATRIARCHAL CONTROL AND CLASS DEALS (ADLER, HEIDENSOHN, AND CARLEN)

Gender patterns in crime

Heidensohn and Silvestri observe that gender differences are the most significant feature of recorded crime.
¾ convicted offenders in England and Wales are male.
By the age of 40, 9% of females have a criminal conviction against 32% males.
Among offenders, official statistics show that:
A higher proportion of female than male offenders are convicted of property offences (except burglary).
A higher proportion of male than female offenders are convicted of violence or sexual offenders.
Males are more likely to be repeat offenders, to have long criminal careers and to commit more serious crimes. For example, men are about 15 times more likely to be convicted of homicide.

Do women commit more crime?

Some sociologists and criminologists argue that the statistics underestimate the amount of female as against male offending.
Typically “female” crimes are less likely to be reported, e.g. shoplifting is less likely to be noticed or reported than the violent or sexual crimes more often committed by men.
Similarly, prostitution- which females are much more likely than males to engage in- is unlikely to be reported by either party.
Some claim that even when women’s crimes are detected or reported, they are less likely to be prosecuted or, if prosecuted, more likely to be let off relatively lightly.

Chivalry Thesis- Pollak

Argues that most criminal justice agents- such as police officers, judges etc- are men, and men are socialised to act in “chivalrous” ways towards women. e.g. be more protective and lenient towards women.
The CJS is thus more lenient with women and so their crimes are less likely to end up in the official statistics.
This is turn gives an invalid picture that exaggerates the extent of gender differences in rates of offending.
Self-report studies- Evidence from these suggest that female offenders are treated more leniently.
Graham and Bowling’s research on a sample of 1,721 14-25 year olds found that although males are more likely to offend, the difference was smaller than that recorded in the official statistics.
They found that males were 2.33 times more likely to admit to having committed an offence, whereas official statistics show males are 4 x more likely to offend.
Official statistics- Females are more likely than males to be released on bail rather than remanded in custody.
Females are more likely than males to receive a fine or a community sentence, and less likely to be sent to prison, and women on average receive a shorter prison sentences.
Similarly, Hood’s study of over 3,000 defendants found that women were about 1/3 less likely to be jailed in similar cases.
Hidden Female Crime- Women’s crime is underreported because they are skilled at deception.
Pollak argued that women’s crimes (e.g. poisoning, infanticide) are less detectable.
For example, Lavinia Woodward was a medical student at Oxford University who stabbed her boyfriend in the leg during an argument. Despite the seriousness of the offense, the judge did not give her a prison sentence, stating that it would damage her future career as a surgeon.
Instead, she received a suspended sentence.

Evidence against Chivalry thesis

Farrington and Morris’ study in 1983 of 408 offences of theft in a magistrates’ court found that women were not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences.
Buckle and Farrington- observational study of shoplifting in a department store- found that there were twice as many males shoplifting as females, despite the fact that the numbers of male and female offenders in official statistics are more or less equal.
This small scale study suggests that women may be more likely to be prosecuted than their male counterparts.
The Chivalry thesis also ignores the fact that many male crimes do not get reported. In 2012, only 8% of females who had been victims of a serious assault reported it to the police, while Yearnshire found that a woman typically suffers 35 assaults before reporting DV.

Bias against women

Many feminists, like Heidensohn, argue the CJS are actually bias against women, not for women as the Chivalry thesis suggests.
This is due to:
Double standards- courts punish girls but no boys for premature or “promiscuous” sexual activity. Such girls can end up in care without ever having committed an offence. Sharpe found from her analysis of 55 youth worker records, that 7 out of 11 girls were referred to support because they were sexually active, but none out of the 44 boys.
Social standards- Women who do not conform to accepted standards of monogamous heterosexuality and motherhood are punished more harshly. Stewart found, magistrates’ perceptions of female defendants’ characters were based on stereotypical gender roles.
Carlen puts forward a similar view in relation to custodial sentences.
She argues that when women are jailed, it is less for the “seriousness of their crimes and more according to the court’s assessment of them as wives, mothers and daughters”.
Girl's whose parents believe them to be beyond control are more likely to receive custodial sentences than girls who live more “conventional” lives.
Carlen found that Scottish judges were much more likely to jail women whose children were in care than women who they saw as good mothers.
Feminists argue that these double standards exist because the CJS is patriarchal, which is seen evidently in rape cases.
Walkate argues in rape cases, it is not the defendant on trial, but the victim, since she has to prove her respectability inn order to have her evidence accepted.
According to Adler, women who are deemed to lack respectability, such as single parents, punks and peace protestors, find it difficult to have their testimony believed in court.

Contemporary examples of bias against women

Rose West- Got a larger sentence than her husband Fred, though Fred did the killing, Rose can be seen as deviating from the conventional standards of mother, shocking people more.
Peter Sutcliffe (Yorkshire Ripper)- killed many women who were seen as prostitutes- when prostitutes gave police officers detailed, truthful evidence of Sutcliffe’s whereabouts, they disregarded them, causing the case to take years longer to come to a close.

Functionalist Sex Role Theory- Parsons

Parsons’ Sex Role Theory is rooted in functionalist ideas about gender roles and the nuclear family.
He argues that traditional gender socialisation leads to differences in crime rates between men and women:
Instrumental vs Expressive roles- makes men more prone to risk taking and deviant behaviour. Whereas it discouraged criminality in women.
Socialisation and Control- Women’s subordinate roles means they are more closely supervised; men have less direct supervision and therefore great opportunities for criminality.
Compensatory Compulsory Masculinity- Boys who lack a father figure may overcompensate by engaging in delinquent behaviour to assert masculinity.
This theory helps explain why men commit commit more crime than women, particularly violent crime, as they are socialised into aggression and dominance.
It links to official crime statistics, which consistently show higher male offending rates.
However, it ignores female crime: women do commit crime, and female offending rates have risen.
It overgeneralises- not all men are socialised into aggression, and not all women avoid crime. Walklate argues Parsons makes biological assumptions, assuming that because women have the biological capacity to bear children, they are best suited to the expressive role.
Ignores structural factors- Crime isn’t just about socialisation- poverty, inequality and opportunity also play a role.

Feminist Theory notes- Heidensohn’s patriarchal control, Carlen’s social deals, and Adler’s liberation thesis.

The Criminalisation of females

Steffensmeier and Schwartz- there had been no change in women’s involvement in violent crime, though the female share of arrests for violence grew from 1/5 to 1/3 between 1980 and 2003- they argue that the rise in arrests in due to the justice system “widening the net”- arresting and prosecuting females for less serious forms of violence than previously.

Gender and Victimisation

Homicide victims- about 70% are male. Female victims are more likely to know their killer and in 60% of these cases, this was a partner or ex-partner.
Male victims are most likely to be killed by a friend or acquaintance.
Fewer women than men are victims of violence overall, however:
More women are victims of intimate violence (DV, stalking, assault). 1 in 4 will experience DV during their adult life.
5 x more women than men report having been sexually assaulted.
Research shows women have a greater fear of crime but the CSEW shows they are less at risk of victimisation.

Why do men commit more crime?

Messerschmidt looks at hegemonic masculinity and the pressures on males to accomplish this. Hegemonic masculinity emphasises competitive individualism, aggression and violence in relation to authority and control.
Hegemonic Masculinity- This is the dominant form of masculinity that most men wish to accomplish. It is defined through paid labour, subordination of women, heterosexuality, and the driven and uncontrollable sexuality of men.
Drawing on ideas from Cohen, he argues that young males experience their world collectively, emphasising the importance of school and the peer group, and argues that youth crime is a way of “doing masculinity”, especially when other resources are unavailable.
Depending on the age, and class of the male, he may accomplish his masculinity in different ways, some of which may be deviant and/ or criminal.
For older males, it may be by being a successful breadwinner or by beating his wife.
For youths it may be by gaining a reputation for violence, by number of sexual conquests, by drinking or by taking part in dares or pranks.
E.g. Johnny Knoxville (Jackass).
Working class ids form anti-school subcultures or join gangs for status. E.g. Willi’s “Lads”, while Middle and Upper class kids commit “petty” crimes around vandalism and drinking E.g. The Bullingdon Club.
Mosher characterises hegemonic masculinity as “hypermasculinity” referring to its dangerousness and acceptance of violence.
For example, a poor, jobless youth may display his masculinity, and thus enhances his status, through sexist banter, wearing gang-style clothing, or by carrying a knife or gun.
According to Baird, young males tend to reproduce the existing versions of masculinity they are exposed to while growing up. This explains the violent gang culture prevalent in much of inner-city America.
However, he argues that whether young males embark on violence and gang- membership as a path towards masculinity depends on the availability of family support and their ability to form “socialisation spaces” away form the street corner, avoiding the “gang male role model system”.
The New Right support this by saying that a lack of a father/ instrumental figure, then the individuals will lack discipline, leading to delinquency.

Crisis of Masculinity-Postmodernism

The “crisis of masculinity” which has occurred through globalisation and the decline of industrial jobs, may have led working class males towards more extreme and violent behaviour to accomplish their masculinity, as their traditional breadwinner role has been taken away.
Winlow considers this in his study “Working class masculinity” in Sunderland, arguing that mass unemployment in the 1980s due to privatisation left many young males in the Northwest without a breadwinner status, and violence became more significant as a way of expressing masculinity, due to a crisis of masculinity from losing their jobs.
Winlow observed men through being bouncers and in the gym, and saw that male used their “bodily capital” to demonstrate masculinity.
From this emerged new masculine careers, including drug dealing, dealing stolen goods, and “security”, this demonstrates how criminality has become an “entrepreneurial concern”: a way of making money.
Maintaining a hard man image was essential to success in these industries- Body-building became a form of displaying masculinity that have previously come through employment in heavy industry, rather than night-time industry.
Overtime, these businesses evolved from a part-time pursuit to a more organised, global criminal enterprise.
Evaluation- Changing nature of security work- more females involved in security, meaning bodily capital is not reserved to males.
Reinforces ideas of hegemonic masculinity and develops ideas of Cloward and Ohlin’s criminal subcultures for modern society.

Extreme example- Seduction Bootcamps.
Men who have had blocked legitimate opportunities in both industry and education can now create YouTube channels and/or online programmes to teach men how to pick up women, (E.g. Andrew Tate) which is known as “the game”. These men are charging large sums of money (e.g. £600).
They create their own identities, with language reflecting it such as “same day lay”, “last minute resistance” and “number farming”.

Criticism of Hegemonic Masculinity

In a post-modern world, not all men are interested in achieving hegemonic masculinity.
Societal attitudes are beginning to change, for example a stay-at-home dad is still a “real” man.
Jefferson- critical of Messerschmidt- many men who cannot achieve “the cultural ideal form of dominant masculinity” do not turn to crime- too deterministic.
Also not all crimes are linked to hegemonic masculinity e.g. green crimes against the environment.

Cultural Criminology

Cultural criminologists stress the highly emotional nature of crime- instead of what the criminals will gain, these researchers are interested in how committing the crime makes people feel.
the focus of cultural criminologists is on the thrill of the act- it can offer a brief escape form an otherwise dull emotional existence.
They argue there is an intoxicating mix of fear and pleasure that often accompanies risk taking.
Katz argues that people get drawn into crime because it is seductive and thrilling.
Postmodernists interpret this simply as part of a postmodern society which calls on us to enjoy our leisure time- crime is one means whereby some people do just that.
Lyng developed the concept of “edgework”- by this he meant that crime was a means whereby people could get a thrill by engaging in risk-taking behaviour- going right to the edge of acceptable behaviour and challenging the rules of what is acceptable.
The risks involved in law breaking acts as a challenge, and crime is carried out precisely because the rules are in place.
Young offenders do not assess their changes that they will be arrested prior to their act.
This is why steady increase in control does not work as a deterrent.

Biological explanations

Pollack- Chivalry Thesis and Biological Deviance- Argued that women are naturally deceitful due to hormonal cycles and social conditioning.
Suggested that female crime is underreported because men in the justice system protect them.
Evaluation- Lacks empirical evidence, relies on outdated gender stereotypes, ignores structural inequalities.
Lombroso- Atavistic Theory- Claimed female criminals had biological abnormalities, such as masculine traits, that made them more prone to crime.
Suggested that criminal women were biologically inferior and lacked maternal instincts.
Evaluation- Based on flawed methodology, ignores social influences, overly deterministic.
Thomas- Biological and Psychological Drives- Proposed that women commit crime due to their need for excitement and recognition.
Suggested that female offenders manipulate men using sexuality.
Evaluation- Oversimplifies female criminality, reinforces sexist assumptions, lacks scientific backing.