patterns of crime: gender

Official statistics show that males are more likely to commit crime more than women. By the age of 40, 1in3 men will have a conviction of some sort, compared to the 1in10 for women. For every women crime, men commit 4. Men are more 50 times more likely to commit sex offences and 14 times more likely for burglaries Reasons why women seem to commit less crime: Sex role theory: The socialisation process encourages girls to adopt feminine characteristics such as being emotional, less tough and aggressive. Women’s traditional roles are housewife’s and being mothers to children- this makes women seem more likely not to commit crime because they are more scared of the consequences of committing crime because they don’t want to lose their children. Social control: Heidensohn He says that society is patriarchal therefore reduces the chances of females commenting crime. They are socially controlled in 3 ways- 1-      Private domestic sphere: responsibilities for domestic labour and childcare provides children with less time to commit crime 2-      The public sphere- women are scared of the physical presence of men and are scared of being sexually assaulted. Women also face the problem of losing respect, for example being called a ‘****’ 3-      The workplace- women are often the subjects of sexual harassment and aren’t given equal opportunities in the work place to reach the top jobs. This is called the glass ceiling. These are the reasons why women don’t commit as much crime as men. The chivalry thesis: this says the criminal justice system is more lenient towards women They believe women commit more…