Gender, Crime & Justice

4/5 convicted offenders in England and Wales are male and there are gender differences among offenders too with men being more likely to be convicted of sexual offences and be repeat offenders

Do women commit more crime?

Typically female crimes are less likely to be reported such as shoplifting and prostitution than the violent crimes more often committed by men. In addition, even when women's crimes are reported they are less likely to be prosecuted

The chivalry thesis

This argues that most criminal justice agents are men who are socialised to act in a chivalrous way towards womenso are more lenient with their crimes being less likely to end up in the official statistics creating an invalid picture that exaggerates the extent of gender differences in rates of offending

Evidence from self report studies where individuals are asked about what crimes they have committed does suggest that female offenders are treated more leniently. Official statistics also support the chivalry thesis as women are more likely to be fined rather than sent to prison with women being 1/3 less likely to be jailed in similar cases compared with men

Evidence against the chivalry thesis

Box's review of self report studies concludes that women who commit serious offences are not treated more favourably than men and they also provide evidence that males commit more offences with men being more likely to take illegal drugs. The chivalry thesis also ignores many male crimes against women as only 8% of women who had been victims of a sexual assault reported it. Crimes of the powerful are also under-represented and these are more likely to be committed by men because of their more privileged position in the job market

Bias against women

Feminists argue that the criminal justice system is biased against women. Heidensohn argues that the courts treat women more harshly when they deviate from gender norms such as courts punishing girls but not boys for underage sexual activity and women who do not conform to accepted standards of motherhood are also punished more harshly because of stereotypical gender roles

Carlen argues that women are more jailed for 'underperformance' as wives and mothers rather than the crime they have committed. She found that judges were much more likely to jail women whose children were in care. Feminists argue that these double standards exist because the criminal justice system is patriarchal especially with **** cases where male judges have made sexist and victim blaming remarks

Functionalist sex role theory

Within socialisation boys are encouraged to be tough and aggressive and this can mean that they are more disposed to commit acts of violence. Parsons applies this to the nuclear family; while men take on the instrumental role performed largely outside of the home, women perform the expressive role in the home. This means boys reject feminine models of behaviour and instead engage in masculinity through acts of deviance. New Right theorists argue that the absence of a male role model in lone parent families leads boys turning to criminal street gangs as a source of identity.

However, this is criticised for its biological assumptions as the theory is ultimately based on biological differences which make women more likely to act the expressive role. 

Heidensohn: patriarchal control

She argues that women's behaviour is conformist as they commit fewer and less serious crimes than men. This is because patriarchal society imposes greater control over women in the home, in public spaces and at work and reduces their opportunities to offend. Dobash & Dobash show that many violent attacks result from men's dissatisfaction with their wives' performance of domestic duties. Daughters too are less likely to be allowed to stay out late so they develop a bedroom culture and so have less opportunity to engage in deviant behaviour.

Women are also controlled in public spaces by the fear of male violence with 54% avoiding going out after dark. The sensationalist media reporting of stranger rapists frightens women into staying indoors. Women's behaviour at work is also controlled by male managers and their subordinate position reduces their opportunities to engage in corporate crime. However, patriarchy can also push women into crime such as stealing

Carlen: class and gender deals

Carlen studied working class women who had been convicted of a range of crimes and argued that most convicted serious female criminals are working class. People turn to crime if they do not believe that the rewards for conforming to social norms are forthcoming and if the rewards of crime are greater. If the rewards of the class deal (where women who work will be rewarded with a decent standard of living) and the gender deal (family life provides emotional rewards) are not available then crime becomes more likely. 

The women had failed to find a way of earning a living as many had always been in poverty and lacked qualifications so they turned to crime to escape poverty as they had nothing to lose. Many of the women had experienced domestic violence and were in care so saw few rewards in family life too. An example showing this is Aileen Wuornos, a convicted serial killer whose grandad sexually abused her and became homeless with no qualifications

Criticisms of Heidensohn & Carlen

• They see women's behaviour as determined by external forces which underplays the importance of free will and choice in offending
• Carlen's study also only focused on the working class and ignores how middle class women in stable family ties also commit crime too

The liberation thesis

Adler argues that as women become liberated from patriarchy, their crimes will become as frequent and as serious as men's. As patriarchal controls have decreased but education opportunities have improved, women have begun to adopt traditionally male roles in both work and crime. This is shown with more women being in senior positions at work giving them chance to commit white collar crimes with a rising level of female participation in 'male' crimes such as embezzlement and armed robberies

Critcisms of the liberation thesis

• The female crime rate began in the 1950s, long before the feminist movement 
• Most female criminals are working class who are least likely to have been influenced by women's liberation as they don't have the opportunities to climb the career ladder
• She overestimates the extent to which women have been liberated and the extent to which they are able to engage in serious crime

Females & violent crime

There has been an increase in women being convicted for violent crime with an increase of 17% each year. However, evidence from other sources paints a different picture with victims not reporting any increase in attacks by females. Steffensmeier concludes that in reality there has been no change in women's involvement in violent crime and the rise in arrests has just been because the justice system has widenened the net by arresting more women for less serious crimes. The criminalisation of females is a social construction resulting from a moral panic over young women's behaviour with media depicting young women as drunk and disorderly resulting in the belief that women's behaviour is getting worse resulting in more convictions

Messerschmidt: Masculinity and crime

The concept of masculinity can be a way of explaining men's higher rate of offending. Masculinity is a social construct which men have to constantly work at presenting to others. Hegemonic masculinity is the dominant form that most men wish to accomplish defined through heterosexism and work in the paid labour market. However, some men have subordinated masculinities such as gay men. He sees crime as a resource that different men use to accomplish masculinity such as white working class youths. They have less chance of educational success to have a good job so their masculinity is constructed around being tough and committing crime to achieve recognition from peers.

Criticisms of Messerschmidt

• He puts forward a circular argument that masculinity explains male crimes because they are crimes committed by males
• He doesn't explain why not all men use crime to achieve masculinity

Winlow: postmodernity, masculinity & crime

Globalisation has led to a shift from a modern industrial society to a postmodern de-industrialised society leading to the loss of many manual jobs through which working class men were able to express their masculinity by hard physical labour. At the same time there has been an expansion of the night time leisure economy of pubs and clubs which has provided the opportunity for legal employment and lucrative criminal schemes as a way of expressing masculinity. An example is bouncers which provided paid work, drugs and a way to demonstrate masculinity through violence

To maintain their reputation the men must use their bodily capital such as bodybuilding to be more muscly and discourage competitors from challenging them. The signs of masculinity become an important commodity in their own right.