This is my essay for Criminology. This is my intellectual propety and I would appericate it if not one stole it and passed it off as your own. Not to mention that is plagerism and can get you into a lot of trouble.
Outline and discuss the main reasons given for lower rates of female crime.
“…if men behaved like women the courts would be idle and the prisons empty
Wooton (1959)” (Cited in Pond, 1999)
In this essay I am going to outline and discuss the reasons for lower rates of crime committed by females. There are several explanations for why women commit crime and why there are lower rates of crime. It has been generally believed that males will commit more crimes compared to females, and these crimes committed by females tend to relatively less serious than those committed by men (Pond, 1999). Females often commit crimes such as shoplifting, prostitution and perjury, crimes that can be argued, were committed to keep the family unit running. Though the numbers of females being imprisoned is fairly low, it has been increasing. In 1993 there number of women in prison on average was 1560. It then rose to around 4463 women in prison in June 2006. In June 2006 the number of women in prison only accounted for 5.7% of the prison population of England and Wales (hmprisonservice, n.d.).
However Otto Pollak (1950, cited in Pond, 1999) argued that the statistics on female crime were misleading because the crimes committed were under recorded. He stated that because the justice system is male dominated and taught to be chivalrous, that they are more lenient on women because of the chivalry trait they possess. With the men within the justice system being chivalrous and lenient towards female offenders, highlights the inequality in the system. If the justice system was female dominated it may not be so lenient towards men.
Pollak also believe that females were much more deceitful than males. Females are able to conceal their menstruation cycle and fake orgasms so they would be more able to hide their crimes. Though, the idea of women being able to hide crimes may work better for some crimes such as shop lifting than for others such as murder or assault. Women have the means to hide certain things in shop lifting easier than men do and people would not expect her to shop lift, especially if she has a pram with her. It could be argued that courts and police may not take female crime seriously, by arguing that she committed the crime for attention or because there is something wrong with her that is making her do the crime.
In the 1980’s there was a theory that argued that women could not be held responsible for their actions because of pre-menstrual tension. It was argued that pre-menstrual tension caused women to act irrational thus acting like they would not normally act (Moore, 1996).
Crimes committed by women may also go unreported because the victim might feel too embarrassed to report it, partially if the victim is male (law.jrank, n.d.). The male victim may be embarrassed and may feel that they may not be taken seriously because they were not in the position of power which is stereotypically held by a man. He may feel that he would get laughed at or treated differently to a woman if she was the victim to the same crime. Pollak (1950) found that prostitution and shoplifting weren’t often reported to the police thus just went unnoticed and did not become a reported statistic (cited in Moore 1996). Figures from The British Crime Survey (Cited in Moore, 2001) show that out of all crimes committed, 44% of all crimes were reported to the police and 24% of all crimes were recorded by the police. This leaves 32 % of crimes unaccounted for. These crimes could have been committed by women and were disregarded by the police or were just never mentioned against once committed.
There were few studies done on female crime traditionally and they mostly concentrated on discovering the difference between deviant and none deviant women. It had been assumed at the time that women were naturally less likely to commit crime in comparison to men. However, contemporary sociological theories have suggested four areas that may suggest why females commit relatively few crimes compared to males. (Moore, 1996). These four areas are:
• Different socialisation
• Stricter social control
• Fewer opportunities for women to commit crime
• Economic marginalisation.
Out of the four areas, economic marginalisation is to be what generates crime within women whilst the first three are suggestions about constraints on female crime.
When have few opportunities compared to men to plan intricate criminal plans unlike men. It is easier a woman to pick up a loaf of bread in a supermarket and hide it in a pram. It’s difficult to plan rob someone in the street whilst pushing a pram, but if a woman did manage to do it then no one would suspect her of doing the crime. People would perceive her as being naturally more law abiding than a man is perceived as less naturally law abiding, Heidensohn (cited in Moore, 2001). Women may also not hold the skills to be able to commit certain crimes whilst men o. For example, they may not have the technical knowledge to steal a car because they have no mechanical knowledge; they may not be able to commit an attack another computer with a virus because they don’t have any knowledge of computers and programming.
It has been stated by Chapman (1980, cited in Moore, 1996) that part of the reason for the increase in woman stealing is to do with social class. She stated that the women who are stealing form the bulk of the poor. This could be because they could not afford to provide completely for their families and had to result to other means to provide. Or it could be steamed from status frustration, the criminal could be stealing to give herself the illusion of having a better lifestyle and possibly create better opportunities for herself. In either case, the crime may not be reported because of possible implications to the business and the may not want the hassle of dealing with the police who may not find who did the crime. However after stealing, fraud is the second most common offence committed by women which may also be for the same reason.
In conclusion, there are several reasons for the lower rates in crime committed by females than males. The main reasons are fewer opportunities for women to commit crime because of either a lack of knowledge or previous commitments such as a family. Economic marginalisation is a second reason that could explain why there is a lower rate of female crime; they could be stealing to support a family. Though Economic marginalisation could also be a part of status frustration. The criminal could be rebelling against their social class by obtaining status symbols and that are above and beyond their means. Pollak’s theory of the statistics on female crime being misleading, could be the main reason for the lower rate of female crime. The statistics from The British Crime Survey does support Pollack’s theory as there are 32% of all crimes that were not reported to the police or recorded by the police which leaves it unknown to who committed these crimes. If these crimes were committed by women, then it could be because the victim was scared or embarrassed about what had happened.
In my opinion, it could be argued that the lower rates for female crime is because women are much more devious than men as they are to hide things easier from their partners and families, which is part of Pollak’s theory but there is not any statistical evidence to support the theory. In today’s society, Chapman’s theory of stealing was to do with social class is much more relevant to how we now live. We have become a society obsessed with status symbols even if they are above our means. Even though we are a modernised society we still have some of our old stereotypical views, especially when it comes to women; which could make it easier for women to get away with crimes and they are seen as being unable to do the crime they did for a number of reasons. With number of unreported crimes, it is unfair to rely on the statistics completely to claim that there are less females committing crimes than men as all the unreported crimes might be committed by women who could give women the higher amount of crimes committed.
References
Hms prison service, n.d. Female prisoners.[online] http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/adviceandsupport/prison_life/femaleprisoners/ [Accessed 6th March 2011]
Pond, R, 1999. Introduction to Criminology. Winchester, Waterside Press.
Law.jrank, n.d. Gender crime explaining female offending [online] http://law.jrank.org/pages/1251/Gender-Crime-Explaining-female-offending.html [Accessed 7th March 2011]
Moore, S, 1996. Investigating Crime and Deviance. Second edition, London, HaperCollins Publishers ltd.
Moore, S, 2001. Sociology Alive! Third edition, Chr;tenham, Nelson Thornes Ltd.
