Crime and Deviance- Gender Notes
Heidensohn observes that gender differences are perhaps 'the most significant feature of
recorded crime'. Most crime appears to be committed by males.
Official statistics show that:
Four out of five convicted offenders in England and Wales are male.
By the age of 40, 9% of females had a criminal conviction, as against 32% of males.
Among offenders, there are some significant gender differences. For example, official statistics show
that:
A higher proportion of female than male offenders are convicted of property offences
(except burglary) and of violence or sexual offences.
Males are more likely to repeat offences, to have longer criminal careers and to commit
more serious crimes.
Such statistics raise three important questions:
Do women really commit fewer crimes, or are the figures an invalid picture of gender
patterns of crime?
How can we explain why those women who do offend commit crimes?
Why do males commit more crimes than females?
Do women commit more crime?
Some sociologists argue that they underestimate the amount of female as against male
offending. Two arguments have been put forward to support this view:
Typically female crimes such as shoplifting are less likely to be reported. It is less likely to get
media attention than violent crimes usually committed by men.
Even when women's crime are reported, they are less likely to be prosecuted or if they are
prosecuted, they are more likely to be let off likely.
The chivalry thesis
The thesis argues that most criminal justice agents, such as the police, are men and men are
socialised to act in a 'chivalrous' way towards women.
The criminal justice system is thus more lenient with women and so their crimes are less
likely to end up in official statistics. This gives an invalid picture that exaggerates the extent
of gender differences in rates of offending.
Evidence from self-report studies suggests that female offenders are treated more leniently.
Flood-Page et al found that, while only one in 11 female self-report offenders had been
cautioned, the figure for males was over one in seven self-report offenders.
Women are also more likely than men to be cautioned rather than prosecuted. For example,
The Ministry of Justice found that 49% of females recorded as offending received a caution
in 2007, whereas for males the figure was only 30%.
Evidence against the chivalry thesis
, Farrington and Morris' study of sentencing of 408 offences of theft in a magistrates' court
found that women were not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences.
If women appear to be treated more leniently, it may simply be because their offences are
less serious. Furthermore, women offenders are less likely to show remorse, and this may
help to explain why they are more likely to receive a caution instead of going to court.
Bias against women
Many feminists argue that the criminal justice system is biased against women. Heidersohn
argues, the courts treat females more harshly than males when they deviate from gender
norms. For example:
Double standards- courts punish girls but not boys for premature or promiscuous sexual
activity.
Women who do not conform to accepted standards of monogamous heterosexuality and
motherhood are punished more harshly.
Pat Carlin argues that when women are jailed, it is less for 'the seriousness of their crimes
and more according to the court's assessment of them as wives, mothers and daughters.
Feminists argue that these double standards exist because the criminal justice system is
patriarchal.
Explaining female crime
Sociologists take the view that social rather than biological factors are the causes of gender
differences in offending. This is put forward in three main explanations of gender differences
in crime; sex role theory, control theory and the liberation thesis.
Functionalist sex role theory
Parsons traces differences in crime and deviance to the gender roles in the conventional
nuclear family. While men take the instrumental, breadwinner role, performed largely
outside the home, women perform the expressive role where they take the main
responsibility for socialising the children in the home.
It tends to be the boys that reject feminine models of behaviour that express emotion.
Instead boys distance themselves from such models by engaging in 'compensatory
compulsory masculinity' through aggression and anti-social behaviour, which can slip into
delinquency.
Because men have much less of a socialising role than women in the nuclear family,
socialisation can be more different for boys than for girls. According to Cohen, this relative
lack of an adult male role model means boys are more likely to turn to all male street gangs
as a source of masculine identity.
New Right theorists argue that the absence of a male role model leads to boys turning to
criminal street gangs as a source of identity.
Although the theory tries to explain gender differences in crime in terms of behaviour
learned through socialisation, it is ultimately based on biological assumptions about sex
differences.
Feminists locate their explanations in the patriarchal nature of society and women's
subordinate position in it.
Heidensohn observes that gender differences are perhaps 'the most significant feature of
recorded crime'. Most crime appears to be committed by males.
Official statistics show that:
Four out of five convicted offenders in England and Wales are male.
By the age of 40, 9% of females had a criminal conviction, as against 32% of males.
Among offenders, there are some significant gender differences. For example, official statistics show
that:
A higher proportion of female than male offenders are convicted of property offences
(except burglary) and of violence or sexual offences.
Males are more likely to repeat offences, to have longer criminal careers and to commit
more serious crimes.
Such statistics raise three important questions:
Do women really commit fewer crimes, or are the figures an invalid picture of gender
patterns of crime?
How can we explain why those women who do offend commit crimes?
Why do males commit more crimes than females?
Do women commit more crime?
Some sociologists argue that they underestimate the amount of female as against male
offending. Two arguments have been put forward to support this view:
Typically female crimes such as shoplifting are less likely to be reported. It is less likely to get
media attention than violent crimes usually committed by men.
Even when women's crime are reported, they are less likely to be prosecuted or if they are
prosecuted, they are more likely to be let off likely.
The chivalry thesis
The thesis argues that most criminal justice agents, such as the police, are men and men are
socialised to act in a 'chivalrous' way towards women.
The criminal justice system is thus more lenient with women and so their crimes are less
likely to end up in official statistics. This gives an invalid picture that exaggerates the extent
of gender differences in rates of offending.
Evidence from self-report studies suggests that female offenders are treated more leniently.
Flood-Page et al found that, while only one in 11 female self-report offenders had been
cautioned, the figure for males was over one in seven self-report offenders.
Women are also more likely than men to be cautioned rather than prosecuted. For example,
The Ministry of Justice found that 49% of females recorded as offending received a caution
in 2007, whereas for males the figure was only 30%.
Evidence against the chivalry thesis
, Farrington and Morris' study of sentencing of 408 offences of theft in a magistrates' court
found that women were not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences.
If women appear to be treated more leniently, it may simply be because their offences are
less serious. Furthermore, women offenders are less likely to show remorse, and this may
help to explain why they are more likely to receive a caution instead of going to court.
Bias against women
Many feminists argue that the criminal justice system is biased against women. Heidersohn
argues, the courts treat females more harshly than males when they deviate from gender
norms. For example:
Double standards- courts punish girls but not boys for premature or promiscuous sexual
activity.
Women who do not conform to accepted standards of monogamous heterosexuality and
motherhood are punished more harshly.
Pat Carlin argues that when women are jailed, it is less for 'the seriousness of their crimes
and more according to the court's assessment of them as wives, mothers and daughters.
Feminists argue that these double standards exist because the criminal justice system is
patriarchal.
Explaining female crime
Sociologists take the view that social rather than biological factors are the causes of gender
differences in offending. This is put forward in three main explanations of gender differences
in crime; sex role theory, control theory and the liberation thesis.
Functionalist sex role theory
Parsons traces differences in crime and deviance to the gender roles in the conventional
nuclear family. While men take the instrumental, breadwinner role, performed largely
outside the home, women perform the expressive role where they take the main
responsibility for socialising the children in the home.
It tends to be the boys that reject feminine models of behaviour that express emotion.
Instead boys distance themselves from such models by engaging in 'compensatory
compulsory masculinity' through aggression and anti-social behaviour, which can slip into
delinquency.
Because men have much less of a socialising role than women in the nuclear family,
socialisation can be more different for boys than for girls. According to Cohen, this relative
lack of an adult male role model means boys are more likely to turn to all male street gangs
as a source of masculine identity.
New Right theorists argue that the absence of a male role model leads to boys turning to
criminal street gangs as a source of identity.
Although the theory tries to explain gender differences in crime in terms of behaviour
learned through socialisation, it is ultimately based on biological assumptions about sex
differences.
Feminists locate their explanations in the patriarchal nature of society and women's
subordinate position in it.
