Pat Carlen
● Feminist sociologist
● Women in Prison (charity)
○ Supports women who have been affected by their experience with the criminal justice system
○ Women who end up in prison are more vulnerable (sexual abuse, violence, poverty, etc.) →
need for different treatment from men’s prison
● Criminal Women (1985)
○ Critique of theories of female criminality (biological and psychological forces) → Show that
female offending can be just as purposeful and rational as men
○ Biography of 4 women who had deviant careers → give voice to those who are silenced
■ Challenge myths of the criminal woman
○ Situated within the context of constraints within a patriarchal society
○ Critique of the prison
■ Just as violent and control orientated as male prisons
What Do We Know
● Gender is the single most reliable predictor of offending → replicated on an international level too
○ England and Wales: Usually about 10-20% is women, but recently the 20% end has been
creeping up
● Product of gender differences
○ Social construct of femininity, passiveness, caring roles, etc. → vs. masculinity, aggressiveness
of men
● Gender interacts with other variables
○ Class: working class are more likely to engage in crime (more men than women)
○ Age: generally, as people get older with more responsibilities and age, crime decreases in
accordance
■ Girls start dropping earlier (assume familial responsibilities more early on)
● Petty crimes (theft: 3-male to 1-female)
○ Property and drug offences
○ Women more at risk of poverty engage more frequently in these kind of offences
■ Provider crimes - steal to provide for the needs of dependents
Myth of Female Criminality
● Women criminals are more masculine than regular women
● Women are double deviant
○ Infracts their normative standards of femininity → greater stigmatisation
○ Presented as being mad or offenders due to forces beyond their control → more punitive
sentencing rational because something’s ‘wrong’ with them deviating from their nature as
women
■ Carlen challenges this biologized/psychologized view
○ Tended to be controlled by informal control (caring roles)
Contribution of Sociologists
Lombroso and Ferrero
● Criminality was a result of evolutionary degeneracy
● Women are less criminal because they’re less evolved, less chance for activism
○ Nearer to their evolutionary origins because of their biological function in reproduction
● Offending population had different physical qualities
● Feminist sociologist
● Women in Prison (charity)
○ Supports women who have been affected by their experience with the criminal justice system
○ Women who end up in prison are more vulnerable (sexual abuse, violence, poverty, etc.) →
need for different treatment from men’s prison
● Criminal Women (1985)
○ Critique of theories of female criminality (biological and psychological forces) → Show that
female offending can be just as purposeful and rational as men
○ Biography of 4 women who had deviant careers → give voice to those who are silenced
■ Challenge myths of the criminal woman
○ Situated within the context of constraints within a patriarchal society
○ Critique of the prison
■ Just as violent and control orientated as male prisons
What Do We Know
● Gender is the single most reliable predictor of offending → replicated on an international level too
○ England and Wales: Usually about 10-20% is women, but recently the 20% end has been
creeping up
● Product of gender differences
○ Social construct of femininity, passiveness, caring roles, etc. → vs. masculinity, aggressiveness
of men
● Gender interacts with other variables
○ Class: working class are more likely to engage in crime (more men than women)
○ Age: generally, as people get older with more responsibilities and age, crime decreases in
accordance
■ Girls start dropping earlier (assume familial responsibilities more early on)
● Petty crimes (theft: 3-male to 1-female)
○ Property and drug offences
○ Women more at risk of poverty engage more frequently in these kind of offences
■ Provider crimes - steal to provide for the needs of dependents
Myth of Female Criminality
● Women criminals are more masculine than regular women
● Women are double deviant
○ Infracts their normative standards of femininity → greater stigmatisation
○ Presented as being mad or offenders due to forces beyond their control → more punitive
sentencing rational because something’s ‘wrong’ with them deviating from their nature as
women
■ Carlen challenges this biologized/psychologized view
○ Tended to be controlled by informal control (caring roles)
Contribution of Sociologists
Lombroso and Ferrero
● Criminality was a result of evolutionary degeneracy
● Women are less criminal because they’re less evolved, less chance for activism
○ Nearer to their evolutionary origins because of their biological function in reproduction
● Offending population had different physical qualities
