gender & crime
stats
~ 4/5 convicted offenders in England & Wales are male
~ by the age of 40, 9% of women have had a conviction, compared to 32% of men
~ females are more likely to be convicted for shoplifting & theft, men are more likely to be convicted for violent / sexual crimes
gender bias in the criminal justice system
chivalry thesis - Pollak
women are treated more leniently by the CJS because of traditional gender stereotypes - women are often seen as caring, passive, and less dangerous, meaning that agencies of social control may be less likely to punish them harshly
since most agents of social control are men, they may act in a chivalrous way towards female offenders → women are more likely to receive cautions or community sentences instead of imprisonment
this can make it seem as though women commit less serious crime than men, creating a distorted picture in official stats, e.g. one study of 300 shoplifting cases found that only 1 in 9 female offenders received a prison sentence compared to 1 in 5 male offenders
~ criticism - Farrington & Morris - found no evidence of sentencing bias in their study of 410 theft cases, suggesting that men & women were treated similarly
some judges may appear lenient because they consider factors such as childcare responsibilities
double deviance - Carlen
women are punished by the CJS for breaking the law & for failing to conform to traditional gender roles - women who are seen as bad mothers, sexually deviant, or unfeminine may be judged more harshly by the courts
found: judges often made decisions based on how they viewed women as mothers or wives, e.g. women who’s children were in care were more likely to be imprisoned than those seen as ‘good mothers’ - Aileen Wuornos, a sex worker who killed 6 men was heavily demonised by the media & received little sympathy despite her history of abuse - she was not judges only for her crimes but also for failing to conform to traditional femininity
why women commit less crime than men
sex role theory - Parsons
boys & girls are sexualised into different gender roles - instrumental & expressive
~ boys are encouraged to reject feminine traits like emotion & tenderness, instead they may develop ‘compensatory masculinity', showing aggression, toughness, & anti-social behaviour → crime
boy socialisation is more difficult because fathers are less involved in early upbringing - this lack of a strong male role model may lead to boys seeking identity in peer groups/gangs
~ girls become more emotionally attached to family & community through their expressive role, which discourages criminal behaviour
girls are more likely to develop a ‘bedroom culture’ due to male family members feeling a need to protect & shelter them from the outside world - encouraged to stay inside, have sleepovers, etc which discourages criminal behaviour which mostly happens outside at night
evaluation
. highlights how early socialisation influences criminal behaviour & explains why men commit more crimes than women
. outdated & gender stereotypical - assumes all men & women follow traditional roles - ignores changes in society, such as more equal parenting & changing masculinities
patriarchal controls - Heidensohn