CHAPTER TWO

1
CHAPTER TWO

• CRITIQUING CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES

2
Invisible

• Criminology, it seems, is mainly about academic
  men studying criminal men and, at best, it would
  appear that women represent only a specialism,
  not the standard fare. Ngaire Naffine (1996)

3
Criminological Theories

• Explain why some males commit crime, but not
  females
• Implications of male only experiences
• Theories are about male crime
• Not really a general theory
• Why have females been left out?

4
Recent Changes

• 1980sfemales in prison tripled
• 19941 out of every 130 women were in prison,
  jail or on probation
• Research is starting to include women

5
School of Criminological Theories

• Traditional
• Strain
• Differential association
• Labeling
• Social control
• Marxist/radical
• Womens liberation

6
Traditional (late 19th-mid 20th centuries)

• Cesare Lombroso
• Biological determinism
• Assumptions
• Individual characteristics responsible for female
  criminal behavior
• An identifiable biological nature inherent in
  women
• Offending women are masculine
• Differences in male and female criminality due to
  sex differences

7
Traditional/Positivist

• Types
• Atavistic female offender
• Unadjusted girl
• Anatomy as destiny
• Behind the mask
• Have these ideas been put to rest?

8
Strain

• Strain theory
• What is it?
• Whats the focus?
• How strain is different for boys and girls

9
Differential Association

• What is it?
• Feminist criticisms of differential association
• Explanations of low female delinquency rate
• Why the increase in female delinquency rate in
  recent years?

10
Labeling

• What is it?
• Beckers research of jazz and dance musicians
  (1963)
• Gender differences in labeling

11
Social Control

• Types
• Social bond
• Power-control
• Social bond
• Types
• Who is likely to offend?

12
Research on Social Control

• Which attachments effect male and female
  delinquency?
• Impact of dysfunctional families on girls
• Study of siblings impact on delinquency
• Bottchers study (1995)
• Range
• Timing
• Pace
• Focus
• Peer pressure
• Physical differences

13
Power-Control

• Patriarchal v. egalitarian homes
• Which has the greater delinquency rates?
• Is this theory supported by the research?
• Connection between sex, social bonds and
  masculinity/femininity

14
Marxist/Radical

• Conflict theory
• Impact on understanding female delinquency/crime

15
Womens Liberation

• Emancipation hypothesis
• Assumptions
• Feminism brings out womens competitiveness
• More places where women can offend
• Battle of equality has been won
• Women want to behave like men
• Crime is inherently masculine
• What does the research show?

16
Biosocial and Evolutionary Psychological Theories

• Attempts to explain violence against women
• Biology a little sociological factors
• Why men rape
• Is this really true?

17
Feminist Theories

• Masculinity and crime
• Life course
• Feminist pathways

18
Masculinity and Crime

• Masculinity is the key
• How middle-class, lower-class and minority males
  prove masculinity
• How does gender relate?

19
Life Course

• Life events affect risk of offending
• Antisocial for life?
• Childhood antisocial behavior as a predictor
• Social bonds in adulthood
• Study of women arrested for violent crime in NYC

20
Feminist Pathways

• What is a pathway?
• The 1st pathway studies
• 1981 Silbert study
• Widom study of 1500 people
• 1992 Daly study

21
CRITIQUING CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES

• END CHAPTER TWO