Why Do Men Commit Crime So Much Recorded Crime?

Furthermore, another stereotype against women is clearly stated by Pollak. According to Pollak’s theory, men commit crimes to ‘protect’ women and because as he kindly states, “the instigation of women” is the reason why men commit crimes (Anderson, 1976). According psychologists such as Pollak, Freud, Rogers and Thomas, women only commit crimes because they are “jealous” of men and therefore develop certain complex such as the penis envy. In addition, these psychologists claim that women use their sexuality in other to achieve what they want, when they want it and however they want it. As a result, the criminal justice system incarcerates women longer than men even if they have been convicted for the same offence(s) as they counterpart because they believe that they are “protecting” these women (Anderson, 1976).

Theories that relate to gender norms as the cause of deviance of women take off from the view that the power relations in society which is dominated by men result to pushing women into deviant behavior through victimization, role entrapment, and economic marginality (Seguino 2007). It is the case that for sociologists coming from this perspective, gender norms bring about inequality. And such inequality plays a crucial role into leading women into deviant behavior. Studies have shown that struggling on the streets leads to other offenses and crimes (Chesney Lind 1989) and this includes prostitution and drug-dealing (English

This paper will attempt to analyze sociological factors, which explain societies propensity to treat women differently than men when they are accused of committing a violent crime, such as murder. Because we live in a male-dominated society it is believed that men commit most violent crimes. Some studies indicate that when a violent crime is committed by a man society has a more acceptable view of the offense. Because of gender stereotypes, women are judged more harshly by society than a man. Women are expected to follow normal behavior as ascribed by their societies current definitions of normal. Society views women as nurturers who are subservient to their husbands and devoted to their children (2008). The Andrea Yates case was chosen as the focus of this paper because it perfectly illustrates the impact of external and internal forces, which can drive a woman to commit a violent crime and societies reaction to those crimes.

There have been many changes in the treatment of offenders by the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales, particularly the treatment of female offenders. The handling of women within the criminal justice system has been closely tied to their social characteristics, and to what might be described as their ‘social construction’. On the other hand, women who compromise more than half of the world’s population, account for only 15% of criminal activity and as a consequence, relatively little attention has been given to them. This essay will explore how this has changed from a historical point of view to modern times, with exploration from cross-culture comparisons and an overview of the treatments of females in prisons.

#2 Discuss three different social patterns regarding subculture and crime, i.e., who are more likely to be perpetrators? Victims? Who is most likely to be incarcerated? What crimes are females more likely to commit than males? What is the “gender contract”?

The United States criminal justice system, an outwardly fair organization of integrity and justice, is a perfect example of a seemingly equal situation, which turns out to be anything but for women. The policies imposed in the criminal justice system affect men and women in extremely dissimilar manners. I plan to examine how gender intersects with the understanding of crime and the criminal justice system. Gender plays a significant role in understanding who commits what types of crimes, why they do so, who is most often victimized, and how the criminal justice system responds to these victims and offenders. In order to understand the current state of women and the way in which gender relates to crime and criminal justice, it is first

Criminality is still assumed to be a masculine characteristic and women lawbreakers are therefore observed to be either ‘not women’ or ‘not criminals’ (Worrall 1990, p. 31). Female offenders are hallmarked for tireless and inescapable coverage if they fit into the rewarding newsworthy categories of violent or sexual. It is always important to note the reason for overrepresentation of women criminals in the media. “Women who commit serious offences are judged to have transgressed two sets of laws: criminal laws and the laws of nature” (Jewkes 2011, p. 125). Such women are hence “doubly deviant and doubly damned” (Lloyd, 1995). When women commit very serious crimes, such as murder, they attract

With regards to female sentences, it can be seen on the one hand that the criminal justice system deals with female crimes more leniently than with male criminality, as referred to as the chivalry theory (Pollok, 1983). As many female offences are usually petty wrongdoings, such as shoplifting which makes up for nearly a half of all indictable convictions (Ministry of Justice, 2014), due to their gender, it is most likely that females are to be cautioned over receiving a prison sentence. However, this was not the case for Maxine Carr in 2003. A whirlwind of media interest surrounding Carr’s involvement, with the murders of two young girls from Soham, is argued to be the definitive reason as to why Carr received a prison sentence of three years, all for perverting the course of justice.

In prison, women are considered to be less violent than male inmate. This difference is not taken into account upon constructing prisons for female offenders. In fact, construction is based on the correctional model about men being violent. Each gender interacts within prisons differently as well. For instance, males form gangs within prisons. They act territorially and fight to maintain power. In addition, men are more likely to congregate by race. On the other hand, females look to form small families that are not racially specific. Women will fight due to jealousy. However, they are more likely to vent their hostility upon themselves through self mutilation. The way the prison is set up also creates a difference. Prisons for males dived prisoners via classification based on the dangerousness of the crime. In contrast women’s prisons generally allow incarcerated women to mix freely (Stuart von Wormer & Bartollas, 2011).

Since 1970, there has been an increasing and alarming rise 138 percent of violent crimes committed by women. Still, while the equivalent percentage compared to male violence is small 15 percent to 85 percent the fact that the numbers have elevated so drastically points to something changing in society.

According to Lilly, Cullen, and Ball (232) Feminist theory has been on the back burner of modern criminology until the late 19th century. As with the other criminology theories there are many thoughts and ideas on why females commit crimes. In the beginning the theories seem to revolve around the victimization of the female gender. Then criminologist took a look at female delinquency, prostitution, and gender inequality in the criminal justice system. Lilly (233) wrote that Lombroso used physiological traits to determine what type of women would commit crime. Lombroso also argued that the women that committed the most crime were more masculine then the women who did not commit crime. He used physiological immobility, and passivity to make the argument. Lilly (235) also wrote that Sigmund Freud believed the reason women committed crime was because they has “penis envy”. Since women were physical different than men, women would become more aggressive trying to act like the male counterpart in order to fit in with the status quo.

Despite the general consensus that the number of females involved in crime is continuing to rise, males are still the dominant gender committing crimes, especially for violent offences. This may be why there is a continued lack of research on female offenders using a gender specific approach that accounts for gender differences. Historically, female offenders have been primarily studied using a gender-neutral model comprising mainly male offenders. Although there is support that a gender-neutral model can effectively apply to both male and female offenders (van der Knaap et al. 2012), there has been an ongoing debate on whether the pathways and processes that lead to female offending can be successfully explained and ultimately applied to interventions and preventions by using theories originally created to explain male crime (Steffensmeier & Allan, 1996).

Females are said to be very emotional and if they were troublemakers at a young age they are said to possess “masculine traits and characteristics” (Siegal & Walsh, 2015). Males tend to commit crimes like robbery, assault and burglary. This has changed in the last decade. The rate of offending has decreased for males by 27 percent and females about 15 percent. “Girls have increased their

All feminist theorists share a common focus on gender inequality; however feminism can be described as a set of perspectives rather than a single viewpoint (Strider, N.d.). Therefore, challenging gender biasness in the criminal justice system from the feminist perspective can take many forms given the fact that there a lot of sources of gender inequality in the system. For example, the early theories of criminal behavior largely ignored gender all together and as a result the field has become largely male dominated and males have also been shown to commit more crimes than women on average.

Women have always been committing crime since the beginning of time or have been involved in some type of organized crime why that is? For the simple fact of attention or possibly wanting to be a part of something instead of getting abused mentally, physically or emotionally. Of course back in the day times were very different not like today where everything is very open of course women always wanted that type of security of love and affection because they felt like they were slaves always cooking and cleaning and always picking up after their children and their husbands so when they had a chance to cut loose they did but back in the modern days it was very rare for a female to go to jail for the simple fact