Question

SOCIOLOGY

Discuss the differences in offending by gender when it comes to violent crime and property crime, especially. How might gender stereotypes play into these statistics? And what theory of crime may best explain these differences and why?

This is an essay question, so please include multiple paragraphs.

Answer 1

• Females have lower arrest rates than males for virtually all crime categories.It is true for all racial and ethnic groups, and for every historical period. In the United States, women constitute less than 20 percent of arrests for most crime categories.
• Female representation has been greatest for minor property crimes such as larceny-theft, fraud, forgery, and embezzlement. Female arrests for these crime categories has been as high as 30 to 40 percent, especially since the mid-1970s. The thefts and frauds committed by women typically involve shoplifting, "bad checks" (forgery or fraud), and welfare and credit fraud all compatible with traditional female consumer/domestic roles.The same can be said of major property crimes (which remain less than 10 to 15%).
• It is clear that females are less involved in serious offense categories, and they commit less harm. Women's acts of violence, compared to those of men, result in fewer injuries and less serious injuries. Their property crimes usually involve less monetary loss or less property damage.Females are less likely than males to become repeat offenders. Long-term careers in crime are very rare among women.

• Female offenders, like male offenders, tend to come from backgrounds marked by poverty, discrimination, poor schooling, and other disadvantages. However, women who commit crime are somewhat more likely than men to have been abused physically, psychologically, or sexually, both in childhood and as adults.

• Theorists emphasizing the causal role of biological and psychological factors in female crime typically postulated that criminal women exhibited masculine biological or psychological orientations. For both males and females, the likelihood of criminal behavior is increased by weak social bonds and parental controls, low perceptions of risk, delinquent associations, chances to learn criminal motives and techniques, and other access to criminal opportunities.