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The social distribution of crime with a focus on gender differences in offending and victimization. It covers topics such as gender and offending patterns, police and court proceedings, and theories explaining female offending. The document also discusses criticisms of these theories and provides conflicting evidence.
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victims of violent crime, women more likely to be victims of theft.
Cautions and Arrests Men are around 3x more likely to be cautioned than women and around 4 x more likely to be arrested.
prosecuted, convicted and sentenced than women. Women are less likely to receive a custodial sentence compared with men. Women commit more summary offences eg shoplifting and TV licence evasion than indictable offences- men commit more of the latter.
for males than females. More women in prison self- harm than men.
were first-time offenders compared with men Men are more likely to reoffend but women who reoffend commit more reoffences than men.
representation of women in the police and the courts but an over-representation in the MOJ and CPS.
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Sex Role Theory Girls brought up by mothers are given a role model for caring/gentle behaviours- boys are socialised into risk- taking and aggression- leads to acts of violence - linked to expressive and instrumental roles. Males engage in “compensatory compulsory masculinity” 2
Socialisation: Role Models Lone parents- lack of male role models pushes boys into gang culture. 3
Control Theory Women are more conformist as a result of patriarchy Control occurs ;
**- At home eg unequal division of labour
1 ADLER : Liberation Thesis: Women have been liberated from patriarchal controls in recent years. This created new legitimate and illegitimate opportunities for women eg fraud. Also- girls more likely to be involved in gang culture. 2 CARLEN: Class deals and gender deals: Working class women are drawn into conformity via the promise of rewards; class deal- good job and gender deal- family Some women lack these deals - eg brought up in care, poor education-and so are drawn into offending.
1 WALKLATE on PARSONS: Relies too heavily upon biological assumptions about the role of men and women 2 CRITICISM of HEIDENSOHN: Postmodernists would suggest that gender is not as fixed today Adler – Feminist- suggests that women today have much more freedom BUT supported by the work of DOBASH and DOBASH (control at home) and ONS data on the gender pay gap (Control at work)
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Strengths- Overall rate of offending andfemale share of offences has gone up. ( in 7 to 1 in 6) Denscombe (2001) Study in the Midlands – girls were just as likely as males to engage in risk-taking behaviour Weaknesses: Crime rate rose before liberation,girls on the fringes of gang culture, most female offenders are working class-not as liberated. 2
Strength- her study supports the existence of the class and gender deals Weaknesses- HEIDENSOHN- women still face patriarchal controls and so don’t commit crime.
Recent evidence on effectiveness of Prisons for women
Farrington and Morris (83) 408 offences of theft in a magistrates court found that women were not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences.
Buckle and Farrington (84) observational study of shoplifting in a Dept store witnessed 2x as many males shoplifting as females. BUT female shoplifters more likely to be prosecuted than males.
Corston Report (2006) Prison sentences should be reserved only for “serious or violent female offenders ” she argued. “.. women’s jails should be replaced , over time, by “geographically dispersed small multi-functional custodial units”
MOJ : Safety in Custody (2016) Statistical bulletin on deaths, self-harm and assaults in prisons. Deaths in custody were up 30% from 2015’s figures - 11 female prisoners had apparently killed themselves, the biggest such toll in 12 years.
Under- reporting of male crimes Male crime is also under-reported. Yearnshire (97) victims of domestic abuse may suffer up to 35 assaults before reporting domestic violence.
Less serious offences Women commit less serious offences and so their lighter punishment matches the severity of the offence. Female offenders also show more remorse and so may receive a caution or reduced sentence.
Double standards Heidensohn (96) – women are treated more harshly when committing serious offences eg Myra Hindley and judged first as women then as criminals- doubly deviant- doubly damned.
Self-Report Study evidence:
Self-Report study evidence: Only 1 in 11 female self-reported offenders had been cautioned or prosecuted, the figure for males was over 1 in 7 self-reported offenders.
****also compare with data from Part 1 KO- ONS** Official statistics evidence:
See the powerpoints for more depth and detail- also see Pt 1 and 2 for the debate on female patterns of offending and the Chivalry Thesis MESSERSCHMIDT- Explaining why men commit more crime than women
Key idea • Masculinity is a social construct and as a result men have to go to great lengths to reconstruct and present this to others.
Hegemonic Masculinity Work in the paid labour market, subordination of women, heterosexism (a difference from and a desire for women) and the driven and uncontrollable sexuality of men.
Subordinated masculinities
Class and Subordinated masculinities
Ethnicity and Subordinated masculinities Black working class youths: May lack job prospects and use gang membership and violence or turn to property crime to express hegemonic masculinity to others.
Lyng: Edgework Ignores the thrill to be gained from acting in ways that are on the edge between security and danger
Katz :seductions of crime : ignores the way in which young men drift into delinquency and the pleasure that is gained in “doing masculinity” and “doing crime”.
Jefferson this form of explanation tells us little about why it is that only a minority of young men from a given ethnic group or social class choose to accomplish masculinity by doing crime while the rest do not (adapted from Hopkins Burke (2001)
Does it explain all crime? The concept of masculinity is conveniently used to explain all crimes- does it adequately do this?
Circular argument Is Messerschmidt explaining or simply describing male offenders ie. Tough, controlling? Postmodernity, masculinity and crime-: WINLOW 1 Key idea Postmodernity has resulted in a lack of traditional manual jobs
. This means that working-class males are unable to express their masculinity through this type of work.The leisure industry and night-time bar and club culture has provided working-class males with both legal employment eg bars and criminal opportunities eg drugs as a means of expressing their masculinity. 2 WINLOW Study of bouncers in Sunderland - Bouncers were given two lucrative opportunities; paid work and an outlet for involvement in drugs, duty-free tobacco and alcohol and protection rackets. Bouncers also expressed their masculinity via use of violence. Men use bodily capital to maintain reputation and employability. Eg bodybuilding EVALUATION of Postmodernity , masculinity and crime: WINLOW 1 Strength Winlow found evidence of this is in Sunderland-where traditional industries have been in decline. 2 Weakness Lyng-Edgework: would describe this behaviour as the result of risk-taking behaviour in a postmodern society- Messerschmidt – would explain this in terms of subordinated masculinity.
See the powerpoints for more depth and detail- also see Pt 1 and 2 for the debate on female patterns of offending and the Chivalry Thesis VICTIMISATION and GENDER : CSEW (2012)
Homicide victims
Victims of violence
Lea and Young (93) • Women are at greater risk of crime than men.
Sparks et al (77) Female victims of violence more likely to refuse an interview
Frequency of crime Surveys also don’t highlight the frequency of crimes in cases of domestic abuse.
Walby and Allen4 (2004) Women are more likely to face multiple incidents
Ansara and Hindin (2011) Women experience more severe violence and control.