Feminist criminology is the study of crime in terms of gender for example why men commit more crime than women, why women do more petty crimes, like shop lifting, than violent crime, sexism in the court system, and female victimization. Feminist criminology contains many branches. Liberal, radical, Marxist, and socialist feminism are widely recognized, although other "strands" exist such as postmodernism and ecofeminism. Most feminist criminology involves critiques about how women offenders have been ignored, distorted, or stereotyped within traditional criminology, but there is no shortage of separate theories and modifications of existing theories.
While all feminist theorists share a common focus on gender inequality, there are differing views on the source of the problem and the ultimate solution. Liberal Feminists Freda Adler and Rita argued that sociological factors, not physiology, best explain women’s criminality. There is a strong relationship between women’s emancipation and the increase in female crime rates. As women become more liberated and become more involved in full time jobs, they are more likely to engage in the types of crime that men commit. Thrasher, a leading exponent of the social disorganization perspective, felt that girls and women committed less crime because they were more closely supervised by boys and men. These arguments lacked any factual support.
Most of the crimes committed by women were not related to improved labor market opportunities. Feminist research has shown many female offenders often are single parents and some maybe pregnant resulting in more females receiving lesser sentences rather than imprisonment, as the courts have the added responsibility of children to consider. As far as the c...
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...ney.” According to a study done by Schwartz and Pitts at Ohio University,” 70% of homicides happened between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. A majority of those homicides were done in low income areas. In the same study the average victim profile in household burglary is less than 19 years old, an annual income of less than $15,000, and renters living in a multifamily unit.
Works Cited
Siegel, L. (2006). Criminology. 9th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
McGrath, J. (2009). Theories of Victimization. Yahoo Voices. Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/theories-victimization-victim-precipitation-lifestyle-3180181.html
Hermida, J. (2012). Feminist Criminology. Retrieved from http://www.julianhermida.com/contfeminist.htm
French, M. (2010) Feminist Criminology and Integrated Theory. Mega Links in Criminal Justice. Retrieved from http://www.drtomoconnor.com/1060/1060lect07b.htm
Bibbings , Lois , and Donald Nicolson. 2000. “General principles of criminal law'? A feminist
Classical and contemporary theory helps to explain gendered crime patterns. The feminist school of criminology argue criminology and criminal theory is very masculine, all studies into criminal behaviour, have been developed from male statistics and tested on males. Very little research is conducted into female criminality, this may be because women who commit crime are more likely to be seen as evil or mentally ill rather than criminal, this is because women are labe...
Erin G., 2010, A Woman Doing Life: Notes from a Prison for Women: The Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Pp. vi, 202, Vol. 8(2)175.
... order to further understand female criminal policy in the years that followed and will follow. Zedner’s final claim of the book is, perhaps, the most valid: “It is only through historical research that we can recognize just how far these beliefs about women continue to inform penal policy today (p. 300).”
The rate of women’s conviction is on the rise (Van Wormer, Bartollas). The increase of incarceration is outdoing the conviction of the men (Van Wormer, Bartollas). Female defendants found guilty of felonies in State courts has more than doubled the proportion of male offenders since 1990 (Greenfeld, Snell). Male offenders are estimated to commit about one violent offense for every nine males; the estimation is six times that of women (Greenfeld, Snell). Women are held accountable for about 2.1 violent offenses (Greenfeld, Snell).
In order to demonstrate that equal outcomes for women do require different approaches within the criminal justice system, this essay intends to look at the behavioural and situational differences between female and male offenders. It will highlight the inadequate facilities available for female prisoners. It will also look at the historical differences between crimes committed by males and females and the growing trend of women involvement in drug offences. This essay will also examine the status of mental health of women within the criminal justice system and explore if this issue is more prevalent amongst female offenders.
According to Beirne & Messerschmidt men commit more crimes than women. With men making up 78% of arrests for every crime except Larceny, they are also more likely to commit conventional and serious conventional crimes. Especially in the case of white collar and political crimes, men make up a vast majority
Parker and M. Kristen Hefner write about how the intersectionality of class, race and gender affect homicide rates at a macro level of White and African American females between the years of 1990-2000. As well as using an intersectional framework, Parker and Hefner explore how the contemporary economic, social and policy changes can differently affect black and white female homicide rates. The study reveals many interesting facts and shows how intersectionality can change how we understand crime today. Firstly, it is found that an increase in resource deprivation saw a 27% increase in white female offending and a 39% increase in black female offending. Resource deprivation includes the declining number of domestic violence shelters available to women. Some feminist scholars have criticised these domestic violence services as being “based on white, middle-class, female standards” (Parker & Hefner, 2013, p. 247) as they do not take into account the structural difficulties that only minority women face. The fact that these services do not take into account the culturally specific difficulties that minority women face, some women may feel that their only option is to turn to crime. This can explain why the rate of black female offending is much higher than that of white female offending when they are deprived of
When the criminal justice system was established, one of the goals was to create neutrality and fairness between the sexes. However, during those times, women were not known for behaving in such manners. If a woman did in fact take part in any criminal activities, those crimes would have been blames on an individual that could of not fought for themselves. Even though people might believe that there is no such thing as ‘stereotyping’ in the criminal justice system, it is quite obvious that women are constantly being looked down upon because of their sex. In general, women tend to be treated like fragile objects that could break at any moment; the truth is that women can behave like men. Society stereotypes women; and, the criminal justice system is no different. When it comes to the stereotyping of women in the criminal justice system, society presents women who are indeed capable of committing such crimes as victims because by doing do they can achieve a lesser sentence or if necessary a longer sentence that will protect them from any harm.
Studies dating back to 1993 show that this has been true for over twenty years. More recent studies show that this disparity is still occurring today. We continue to see males incarcerated more often and for longer terms when compared to females. There are those who argue that gender disparity does not take into account legal characteristics such as criminal history and offense severity. However, studies have been conducted that do in fact take control for those factors. The same outcome is reached. Even with legal characteristics considered, female offenders are less likely to be incarcerated compared to male offenders. Theories have been developed as an attempt to explain why this disparity occurs. Some tend to favor the chivalry/paternalism thesis while others favor the focal concerns perspective. Either way, gender disparity is occurring with no legally relevant reason to explain it. The federal sentencing guidelines were developed in order to prevent disparity from occurring. However, we see that judges still tend to consider extralegal factors when sentencing. It is important that the criminal justice system follow the guidelines set in place so that all cases are sentenced in an equal and fair
Throughout history, certain crimes have been separated into different categories base on their prevalence. For every crime, the offense and charge is different. In addition, not every crime is committed by the same gender. Crimes such as larceny, fraud, forgery, and prostitution (Chesney-Lind, 1986) tend to be committed more often by women; whereas, assault, murder, trafficking, etc tend to be committed by men. When it comes to the stereotyping of women in the criminal justice system one could say that women present themselves as victims to reach a lesser sentence or that by presenting themselves as victims they will have a longer sentence that will protect them.
While most of the violent crimes that happens most are them are belongs to men, women have not been the wilting flowers promoted so heartily by Victorian adorers and (right or wrong) often evident in today's society. Before we get into detail about the fascinating phenomenon of the Black Widow, it is worth a brief overview of women's escalating role in the world of violent crime, particularly in the United States.
Historically, criminology was significantly ‘gender-blind’ with men constituting the majority of criminal offenders, criminal justice practitioners and criminologists to understand ‘male crimes’ (Carraine, Cox, South, Fussey, Turton, Theil & Hobbs, 2012). Consequently, women’s criminality was a greatly neglected area and women were typically seen as non-criminal. Although when women did commit crimes they were medicalised and pathologised, and sent to mental institutions not prisons (Carraine et al., 2012). Although women today are treated differently to how they were in the past, women still do get treated differently in the criminal justice system. Drawing upon social control theory, this essay argues that nature and extent of discrimination
Andrew Novinska pointed out in his article from 2002, women “have been viewed within our culture as less mentally healthy than men” (p. 105). The women in the 2002 study recognized that their own world is not safe, even being in prison. One woman was into the drug scene and was...
The Feminist Analyses Theory states because society tends to put women in more subordinate positions to men, they do not have access to the same jobs and opportunities (Macionis. 2015). Men are more commonly in positions and jobs of power than women, and make more money, therefore leading to the Feminization of Poverty. In 2014, the poverty rate for women was nearly 15 %, 5% more than men at the time (Anon. 2015). In addition, over half of the children living in poverty were headed by single mothers. The Feminist Theory argues that due to the high rates of Female poverty, and women raising children on their own, they are more likely to turn to less violent crimes for money (Macionis. 2015). For example, in 2013 women made up 41% of fraud arrests,