Gender and Crime 30 mark essay

“Some sociologists explain levels of offending by girls and women in terms of their socialisation or their position in patriarchal society. For example, one feminist sociologist argues that the weakening of patriarchy has lead to an increase in female offending. However, other sociologists focus on the ways in which the police and courts treat femaes, as well as the impact of media stereotypes of female offending.”

Apply material from Item B and your knowledge, evaluate sociological explanations of levels of female offending. [30 Marks]

One sociological explanation of the levels of female offending is the Chivalry Thesis. A quote from the item is, “sociologists focus on the ways in which the police and courts treat females”. The Chivalry Thesis puts forward the point that the Criminal Justice System is more lenient towards women and girls, due to men being socialised to ‘act chivalrous’ towards women. Roger Hood states that women are one third less likely to be jailed for a similar case that a man was jailed for. However, this can be criticised by the fact that Morris states that women are not sentenced more leniently when they studied 408 cases of theft.

Another sociological explanation of womens levels of offending is the Sex-Role Theory. A quote from the item is, “Some sociologists explain levels of offending by girls and women in terms of their socialisation”. The Sex-Role Theory states that a reason for women committing less crime than men is their socialisation. Women are socialised differently to men, and the values that women are socialised into having do not lend themselves well to crime. Parsons states that much of the child rearing is done by the mother, and as a result, young girls are exposed to a female role model early in life. However, this point can be criticised by Walkate who states that the theory is making biological assumptions. It states that since women have the capacity to bare children, they are best suited for the expressive role and caring for children. Thus, although the theory tries to explain gender differences in crime in terms of behaviour, it is ultimately based on biological assumptions.

A third explanation of womens level of offending is ‘patriarchal control’. A quote from the item is, “Some sociologists explain the level of offenidng by girls and women in terms of … patriarchal society.” Radical Feminists argue that women commit less crime for 3 reasons. The first is ‘control in the home’. Women face the triple shift of handling marriage, domestic labour and paid work, which reduces their opportunities for crime. The second reason is ‘control in public’. A crime survey states that 54% of women avoided going out after dark becasue of fear of being a victim of crime. This again limits the opportunities for women to commit crime. The third is ‘control at work’. Women do not have access to corporate crime because of the glass ceiling that limits womens opportunity to climb the corporate ladder. However, other branches of feminism such as Difference Feminism, and Patricia Hills-Collins, state that patriarchy does not affect all women in the exact same way. Instead, patriarchy may push women towards crime due to women being more controlled and so more poor.

A fourth explanation of womens levels of offending is the Liberation Thesis. A quote from the Item is, “one feminist sociologist argues that the weaknening of patriarchy has led to an increase in female offending.” The Liberation Thesis states that although womens levels of offending are not exceeding mens levels, they are still rising. The reason the thesis gives is that women are now free from traditional forms of social control. Denscombe argues that the changing role of women over the last decade has meant that they were adopting more masculine attitudes. However, this can be criticised by Heidensohn who showed that convicted female offenders score highly on psychological tests of femininity, which indicates they are not taking on more masculine roles.

A fifth explanation of women levels of offending is PMS defence. A quote from the Item is, “other sociologists focus … on the impact of media stereotypes of female offending.” PMS is a syndrome that affects women before their period occurs, and can affect some women so harshly to the point that they commit crime. A media example of this is Anna Reynolds who killed her mother, but was then released on the basis that there was a lack of free will within her actions as she was found to be suffering from PMS. However, a criticism of this is that it is difficult to determine at what stage PMS can be used as defence in the CJS for women to be excused of a crime.

A sixth explanation of womens levels of offending is class and gender deals. This explains why women are beginning to commit more crime. Carlen suggested that working class women are led to conform through the promise of two types of rewards. The first reward is ‘class deals’, which states that women who work will be given material rewards. The second is ‘Gender Deals’ which states that women will have emotional and material rewards when committed to family life. It is then stated that if these deals are not available to working class women, crime is more likely to be committed by women. However, a disadvantage of this point is that the study that Carlen gained their information from was small in sample size, which casts doubt on the generalisability of their findings.