Why Women In CJS?

Below are the questions for your first major overview assignment. The readings, questions, and quizzes for this module will assist you understanding how and why the rise in the study of women entering jail/prison and as offenders in general is important to the study of crime and criminology.

As with all assignments for this and other courses, you are expected to write in full and complete sentences unless prompted to only list specific items for a response. You are also expected to proofread for spelling and grammatical errors before submission for ease of reading and comprehension. Lastly, you are expected to always write discussion responses in your own words, do not copy and paste from the articles.

The readings needed for this assignment are located in the readings section of the module.

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1. According to the Introductory chapter titled, “Women, Gender, and Crime,” the terms sex and gender are different and should be treated as such. First, discuss how the two terms are different as they relate to women and prison. Second, do you agree or disagree with their description of the two terms? Discuss why or why not you agree or disagree and provide your own (add another besides the one given) example of how to describe the difference (or no difference) between the two terms.
2. According to the same paper, why were the 1960’s and 1970’s so significant to women? More specifically, how did these two decades impact the study of women and crime?
3. The significance of feminist criminology in and of itself as a field of criminology can not be ignored, because “without the rise of feminism,” we probably would not see scholars and government agencies concerned with what type of issues often related to women? List these issues/crimes?
4. The same book chapter also highlights the role of women in the ASC. What is the ASC and what role did women play in changing the outlook of the organization as it pertained to women? In your discussion, make certain to list the top five topic areas that helped to shift the focus of some of the discussion on crime to that of women.
5. According to the Sentencing Project’s overview of Women in the CJS (see women’s pathway to crime in module), the growth of women under correctional supervision has increased dramatically. What are three (3) major issues highlighted by the authors as key influences to this rise in women in the CJS? List the three items and then briefly discuss if and how any of these items were also presented in the book chapter (Women, Gender, and Crime) as key influences to women being jailed and incarcerated.
6. Now turning to the “women’s pathway to crime” article linked in the module. They begin by introducing some of the major research that links certain key life events to women’s being introduction to crime. List all of the items mentioned.
7. For the author, Smith, she is most concerned with the actual timing of traumatic events and women’s intro to the criminal justice system. Therefore, please discuss her main hypothesis, her main independent variable (tell me what it is and how it is measured), and the role of this independent variable as it relates to one’s

   Gender and Crime

    

    

   Introduction

   ◼ Carol Smart put forward a number of reasons why research on women and crime has been limited.

   ◼ Women tend to commit fewer crimes than men, so female offenders are seen as less of a problem for society.

   ◼ Most crimes committed by women seem to be of a comparatively trivial nature

    

    

   Introduction

   And may therefore be considered unworthy of research.

   ◼ Sociology and criminology have both tended to be dominated by males. In the main they have been studied by men and the studies have been about men.

   ◼ Traditional criminology is motivated by a desire to control behaviour that is

    

    

   Introduction

   Regarded as problematic. Since women’s criminality has been seen as much less problematic than men’s, it has received correspondingly less attention.

    

    

   The causes of female crime and deviance:

   ◼ There are three major approaches to

   explaining the relationship between

   women and offending:

   1. Biological & Physiological explanations

   2. Sex-role theory

   3. Transgression

    

    

   Biological explanations

   This approach has been used by different writers to explain why the overwhelming bulk of women do not offend and conversly why a small minority do. It starts from the belief that women are innately different from men, with a natural desire to be caring and nurturing – both of which tend not to be values that support crime. ‘Normal’ women are therefore less likely to commit crime.

    

    

   Biological explanations

   On the other hand, some women writers such as Dalton (1964) have claimed that hormonal or menstrual factors can influence this minority of women to commit crime in certain circumstances.

   Physiological: Lombroso was primarily concerned with comparing anatomical features of female criminals and non- criminals.

    

    

   Biological explanations

   For example he reported data comparing

   brains and skulls, the width of cheekbones,

   size of jaws and even the size of the thighs

   of prostitutes and ‘normal women’.

   His overall argument was that rather than

   being the cause of female criminality,

   biology tends to prevent women from

   becoming criminal.

    

    

   Biological explanations

   When writing about male crime, Lombroso had suggested that criminals could be identified through the presence of ‘stigmata’ or physical abnormalities, such as having an extra nipple or toe. Lombroso and Ferrero (1895 found few examples of such abnormalities amongst female criminals. To them this meant that most female offenders were not true, biological, criminals.

    

    

   Sex-role theory

   Sex-role theory argues that women are less likely to commit crime than men because there are core elements of the female role that limit their ability and opportunity to do so. There are a number of different versions, all of which can fit quite comfortably together.

   ◼ Socialization: according to this approach, girls are socialised differently to boys.

    

    

   Sex-role theory

   The values that girls are brought up to hold are those that simply do not lead to crime. Parsons (1937) argues for instance, that the most child rearing is carried out by mothers, girls have a clear role-model to follow that emphasises caring support.

   ◼ Social Control: Females are less likely to commit crime because of the closer levels of supervision that they are subjected to at

    

    

   Sex-role theory

   At home in childhood. This control carries on throughout life, with the role of women being more constrained than that of males.

   Lack of opportunities: in order to commit crime, a person needs to have the opportunity to do so. The narrow range of roles that women are allowed have consequently limits their opportunities to commit crime, as they are more confined by their socialisation and social control than men. The result of these

    

    

   Sex-role theory

   three influences on the lives of females, is to

   deflect them away from offending and

   towards conformity.

    

    

   Transgression

   ◼ This theory stems from the fact that feminist sociologists as they felt that they were not really adequate explanations for the differences between male and female causes for offending.

   ◼ Carol Smart (1990) introduced the idea of transgressive criminology. By this, Smart was suggesting that criminology itself as a discipline was tied to male questions and

    

    

   Transgression

   Concerns and that it could never offer

   answers to feminist questions.

   Transgression in the feminist sense of the

   word is used to describe going beyond the

   boundaries of criminology.

   Transgression is a good example of

   postmodern influence in sociology.