When the criminal justice system was established, the main objective was to create neutrality and fairness between the sexes. 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 look 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 be strong and courageous just like men. Society stereotypes women and the criminal justice system is no different. 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. Statistical evidence has shown that women do in fact receive lesser and longer sentences when they are convicted of the similar crimes as men; such as drug related crimes (Coughenour, 1995). Criminologists provide different theories that explain the differences between male and female treatment in the criminal justice system. Once of the known theories that are express by the male counterpart that make up the criminal justice system is ‘chivalry’. By definition, ‘chivalry’ is the protection of women. This term start... ... middle of paper ... ...t as me. As the same time, by being the weaker link, women have a certain advantage over men that could work in their favor depending on the situation at hand. Works Cited Anderson, E. A. (1976). The "Chivalrous" Treatment of the Female Offender in the Arms of the Criminal Justice System: A Review of the Literature. Social Problems, 23(3), 350-357 Coughenour, J. Separate and Unequal: Women in the Federal Criminal Justice System. JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014 Chesney-Lind, M. (1986). Women And Crime: The Female Offender. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 12(1), 78. Moulds, E. F. (1978). Chivalry and Paternalism: Disparities of Treatment in the Criminal Justice System. Political Research Quarterly, 31(3), 416-430. The Sentencing Project: Research and Advocacy for Reform. (2007) Women in the Criminal Justice System: Briefing Sheets.
Bibbings , Lois , and Donald Nicolson. 2000. “General principles of criminal law'? A feminist
In 1981 women only made up around 4 percent of inmates in prison. The criminal justice world is very set on race. For example in the book Criminal Justice a brief introduction by Frank Schmalleger, it says that race is so marginalized that even though in the united states population there are only about 13 percent of African Americans, African Americans that are incarcerated account for somewhere around 50 percent. This shows that African American women are more likely to encounter incarceration has opposed to white women. This is also why women’s prisons are study less than men’s prisons. Because there are less violent crimes committed in a women’s prison and there are significantly less women inmates than men. .However, this could soon change in the years coming if the crime rate in women keeps rising like it
Perception is not reality. The common assumption that the court system often treats female sex offenders differently than male sex offenders, the punishments of female sex offenders are more lenient than men who commit the same types of crimes, and the differences between male and female victims are all perception and not reality. Objective considerations to additional factors make the perceptions baseless. These additional factors solidify the factual differences between male and female sex offenders.
Crimes that have been classed as particularly “male” crimes are now being committed more and more by females. These crimes include drug abuse, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and murder. Girls also resort to punching, kicking, cutting off another girl’s hair, and burning with a cigarette as forms of assault (Carrigan 186-188). The 1990’s has also seen the rise of female gangs, especially in the Toronto area. Girls are seen as just as violent as boys and showing as little remorse. Membership attitude is less rigid since members can come and go as they please, and often include bored, wealt...
He claimed that the statistics seriously under-estimated the extent of female criminality. From an examination of official figures in a number of different countries he claimed to have identified certain crimes that are usually committed by women but are particularly likely to be unreported. Pollak went on to give reasons as to why there should be an under-recording of female crime. 1. He argues that the police, magistrates and other law enforcement officials tend to be men.
In a multi-mediated world, societies are bombarded with endless streams of information, the construction of which becomes central to their understanding and perceptions of the world around them. Stories of violence and death are eminently newsworthy, yet as this essay will explore, when combined with sex and sexual deviance, they become an even more dangerous and potent media cocktail. In an attempt to explain female offending, the media engage with leading and common sens notions of femininity and masculinity. () Here aggression is seen as a natural and inevitable form of male behaviour and thus deemed unfeminine where it is assumed natural for females to be docile compassionate and kind hearted. Gender is of great significance in the way in which the media portray female offending. Females are seen to have violated not only the criminal law but the natural law and where their crimes become gendered crimes, they are thus judged both socially and legally. () This essay will explore the significance of gender, through an analysis of newspaper constructions of high profile female offenders, namely, Myra Hindly, Rosemary West and Maxine Carr, in contrast to their male counterparts, in the UK. The instrumental role of this form of media, in sensationalising this relatively rare forms of offending will be discussed in relation to the choice of tone, language and visual images. Competing narratives of the ‘bad’, evil monstrosity, versus the ‘mad’, pathological women will be analysed in relation to in reinforcing gender stereotypes. This essay will argue that gender is the lens through which female criminal may be, judged, persecuted and alienated from woman hood and humanity all together.
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.
From the start women who commit violent crimes are all ready in the spot-light. Society has grown quite accustomed to viewing the womens role in violent crimes as that of the victim. When the women is a violator it incites a gross media fascination as a novelty. Convicted women gain more notoriety then men who are found guilty of committing the same crime. In certain cases like Amy Fisher, Loren Bobbit and most recently Louise Woodward the media celebrate the violence of women. If it had been a man who shot his lovers mate in the head or slashed and dismembered their spouse or shook a baby to death things would be different. The media would not give as in depth of coverage to the trial and sentencing would be of a longer time. The media escalates these women to such extremes due to the fact that there are so few women who are tried for criminally violent acts. Society tends to be more sympathetic to women who commit violent crimes than men. To this day Americans are still reluctant to put women to death. The recent execution of Karla Faye Tucker had the country in an uproar. This is because women are seen as less scary and less dangerous then men.
Women and men who live in the communities where wrongful convictions occur are vulnerable to becoming victims of some of the most heinous crimes. And, in the
Sentencing is defined as the punishment given to an individual who has committed a crime. Sentencing and punishment is nothing new to criminology and has been the pivotal part of the criminal justice system since it began; what is in question is how that sentence will affect the individual and the greater society in the long term; sentencing and punishment although a prominent part of the system has not received major change since the implementation of classical theory and may need so due to the current changes emerging in society. Females have often been subject to inequality within the criminal justice system in regards to sentencing and crimes committed. This essay will conclude which argument proposes a better answer to sentencing and punishment
However, other studies show that while this finding applies for men, it is inversely proportional for women. It has been demonstrated that the gender gap in crime rates is smaller when gender roles are less discernible (Loy and Norland 1981, Adler 1975, Simon 1975, Heimer and De Coster 1999). This means that females who perceive themselves less as part of the gender construct tend to resemble males more in their likelihood to commit crimes. Accordingly, cultures where men define their role within society in a gender-stereotyped manner show an increased tendency towards criminality, compared to women. These findings clearly point at the relationship between gender-biased definitions and
Feminist theories are a group of related theories that share several principles in common. Fourth, feminist theories not only attempt to explain criminal offending, victimization, and criminal justice processing but also combine theory with practice so as to develop more equitable and just solutions to the crime problem. First, feminist theories maintain that gender—the socially constructed expectations about the attitudes and behaviors of women and men that are typically referred to as femininity and masculinity, respectively—is a central organizing component of social life, including criminal offending, victimization, and criminal justice processing. Therefore, a third fundamental principle of feminist theories is to examine criminal offending,
In Meda Chesney-Lind’s book the female offender: Girls, Women, and Crime we learn that criminology has fallen victim of the “Stag effect”. It’s noted that the field of criminology attracts a great deal of men who want to address criminology in a scholar light. Although there are many females who study in this field, criminology as a discipline is primary composed of men. Feminists are now coming to the realization that since this field is composed of men, most of the studies and research conducted occurs on male subjects. The sexism that occurs within research has several repercussions, such a criminologist and sociologist adapting theories to understand human behavior, which implies, both male and female behavior. However, most research takes place primarily on males. This sexism is present in many sectors, but it is noted that men participate in prostitution specifically. Young men are over whelming present in juvenile delinquency data, as well as detention facilities. Many variables contribute the accuracy of this data. Many feminists argue that the “chivalry factor” occurs often, and alters the percentage of young juvenile woman committing crimes. The chivalry factor is when a female is treated more compassionately by police, and all together suspected less. Many would argue against the chivalry factor because they believe females do commit less crime because of the ridged gender roles give them
Contrary, women internalize their problems and avoid outward bursts of aggression (Brady & Randall, 1999). Far more often, women are likely to appear in civil cases involving childhood protection or landlord disputes whereas men are placed in criminal cases for robbery or burglary. (Nelson-Zlupko, Kauffman, Dore,
In England and Wales, the prison statistic as of 2013 also showed a constant rise in female offending from year 1995 to 2005, especially in the category of violence against the other person (VATP). As of June 2013, it was reported that 4.6 % of the prisoner population were women and 28% of the population in prison do fall under the age of 30 to 39 (Berman & Dar, 2011: 7-9). Likewise for Scotland, the increase of female offenders was also being observed, it was reported to have increased by 66% from the year 2002/3 to 20011/12 (Berman & Dar, 2011: 13) with particularly in the category of alcohol and drug offenses, shoplifting, assaults and breach of the peace. According to the data provided by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), more women in thei...