Outline and assess Feminist views on crime and deviance. (50)
Within Feminism itself there are many different approaches to crime and deviance including Liberalism, Radicalism and Post-modernism. Each of them believes that crime, or the lack of crime, is a result of the patriarchal dominance in society. Feminists believe that the patriarchy generates crime against women whilst discouraging deviancy amongst women.
The official crime statistics show that men tend to commit more crime than women, and some Feminists would agree with this. One theory put forward is that this is because of the differential socialisation of males and females. Oakley argues that males are socialised to be aggressive, self-seeking and individualistic, which
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A major criticism is that most female criminals are working class and they have not been hit by women’s liberation. This can be explained in detail by Carlen.
Carlen adopts Hirschi’s control theory when explaining crime, which assumes that humans are essentially rational and they will turn to crime when the advantages seem to outweigh the disadvantages and are more appealing than the likely rewards of conformity. Carlen argues that the working-class background is fairly typical of female offenders convicted of more serious crimes. According to Carlen, working class women have been controlled through the promise of rewards stemming from the workplace and the family. She identified the ‘class deal’, which offers a decent standard of living for women who work, and the ‘gender deal’, which offers material and emotional rewards to women who conform to conventional domestic gender roles. In terms of the class deal, the women in Carlen’s study failed to find a legitimate way of earning a decent living. In terms of the gender deal, some had been abused by partners/fathers. They had gained nothing from either deal and so felt they had nothing to lose by using crime to escape from poverty.
This idea of a rational calculation of the advantages and disadvantages of crime runs parallel with the Rational Choice Theory offered to us by
In conclusion, “Mouse on a String at the Prison for Women” by George Caron is a fascinating account of life behind bars for female offenders at P4W. Discussing female criminality, one cannot stop mentioning their lives after being sentenced. Thus, it is important to look at incarcerated female offenders as a unique subset of the offending population and should be treated as such. This is why Caron’s memoir is important as it allows the reader to get a glimpse into how gender intersects with our understanding of crime and the criminal justice
Throughout the world crime is happening every single day. Yes, some people may feel as if the deterrence theory does not work. Due to the fact that crime still happens in the world. This essay will look at the support for the theory. As well as the key problems for the theory. Next, it will explain some of the newest directions in deterrence/rational choice theory. Finally, it will either agree/disagree with someone’s thought on deterrence and how it does not work and is a waste of time to study.
Feminists believe that there are clear differences between the crimes that are committed by each gender; although both males and females are prosecuted for sexual offences, they are statistically committing different kinds of crimes (Gundy, 2014). However a weakness of this theory would lie along the lines of being criticized for being too critical and dismissive of all other theories on crime and deviance. (Kriekan et all,
Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes, feminism as a word covers a wide variety of different types of ‘feminism’ such as, Liberal, Radical, Marxist and others. Feminism in criminology looks at the victimisation of women, gender inequality in both law and the criminal justice system, seeking the elimination of all gender inequality. This essay will look at the impacts that feminism has had on criminology. Feminism didn’t come into light until the late 1960’s before this there were many criminologist theories about why people commit crimes such as, the classical theory, positivism, strain theory and more; all of these theories had slight loop holes in them which over time with more theories being
Statistically women commit quite a bit less crime in almost every category especially violent crimes. Many people wonder why this is the case because we are all people and it shouldn 't matter that much. Though every year this doesn’t seem to change. So I will be discussing some of the reasons why this is the case in this paper and uncovering some causes.
Pollak (1950) elaborates further, offering a stereotypical, narrow vision of female criminality, suggesting that women who commit crime are pathologically deviant and as such, are more conniving than men. Pollak (1950) argues that women are believed to commit less crime than men is because they are so well equipped for lying, deception and trickery, therefore, when they do commit crime, they are rarely apprehended. Pollak (1950) claims that women’s ability to conceal emotion and fake orgasm is a product of their ‘natural’ ability to deceive and manipulate others, thus giving them power to entice men into committing crime (Pollak, 1950). Similar sentiments are echoed in the work of Cowie et al (1968) that suggest masculine personalities are prone to be aggressively dominant, thus when faced with methods of survival or need to prove dominant status, normalises criminal behaviour. In contrast, feminine personalities are ascribed with a submissive, docile nature. When women do not conform to these
Walklate (2004: pp28) appears to agree however notes a shift towards concepts of emotional stability and socialisation to explain criminality, the notion of the "sex role socialisation" could be argued as a starting point for this, in which Talcott Parsons (1937) directs attention to how children are socialised into society in accordance to their sex.
In Criminological Theory: Past to Present, Part IX talks about Feminist Theories. In the past, criminology focused almost entirely on men and their deviant behavior. Part of this was due to the fact that men were committing most of the crimes. Some scholars believed that women only engaged in crime because the biological makeup of their feminine nature had been compromised and was defective. This chapter gives insight on different scholar’s ideas and theories in why women engage in crime. Times are changing, women are leaving their homes and becoming more independent. This can lead to more opportunities for them to engage in crime.
Feminism is associated with ideas stereotypes, such as weakness, nurture, and “acting like a lady” (Steffensmeir, 1986). As a result, people develop this idea that women cannot commit crimes because they do not meet the “criteria” of a criminal. Females are not limited to the crimes they can commit and making them a female do not exclude them from participating in criminal activity. Some argue that women do not have as many opportunities to commit crimes because they are very cautious about what locations they hang at due to sexual victimization, which means they are less likely to get caught (McCarthy & Hagan 1992, Steffensmeier 1983). Overall, Criminologist need to pay close attention to the types of crimes committed, gender, and the background of the person committed.
Dr. Carla O’Donnell discusses Rational Choice Theory as the thought processes encountered when people engage in delinquent, (youthful offenders,) or criminal behavior. They have a sense that crime pays and this is the easiest way to get ahead in life. Such a criminal mindset does not consider the exact consequences of their maladaptive behavior. Criminal offenders use rational choice to commit a crime, and may perceive only the means to an end. These individuals take the time to think out a plan for the crime from start to finish and consider only an easy self-centered profit motive. There is no regard or consideration for victims or
Female conformity to abiding the law is an expectation which is instilled in society subconsciously; no one expects women to be criminal. The ideal image of a woman consists of her compassionate being, with no trace of potential to harm or mistreat others. Therefore in order to reserve this conception and ideal of females, when a ‘soft’ crime is committed such as theft, female offences are less likely to be reported and recorded. The social regulation for men and women contrasts, with the criminal law being mostly concerned with the regulation of male behaviours as it is males who commit more serious offences and therefore there are more men who are incarcerated than women. In contrast, female behaviours are regulated through the definition
Power is defined as the ability to do or act. Oppression is the exercising of power in a cruel or unjust way. Patriarchy is a form of social organization where the father or any man is at the top. Coercion is the force of power to bonds with others in power. These terms relate to the study of crime by addressing the fact that men are consistently in power and have an advantage over women. However, on the other hand, considering men that are in the lower class that have less power and patriarchy they try to create a sense of strong masculinity by participating in criminal acts.
Most criminological theories are created and based about men and the types of crimes that they act out on , as well written out by men . Which shows why female actions in crime and law system appeared to be invisible or not factional. As of now there has been time and attention put into female and the outward actions that cause them to face crime. And of course there will have to be more study put into with the statics that we are facing "there is an increase in numbers of women going to prison ". So as I read through careful through the theories that are in set and stone from the late 1800s there are three of them that quickly caught my attention that I will be expounded on.
Rational choice theory, also known simply as choice theory, is the assessment of a potential offender to commit a crime. Choice theory is the belief that committing a crime is a rational decision, based on cost benefit analysis. The would-be offender will weigh the costs of committing a particular crime: fines, jail time, and imprisonment versus the benefits: money, status, heightened adrenaline. Depending on which factors out-weigh the other, a criminal will decide to commit or forgo committing a crime. This decision making process makes committing a crime a rational choice. This theory can be used to explain why an offender will decide to commit burglary, robbery, aggravated assault, or murder.
The criminological theory that makes the principal thought out of the "High Tech Crime Operations" abhorrence program is the rational choice theory, and all the more completely the general deterrence theory. For this situation, the rational choice theory can be utilized for the repugnance program to lessen malefaction and in addition add to the program's adequacy. As indicated by Siegel (2015), the rational choice theory is built up on the origination that people can predicate their choice on sane estimation, along these lines demonstration objectively when choosing to increase either for benefit or delight. On the off chance that the advantage is far more prominent, along these lines the apparent hazard is small, the likelihood of conferring