What difference does gender make?

Why do woman commit fewer crimes than men?

Why are women more likely to commit to social norms
compared to me?
Is there anything distinctive about a womans
experience as an offender and as a victim of crime?
Are women treated differently than men in the justice
system?
What is the relationship between crime and
masculinity.
Who Commits Crime?
Statistics indicate that men are more likely to
commit crime than women
In 2002 80% of know offenders (481,000+) were
men
In the past, sociologists tended to pay attention to
only males committing crimes and ignored gender
differences
This caused crime committed by women to be
overlooked in some cases.
However, this began to change when 1970s
feminists such as Carol Smart began to investigate
women and crime
Sex Role Theory
Argues that boys and girls are socialised differently resulting in
boys becoming more delinquent
More than one version of this theory
Edwin Sutherland (1949) stated that there are clear gender
differences when it comes to socialisation
1
st
, girls are more supervised and more strictly controlled
2
nd
, boys are encourage to take risks and to be tough and
aggressive
Therefore, boys have more of an opportunity and inclination to
commit crime
Talcott Parsons (1995) believes that there are clear and obvious
gender roles within the nuclear family

The father performs roles which show him to be more of
the leader and provider, whilst the mother performs the
expressive role of giving emotional support and socialising
children.
These roles are rooted from birth
Girls have a readily available female role model (their
mother) whereas boys have less access to their male role
model
Boys will be socialised largely by their mother and will tend
to reject behaviour that is seen as feminine as they
compulsively pursue masculinity
This emphasis on toughness and aggression encourages
anti-social behaviour and delinquency
Albert Cohen (1955) believed that if boys dont have that
readily available role model, socialisation can be a difficult
process
Boys can experience anxiety about their identity as a young
man and a solution for this is al male peer groups or street
gangs
In these social contexts, aspects of masculinity can be
expresses and rewarded
The idea of being tough and breaking rules can help to
conform to the idea of masculinity
Pat Carlen (1990) stated that a womans crimes can be
known as the crimes of the powerless as many women
who commit crimes are powerless in some way (no other
choice)
After interviews with 39 women aged 15 to 46 convicted of
various offences, Carlen drew on the control theory
Carlen stated that women turn t crime when the
disadvantages outweigh the advantages
The interviewed women turned to crime as a rational
choice
However, critics of Carlen claim that her sample of women
was too small to make such generalised statements
Her research also suggest that conformity to social norm
tends to break down when the rewards for doing so are
absent
Conformity and Control
According to Heidensohn the striking thing about womens
behaviour is their conformity to social norms
In mind of the control theory, women have more to lose
than men if they deviate from social norms
Looking from a feminist view, she argues that in a male-
dominated society the control of women by men
discourages deviance from the norms
In the home and family, women still have the primary
responsibility for raising children and taking on the
domestic work
Commitment to this also means they are committing to the
conformity of the traditional mother-housewife role and
socialising their children in terms of societys norms and
values
Socialised to conform
Girls are more strictly supervised and given less freedom,
they are expected to perform household duties
These expectations and control have been carried on into
adult life
As adults, women are not only controlled by their
childhood socialisation but also by their male partners
Womens socialisation, domestic responsibilities plus the
control imposed on them by men discourage deviance from
social norms
Crime and masculinities
Research into gender over the last 25years has mainly been
concerned with woman and crime as it was seen as a new
topic after decades of research into men and crime
Feminists would focus on women and men would enter
the equation in terms of the control
People are continuously trying to express and present their
masculinity or femininity
In relation to crime, you can say men commit crime as a
means of constructing this masculinity to express to others
and themselves
Mens position in society provides them with different
access to power and resources which lead to different
constructions and expressions of masculinity - and this
lead to different types of crime