Crime and Deviance: Gender

Gender

Official Crime Statistics:

• 80% of crime is committed by men.
• 96% of the prison population is men.
• 5% of domestic violence victims are men.

Domestic Violence Statistics:

• 20% of cases are reported to the police.
• 90% of rape victims know the attacker.
• 75% of all reported crime is domestic.
• 5% of women are victims of incest.
• 1 child a week is killed by their parents in the UK.

Dobash and Dobash: Argue that a lot of women remain in abusive relationships due to financial dependence on the husband and institutional support that they receive. Domestic violence was not seen as a public issue, the police were not concerned with this. They argue that not enough has been done to protect women in heterosexual relationships. For example, it was only in 1991 in the case of RvR when marital rape was outlawed.

Betsy Stanko: Argues that women are victims of 'sexual terrorism'. It is estimate that only 20% of domestic violence cases are reported to the police and therefore it can be estimated that five women are victims of domestic violence every minute in the UK.

Mac an Ghail: 'Crisis in masculinity'. Argues that there are changes in the economy from the manufacturing sector to the service sector that have cause an increase in domestic violence. While working in manufacturing jobs men would be able to express their masculinity through their work, but now in service jobs the work is far more feminised there is a crisis of masculinity. This could explain why men commit domestic violence as they cannot express themselves in any other way.

Fran Ansley: Argues that women are the takers of shit in the family. They are the safety valve of Capitalism as they take the frustrations from men and it is expected of them.

Leicester University: Were researching cohabiting couples on campus. They were researching domestic violence and found in the majority of cases that there had been a physical attack by the female against the male and many of the women admitted to being unprovoked.

Luckhurst: Did a study in Leicester hospital. Argued that there was a double standard in regards to domestic violence. As there were many cases in which women hit men, that is not classed as domestic violence. Women attacking men should be viewed in the same way that men attacking women is viewed. Men are not taken seriously about domestic violence as they do not report incidents as they are humiliated by the fact they are being beaten by women. He found that there were quite a lot of male victims with suspicious injuries with bad explanations and were suspected of being a victim of domestic violence. Out of men and women with these injuries, the men had the most severe injuries.

If 80% of reported crime is committed by men there are two possibilities:

1. Women commit less crime.

2. Female crime is underestimated.

Women Commit Less Crime

Parsons: 'Sex Role Theory'. Women are raised to be mothers from a young age, they should be nurturing and expressive. They are given toys that teach domestic tasks, whereas boys are given toys to teach them to be competitive.

Leonard: Argues that there are fewer opportunities to commit crime because of their role as a mother and their lack of technical skills.

Helen Smart: Argues that females have higher parental supervision that restricts their ability/opportunity to commit crime.

McRobbie and Garber: Argue that girls have more supervision than boys whilst being raised. They claim that a 'bedroom culture' exists where parents try to discourage girls from going out with their friends during leisure time, whereas boys do not face the same treatment. This is due to the fear that parents have that their daughters need protection from the outside world, whereas their sons do not.

Freda Adler: Argues that as women become more liberated, the amount of crime committed by women will increase.

Denscombe: Argues that women are becoming more masculinised which shows they're more likely to take higher risks and consequently commit more crime.

Carolyn Jackson: 'Ladette culture'. Argues that working class girls are failing in education are becoming more 'boyish' because they know that they will fail.

Female Crime is Underestimated

Francis Heidensohn: 'Malestream criminology'. Argues that all studies are obsessed with male criminology, this is reflected by statistics. The majority of criminologists are men, therefore they study male crime as they are interested in male crimes as they are more violent. He argues that the old theories are gender blind.

Chivalry Thesis

Shacklady-Smith: Argues that the police save the sexual reputations of women. For example, if a woman is drunk she is not seen as a threat, but, if a man is drunk in the same way, women could potentially become victims and therefore the police will arrest men, but take women home.

Otto Pollack: Argues that men don't like to suspect women of being criminals, they see them as nice and nurturing so men are less likely to be thinking of women as criminals. Also, women are better at hiding crimes.

Roger Wood: Argues that women are 1/3 less likely to be prosecuted than a man for committing the same crime.

Steffensmeier: Argues that women aren't seen as a danger to society, their role as a mother can influence the judge and they will think of the impact on children.

Allen: Argues that women are more likely to be sent to a mental hospital rather than being sent to jail as they can claim insanity.

Campbell: 'Self-report studies', sent out a questionnaire to a random sample asking about crimes that they have committed. He found that women admitted to more crimes in a self-report study than official crime statistics indicate.

Evaluation of Chivalry Thesis

Sue Lees: Argues that the chivalry thesis is inconsistent as it only occurs with certain types of female crime. An example of this would be Myra Hindley, the chivalry thesis stops working when it is a crime against children as it doesn't fit the female stereotype of being nurturing and nice.

Rape Case Theory: Many women do not report rape cases as they have to endure a 'second rape' where they have to go over all the facts again as well as being penalised for having this happen to them. Therefore, some women do not bother to report it as it is too difficult.

Cicourel: Argues if a criminal adheres to the typifications then the criminal justice system is less lenient. Same for women who lack the chivalry thesis then the criminal justice is less lenient.

Explanations of Female Crime

Sandra Walklate: Argues that women commit crime due to economic necessity as they're more likely to face poverty, such as property crimes and shoplifting.

Edwards: Agrees that this gives an explanation for prostitution.

Kinglsey Davis: Argues that the trivial crime of property allows more deviant acts to be presented.

Pat Carlen: Went into prison and interviewed inmates to ask what they did and why. She used Hirshi's theory and found that women usually conform because of:

• The class deal - they get a job as it provides a good standard of living and independence as they are not reliant on men.
• The gender deal - should be a mother as family life provides stability and support.

Carlen believes that women should want these and if they have them they wont commit crime, if they lack one or both then they are pushed towards crime. Working class women commit the most crime as these 'deals' are unavailable and therefore they commit crime.

The majority of the prison sample:

• Felt humiliated when claiming benefits.
• Had been abused, either a victim of child abuse or sexual assault.
• Lived in poverty.
• Raised in care.

Croal: Disagrees and strengthens the post modernist argument that women commit crime for the risk factor and the excitement of the crime. Young girls shoplift due to relative deprivation and to fund drug habits.

Hardy and Howitt: Argue that a moral panic has arised where women are committing more violent crimes. 80% of girls were involved in fights during high school and got a high from it.

Walter Miller: Argues that working class men have different 'focal concerns' in comparison to the rest of society so they don't commit crimes in order to achieve success, they do it to prove their masculinity. Men are competitive and have to be dominant to assert their masculinity, this can often result in them committing crimes.

Barry Sugarman: Argues that there are four elements of working class culture:

1. Fatalism - They believe that their future is pre-determined and as a result they do not try.

2. Collectivism - They believe that being part of a group makes them stronger, the need to have support from their peers.

3. Immediate Gratification - They only want success if they can have it now, they do not want to wait for things.

4. Present Time Orientation - They do not have long term goals as they know they cannot achieve anything.

Tony Sewell: 'Triple Quandry Theory'. He acknowledges that African Caribbean boys commit a lot of crime within society. He blames this on 'black' culture and their family structures. 57% come from single-parent families and therefore struggle to develop masculinity, resulting from them turning to their peers as role models. He argues that as a result working class African Caribbean males:

1. Feel rejected by society. (Cashmore).

2. Turn to peers who have also been rejected by society - they create their own subcultures with anti-white values, they use these gang leaders as a father figure as they are the only people they feel accepted by so they shape their masculinity on them.

3. Media as a role model - He refers to this as MTV culture where women are viewed as objects that need to be owned by men. He argues that it values consumerism as it convinces these individuals that they need to own 'bling' and will turn to crime in order to achieve the success that they seek.

Bob Connell: Argues that the central theme to masculinity is the dominance and pursuit of women.

Daly and Wilson: 'Won't take any shit'. A reputation depends on the maintenance of a credible threat of violence.

Dunning: Football hooliganism is a form of escapism for men and their masculinity which cannot be expressed in the workplace. men want to protest to protect their city reputation.

Messerschmidt: Hegemonic masculinity, different forms of masculinity.

Subordinate Masculinity: White middle class youths conform in school and rebel outside of school. Working class youths are in constant rebellion. African Caribbean working class youths are also in constant rebellion due to blocked up opportunities.

Max and Ghall: Argue that men suffer from a crisis in masculinity due to a change in the economy. More feminised job roles where men can't express their masculinity. Feminisation of the economy represses masculinity and the emergence of the metro sexual man.

Simon Winlow: Argues that men express their masculinity by creating new job roles, 'criminal careers' and legitimate criminal behaviour such as 'bodily capital' which allows men to express their masculinity with their bodies. For example, bouncers. This can be viewed as a coping mechanism of a feminised economy.