Women in Criminal Justice Test 1

Much greater research done on male gangs. However, emerging work suggests: • Wide estimates of the percentage of girls (from 9 to 50%) believed to be in gangs (based on estimates from several studies) • Delinquency and criminal activity more prevalent in male gangs. -90 percent of male gang members had arrest records, compared to 75 percent of girl gang members. -However, girl gang members more likely to fight when their personal (often sexual) reputation is challenged; boys are more likely to fight when the reputation of the gang has been challenged (which is never sexual).

Female Gangs

-The most support for Evil Women Hypothesis is at the earliest stages of decision-making (POLICE) - this is mainly due to the fact that most of the research done in this area dealt with status offenses, which disproportionately affects girls. -Support for Equal Treatment Hypothesis most evident in the middle decision-making stages (the decision to PROSECUTE, dismiss charges, and convict). -Support for the Chivalry Hypothesis most apparent in the SENTENCING phase (but, studies found this disappeared when controlling for legal factors).

Gender Bias at different stages of the CLS

Research should examine women of color in the context of offending because of their distinct life experiences.

Hard to do so because official statistics (UCR) often do not separate different racial and ethnic minorities.

• Greater research into gender issues in CJ (examples: domestic violence, sexual assault, & stalking) • An increase in gender and CJ courses (Like this one!)

Violence against Women Act (VAWA - 1994) responsible for:

• Michael Gottfredson & Travis Hirschi claim that Low Self Control (LSC) can cause crime at all ages -LSC results in children who do not receive adequate child-bearing (where parents do not monitor their behavior, recognize deviance when it occurs, or punish that behavior) -Delinquents, therefore, focus on the immediate benefits of their actions, without concern for their potential distal consequences (because they were never punished for such behavior early on). -Therefore, the process used in decision making is altered; e.g. impulsivity - delinquents have a "here and now" orientation.

A General Theory of Crime (GTC)

does not distinguish between sex-based and gender-based realities, which is prejudicial and discriminatory

A patriarchal society or mindset...

-Only for "deserving" women. What does that mean? --White, middle/upper class; gender conforming women. -Minority women (as well as female immigrants), lesbians, girls, less educated women, and those on welfare are among groups less likely to experience chivalry. -Suggests extreme bias (as always)!!!!

Access to Chivalry

-Cohen claimed that masculinity and their inability to live up to the "middle class measuring rod" drives boys to join gangs. • Boy's strain comes from employment and income concerns. • Girls concerned with more frivolous concerns (centered around boys): "dating, dancing, attractiveness". For Cohen, their strain has to do with getting married. -Problem: Ignores the fact that women join gangs primarily for similar reason as men (status, prestige).

Albert Cohen (1955) adapted Merton's theory to try and explain the emergence of delinquent gangs among boys:

-Concluded that women can be fit into two categories: 1. Bad, primitive, masculine women(less evolved) 2. Law-abiding civilized and feminine women -Criminal women are the former (biological throwbacks, or atavists).

Atavistic Female Offender

__________ to parents, peers, and school. The more attached, the more likely the bond will hold the individual back; e.g. delinquents tend to not like school as much.

Attachment

__________ that the system and its agents are fair. Lack of belief makes crime possible; e.g. if the police are doing it, why should I conform?

Belief

-More helpful in explaining female victimization such as: • Sexual victimization (rape, assault) • Violence against women and girls -Criticism: Focusing on purely biological models ignore the socialization effects of men and women.

Biosocial/Evolutionary Psych. Theories

Early research suggests strong support for the chivalry hypothesis.

But these studies did not control for offense type, prior record, or the offender characteristics

• Much resistance to women entering these fields (due primarily to the attitude that women are unsuitable because working with male offenders requires "manly" men)

CJ is, historically, a "man's world"

Perceived "caregiver" role of women might result in less severe sanctioning. Indeed, being married, caring for dependent children, and being a homemaker increase a women's chance of chivalrous treatment.

Certain gender stereotypes reinforced in the processing of women and girls:

-Sex-specific sentencing laws: Three strikes laws has a more negative impact on women because they are often sole caregivers. -Sex-segregated prisons: -Women prisons often have less resources than male institutions. -Women were sentenced to indeterminate amounts of time - until they were fixed (rehabilitated) since they were considered easier to change than men were. This actually resulted in women serving longer sentences than men for the same or less harsh crimes.

Despite the push for reforms in CJS benefiting women, many of these efforts have failed:

-Developed by Edwin Sutherland -Criminality is learned. -One's peer group significantly determines criminality. -Early research did not focus on girls' criminality. -Useful in explaining male/female delinquency crime rates: 1. Traditionally, girls lower crime rates may be because girls are more restrained than boys (they are more likely to stay home, have curfews, etc) 2. Recent increases in female criminality might be due to the "emancipation" of women in larger society.

Differential Association Theory (DAT)

Prevalence of drinking: • Males on average drink more than women Introduction to drugs: • For women, it is usually a boyfriend; for men, it is usually a male friend Reasons for continued use of drugs: • For women, it is "to act out," self-medicate; for men, it is "to be more masculine" or manly • For women: prostitution linked to serious drug addictions Selling drugs: • For women, it is likely due to feminization of poverty and not because of an actual drug problem • "Not all women drug dealers use drugs, but selling drugs is one of the few options many poor women have to make money," (Belknap, 2015, p.140).

Drug use and selling

• Relevant studies did not distinguish between age, race, or SES • Criminology theories were constructed by men about men

Fatal flaws of prior research and theory

Belknap (2007) rebuts this theory by claiming that it is really the "feminization of poverty" that is responsible for growing female crime rates.

Feminization of poverty- the increased number of women living in poverty

• Those in existence are questionable (a lack of training, vocational, education, & counseling programs available)

Few gender-specific programs for women in corrections

• How to word questions about sensitive topics like sexual victimization (example: were you ever forced into sex vs. were you ever raped?)

Focus on survey/qualitative data in Feminist Method

Pollak (1950) would later argue that women commit just as much crime as men, but . . . Women are better able than men to "mask" and hide their "deceitful" behavior.

For example, he emphasizes that women routinely hid the fact they are menstruating as evidence of women's deceitful nature.

-Males offend at rates about 3 times higher than females. • Males - 74% • Females - 26% -Females accounted for almost one-quarter (23.2%) of all arrests in 2011. • Female adults = 26% of all arrestees • Juvenile girls = 29% of all arrestees. -Result: the gender gap in arrests is less among girls than among adults.

Gender Differences in Crime Rates

-Women commit less crime than men, and their offenses tend to be less violent. • Thus, most crimes are "male-gender-related." -Crimes where women are strongly represented are "female-gender-related": Example: sex work (prostitution). -Crimes where women are represented similar to men are "gender-neutral-offenses": Examples: embezzlement, fraud.

Gender Related Offenses

Gender differences = clothing, wages, childcare responsibilities

Gender is a societal distinction

-Robert Agnew revised the Traditional Strain Theory -Concerned with broader types of strain (not just economic); applies to all SES classes. Goals may vary depending on race, class, & gender. -Allows for gendered responses to strain.

General Strain Theory (GST)

Women might be "better" nurturers primarily because historically they have been relegated to the home and socialized to be nurturers (a gendered difference).

Patriarchy leads to the belief that gender differences (e.g., the belief that women are better nurturers of children) are biologically determined.

-Per Thomas, women commit crime because they feel the need to be loved. • Ex. the prostitute="looking for love"

Promiscuity drives female crime.

-Females are significantly less likely to commit these types of crimes (close to 90% of these offenders are males). -Of the female offenders for these types of crimes: 1. More were likely to be addicted to drugs (although both sexes admitted to drug use). 2. More started their "career" later than male robbers/burglars. 3. More admitted to committing fewer burglary offenses, on average. 4. More reported less contact with the CJS. 5. More were likely to work with others in committing the burglary.

Robbery/Burglary

-Not much research here (of course). -But, one study found that suburban juveniles compared to inner-city juveniles were more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. This is contrary to popular class and race stereotypes (that inner city kids who come from impoverished homes are more likely to abuse drugs/alcohol.)

SES is a powerful predictor of entry in the CJS and their treatment by the CJS.

Asking household members about victimization and/or criminal activity

Self-Report Surveys

• XX = female; XY = male • Sex differences = body mass size, muscle development, difference in sex organs

Sex is a biological distinction

-Women and girls experience more constraints on their sexuality than men and boys. • Example: the terms "promiscuous," "nymphomaniac," & "loose" are rarely applied to boys/men. • Until recently, legal codes listed "promiscuity" and "adultery" as offenses and these were applied almost exclusively to women and girls. -Per Belknap, that attitude persists today and affects how women are treated and processed by the CJS.

Sexuality

1. Impulsivity 2. Preference for simple tasks 3. Risk taking behavior 4. Being more physical (as opposed to mental) 5. Self-centered component 6. Temper component -Women commit less criminal and analogous behaviors because they have higher self-control.

Six Major elements to Lower Self Control

• For Hirschi, everyone is equally motivated toward crime. -Therefore, asks a different question: Why don't people commit crime? -Answer: Some people are more "bonded" to society, which holds them back from crime.

Social Bond Theory

-Developed by Robert Merton -Crime occurs when individuals are taught to achieve financial and educational success, but may not have legitimate means to do so. • Thus, a nice change from biological determinism used as an explanation in previous theoretical work. • Problem: the theory focuses primarily on class inequalities, ignoring that women comprise the largest impoverished group globally and still they commit by far the least crime!

Traditional Strain Theory

Data set made up of the # of arrests reported by police departments across the nation (does not include the dark figure of crime - the crimes that go unreported to police; also does not report crimes where no arrest was made - insufficient evidence, etc)

UCR

1. Women are more likely to commit less serious types of white collar crime than men. • Likely due to women being in less advanced positions than men (women were usually clerical workers while men were managers) 2. 60% of convicted female white collar offenders committed their crimes as a bank teller (compared to only 14% of the men). 3. Men's financial gains were much larger than women's. 4. Female white collar offenders are more likely than men to commit their crimes as individuals rather than in a group. 5. Women more likely to attribute crimes to "family need" than men. -The gender differences in these WC offenses are so extreme that one must wonder whether the crimes of these women should even be classified as "White Collar."

White Collar Crime

The death penalty is given when the victims were white female/girls. White female killers are punished more harshly than other female groups because they generally kill other white women and those are the victims considered to be most "valued" by legal authorities - this suggests extreme bias!!!

White Female Effect

• In other words, it really depends on the data being used! • Official reports (arrest data) may reflect net-widening (aka "upcriming - what counts as violence has now expanded so people are getting arrested and convicted for "smaller" crimes), the nation's "get tough" approach to crime, and the feminization of poverty

Why the disparity?

• Silicone breast implants, birth control, "slimming industry"

Women also at risk of experiencing certain types of corporate crime:

However, looking historically at changes in arrests from 1965-2011 suggests convergence. (Here, female arrests went from 10% to close to 26%.)

Yet, self-report ("unofficial") data (considered a better measure of true crime) indicate gender stability and/or even divergence.

The lack of interest & opportunities for females is troubling given that...

since the 1970's their incarceration rate has grown exponentially (more than men's!)

• Pawn of biology • Impulsive and non-analytical • Passive and weak • Impressionable and in need of protection • Active woman as masculine • The criminal woman as purely evil

In understanding women in the CJS, we must be aware of typical images of women in society.

Primary survey used is National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

Victimization Surveys

-It's important to remember that this is not necessarily beneficial to women. -Could backfire. Under this prospective, women are viewed as children as in "need" of additional attention and control.

-The chivalry/paternalism outcome likely only happens to gender conforming women. -This is based on age, class, sexual orientation, etc.

Most people break the law between 15-24. -For example, 13% of all female arrests are committed by girls under 18 (compared to only 11% of male arrests).

Age & Juvenile Delinquency

Females significantly less aggressive than males. • May be due to socialized/gender differences. Certain acts of aggression affect women more than men. • Being called promiscuous is more offensive to females. It's also important to consider the context of the assaults committed by women. • Many reported that they did it as a reaction or response to aggression from their "alleged victim."

Aggression & Assault

-More specifically for violent crimes: 1. Women/girls accounted for 12% of arrests for murder/non-negligent manslaughter & robbery. 2. 1% of arrestees were female for rape. 3. 23% of arrestees were female for aggravated assault (this is their highest violent crime representation. -More specifically for property crimes, 1. Girls/women arrests made up 16-18% for burglary, motor vehicle theft, & arson. 2. Girls/women arrests made up 43% for larceny/theft (this is almost gender-neutral; equal to men.

Both violent and property crimes are predominantly committed by men/boys. Girls/women account for 20% of violent offense arrests (1 in 5) and 37% of property crime offense arrests (2 in 5).

-Non-sexual child abuse is long considered a female-related offense. • Neglect, cruelty, and abandonment • This could be due to the fact that they are primarily responsible for childcare.

Child Abuse

Putting women on a pedestal

Chivalry

_____________- to the future and what someone has "at stake" to lose by getting caught violating societal norms; e.g. delinquents know that life chances in the future are not great; therefore, not as much to lose.

Commitment

-Historically, extant studies have typically focused on white, middle-class women and girls. -Ignores the experience of other women—minority, lower income. -Push to study the "various intersections" of age, gender, and class.

Consider the significant amount of diversity among women & girls:

-People generally associate feminism with white women. -Just as gender is a social construct, so is race: • "Race is a socially constructed process that produces subordinate and superordinate groups," (Zuberi, 2001). -Focus: on the understanding of the experiences of women of different races (white women experience life differently than black women or Latina women).

Critical Race Feminism

-Developed to measure the relationship between childhood trauma and offending. (1989) -Widom found that abused, neglected girls were a lot more likely to have a criminal record (as juveniles and adults) than those who were not abused and/or neglected. -Violence is transmitted across generations.

Cycle of Violence Theory

Women & girls were usually left out of studies. If they were included, it was done in a sexist/stereotypical way (both as victims and offenders)

Historically, women and girls were largely invisible in Criminal Justice

-Women accounted for 10-20% of homicide offenders in 2003. -Evidence that number is going down: • From 17 percent in 1960 to 10 percent in 1990.

Homicide

-Until the 1970s, little research was done on the processing of women and girls in the justice system. -Push to change laws from "gender specific" to "gender neutral" -Example: rape laws (until the 1970's/80's, these offenders were only men)

However, despite this push, even "gender neutral" laws can still be applied in a discriminatory fashion. Ex: female sex workers vs. their male johns

-Female minorities often overrepresented in the CJS; however, it could be due to bias (e.g., minorities more likely to be arrested for the same offense than white women). • So, is it that more African American women are committing crime, or is it the discriminatory process that causes them to have higher crime rates?

In other words, discrimination may distort the statistics.

_____________ in legitimate activities (simply do not have as much time for illegitimate ones); i.e. "idle hands are the devils workshop"

Involvement

-Claims that society's label ascribed to certain individuals determines criminality. -If a person is labeled as such, they may just resign to this label and continue with crime because of the labeling! 1. Because of chivalry, fewer women being labeled (may explain women's lower crime rates) 2. The women's movement's might have decreased chivalry (explains the spike in female incarceration) 3. Because of entrenched views about women, women might be punished more harshly for some types of crimes.

Labeling Theory

Inequality exists because of blocked educational and economic opportunities.

Liberal (late 18th century)

-The women's movement has increased women's crime rate. -Adler & Simon differed concerning the types of crime that would be effected by women's "liberation" • Adler - violent crime rates would increase • Simon - property crime rates would increase; violent crime rates would decrease because there would be less female frustration given their new work & educational opportunities

Liberation/Emancipation Hypothesis

-Claims that life events (especially during childhood) impact the likelihood of a person engaging in criminal behavior. -Offending behavior is strongly associated with age. • Adolescence is a high "at-risk" age (due to puberty, peer pressure, stress of school). -Applicable to women because it considers their early life experiences and the events across the life course (marriage, abuse).

Life Course Theory

• e.g., giving boys greater access to sports, perhaps out the belief that sports are "too dangerous" for women, despite evidence that in certain sports, women can excel at better than men (e.g., marathons, swimming) • Results in girls not being able to become stronger.

Many times stereotypes arise when gender is seen as "immutable" or "inherent" or sex-based (i.e., biological).

• Inequality exists because of capitalist society (as private property evolved, males took over social institutions) • Capitalism profits from the low-wage work of women in factories and corporations

Marxist

-60's-70's -Claims that rather than focusing on the offender, we should focus on society (laws are biased and reflect only the needs of those in power and upper class - "Conflict Theory") • Wealthy capitalist men design and implement social policy that protects the status quo (especially the gender divide). • Capitalist economy negatively affects women (e.g., women make less on average than men for performing identical work).

Marxist, Radical, and Critical Theories

-Focuses on the impact of gender on women's & men's criminality. -Masculinity is the key to explaining criminal behavior. -Middle-class, white males can use their power (good education & careers) to provide for their families, but lower-class, white males or males of color have fewer options so they use crime to prove their "masculinity." -It is more important for males to show their power (how "manly" they really are) than it is to females. -Women who commit crime are, therefore, "doing masculinity."

Masculinity Theory

"Where theories of female delinquency and aggression have been put forward, these have tended to be constructed out of existing theories premised upon male experience," (Burman, Batchelor, & Brown)

Most criminological theories were developed to explain why some males, but not females, break the law.

-Cloward and Ohlin (1960) say the same thing as Cohen: • Boys join gangs to fulfill economic, social needs, whereas girls are more concerned with "frivolous matters." • Boys want to achieve the "American Dream" and legitimately struggle to do so. -Critiques: 1. Only applies to lower SES classes 2. Females also face limited opportunities

Opportunity Theory

• Men and women's rates of crime have evolved in a similar fashion; when one goes up so does the other, and vice-versa (figure 4.2 on p. 116)

Option A: Gender-stability

•The disparity in crimes rates between the sexes increases over time, with gender differences growing.

Option B: Gender-divergence

• The distance between males' and females' rates of crime is decreasing and their crime rates are becoming similar.

Option C: Gender-convergence

Difficult to say what is going on without considering the offense, demographics of offenders, and the extent of stereotypes surrounding the offender (is it equal treatment, chivalry, or evil woman?)

Overview of empirical findings

Protecting women who are seen as "week"

Paternalism

-Asks incarcerated girls and women to discuss their lives and attempts to sequence major events (like childhood abuse, school experiences, etc.) -Claims that trauma (especially in childhood) can set someone on the "path" to criminal activity. -Women follow different "paths" into crime (i.e. many women have a criminal significant other - usually male - who leads them into crime)

Pathways Theory

• "Social, legal, and political climate that favors male dominance and hierarchy" (Belknap, 2007, p. 10)

Patriarchy

Conducted between late 1900's and mid 20th century by Cesare Lombroso & William Ferrero, W.I. Thomas, Sigmund Freud, & Otto Pollak. There are 4 main assumptions: 1. Individual characteristics cause crime. 2. Women are biologically inferior to men. 3. Offending women are masculine (makes them as incompetent as women and are prone to law-breaking). 4. Differences between male and female criminality is due to sex, not gender differences (in other words, there is something wrong biologically, which makes them commit crimes). -These studies were very sexist, classist, & racist. Focused on wealthy, white, married women.

Positivist Studies

• Have to look at age/race/class of women to address inequality. • This is important because women's experiences differ based on these factors • Warns against Gender Essentialism- the idea that there is one unchanging "women's" experience that does not consider the differences among women that are based on important characteristics like class, race, and sexual identity.

Postmodern

• Expanded on Social Control Theory -Girls from patriarchal (more sexist) homes are less delinquent. -Girls from egalitarian (less sexist) homes are more delinquent. -Girls in the latter are more likely to be treated as male siblings, and thus fewer gender differences in crime observed here (more criminal)

Power Control Theory (PCT) - Hagan 1985

Inequality exists because of patriarchy.

Radical (started in the 1960's and 1970's as a reaction to Marxist)

• Oppressive attitudes and behaviors directed at either sex (however, it is predominantly geared towards women) • It results in discrimination and prejudice based on gender (examples: women are not as "good" as men; women are defined only by their beauty)

Sexism

This is a starting point for many feminist studies. It claims that "one's social situation enables and sets limits on what one can know" p. 18

Standpoint Theory

The recognition that: -Gender governs every aspect of a person's personal and social life -Gender inequalities exist in society -Methods exist to address inequalities

The 1st feminist movement began at The Seneca Falls Convention (New York, 1848)

Chivalry is more likely to occur when women commit less serious crimes; but, when women do commit more serious crimes (like violent crimes), they are punished more harshly than men (not the same, suggests support for "evil woman" hypothesis).

The less serious offenses more associated with gender stereotypes of female criminality (e.g., shoplifting); when women commit more "gender expected" crimes they are treated more leniently.

-Juvenile Justice System (established in 1899): -The process works against juvenile girls even though it was established to "protect" them: --Accused of more harshly sanctioning girls for status offenses. These are offenses that are not considered crimes if committed by adults (e.g. running away, drinking alcohol) --Girls charged with "promiscuous" crimes more harshly punished than girls charged with other types of crime. o Historically girls subjected to forced gynecological exams to determine sexually transmitted infections (STI) status and virginity (not a practice for boys).

The push to deinstitutionalize juvenile justice has resulted in a harsher system and girls are disproportionately affected.

-There are some stereotypes regarding shoplifting. • Although the typical offender is thought to be female, more research suggests there are few gender differences here. -Although most property offenders are male, growing evidence that women's rate of committing these offenses is increasing. • Embezzlement is a gender-neutral offense (50-50 split). • Fraud (41% of these offenders are women); counterfeiting (40 percent are females); this is coming close to being gender-neutral. -Conclusion: while men still dominate property crime offending, these are crimes most likely to be "gender-neutral."

Theft

1. Equal Treatment (or "Null" - No Difference - Hypothesis) -Men and women processed the same in the CJS. 2. Chivalry (Paternalism) -Women receive preferential treatment in processing because they are seen as in need of protection. 3. Evil Woman -Women receive more harsh sentences than men (e.g. punished for the offense and for not acting "appropriately").

There are 3 hypotheses to establish whether gender discrimination exists in crime processing (and if it does, is it against males or females?)

1. Presence of negative stimuli 2. Loss of positive stimuli 3. Failure to achieve positive goals • How we respond to these strains dictate crime (e.g., responding with anger might indicate antisocial behavior so delinquency might be the coping mechanism).

Three types of psychosocial strain:

• Still low numbers• Female leaders not recognized• Sexual discrimination still exists in the workplace

Title VII (1972) largely responsible for the increase in women working in the CJS. But,

• "To examine the extent and nature of offending at one point in time or - if conducted repeatedly - they can be used to examine changes over time," (Belknap, 2015, p.113) • UCR, NCVS, & Self Report Surveys can help us calculate crime rates per gender.

What are crime rates used for?

-Goes for arrest, conviction, and sentence length -Even though more males are arrested and given harsher sentences, this is only due to the fact that they generally commit more serious crimes -Still, some studies find cases where women are treated more harshly than men - which support evil women hypothesis!!!!

When we consider these characteristics there is, however, more support for equal treatment hypothesis.

Women kill their intimate partners at a higher rate than males (even though males commit much more intimate homicides than females). Again, evidence that women are committing less of these homicides than before.

When women do kill, their victims tend to be intimates (male partners - boyfriends, husbands, ex's).

Most research suggests gender stability. • Most women's criminality has stayed the same (although there has been a large influx of women into the correctional system), with the exception of less serious property crimes and drug offenses.

Which type of data do we use out of the options?

• Two of the most notorious cases are those of Susan Smith (1994) and Andrea Yates (2001).

While these crimes often receive a lot of media coverage, not much research conducted here.

• Mothers are more likely to murder very young children. • Fathers are more likely to murder children age 8 and up.

With child murder, national studies indicate women and men are equally likely to murder their children.

-Freud's "Penis Envy" view - after spending so much time searching for her own penis, she will become neurotic & criminal. -Klein explained women's criminality can be viewed as "turning to crime as a perversion of or rebellion against their natural feminine roles"

Women are anatomically inferior to men so women commit crime to be like men

-Per Belknap, they resulted in several stereotypes about women and girls' criminality. -Criminal women neglected to acknowledge their gender role might be the problem.

Women commit crime because of emotional problems, such as loneliness and sexuality.

• E.g., Sexual victimization, domestic violence; yet these victimizations are often not reported to law enforcement. Why?

Women disproportionately experience specific types of violent victimization: