WOMEN AND CRIME

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WOMEN AND CRIME

• DEVIANT WOMEN

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WOMEN AND CRIME QUIZ

• 1 NAME FIVE FEMALE SERIAL KILLERS
• 2 NAME ONE CRIME FOR WHICH WOMEN GREATLY OUT
  NUMBER MEN?
• 3 WHO WAS THE LAST WOMAN TO BE HUNG IN BRITAIN?
• 4 WHAT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS (REPORTED)
  ARE MALE?
• 5 WHAT OF FEMALE PRISONERS ARE IN PRISON FOR
  DRUG RELATED OFFENCES?
• 6 WHAT OF MALE PRISONERS ARE IN PRISON FOR DRUG
  RELATED OFFENCES?
• 7 WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE BRITISH NANNY ACCUSED
  OF SHAKING BABY EAPPON TO DEATH IN THE USA?
• 8 WHICH NOTORIOUS SERIAL KILLER DIED IN PRISON IN
  2002?
• 9 WHAT IS THE PEAK AGE OF OFFENDING FOR WOMEN?
• 10 NAME THE WOMAN WHOS PICTURE IS ON THE SCREEN

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Criminal Women and Identity.

• Are women becoming more criminal?
• STATISTICS
• 80 CONVICTED OF SERIOUS OFFENCES IN ENGLAND AND
  WALES ARE MALE ( SOCIAL TRENDS 1998) The
  figures are similar today.
• THE RATIO OF MALE TO FEMALE OFFENDERS IS
  CURRENTLY 4-1 FOR INDICTABLE OFFENCES (FOCUS ON
  GENDER OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS 2006)
• 55 OF WOMEN WERE FOUND GUILTY OF OR CAUTIONED
  FOR THEFT AND HANDLING OF STOLEN GOODS COMPARED
  TO 32 MALES
• PRISON POPULATION
• Male75,438
• Female4,445 (National Offender Management Service
  Data 2006)
• HOWEVER WOMEN IN PRISON INCREASES 175 since 1992
• GIRL GANGS ON THE INCREASE.

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SOCIOLOGY/CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL WOMEN

• INVISIBLE WOMEN statistically rare therefore
  hard to access.
• MALESTREAM SOCIOLOGY almost everything we know
  about crime is from a male perspective
• MALE DOMINATED CRIMINOLOGY (which often ignore or
  refer women to the sidelines of the debate)
• MARXISM- CLASS BASED
• FUNCTIONALISM- IGNORES GENDER
• SUB-CULTURAL THEORY- FOCUSED ON MALE JUVENILES
• LABELLING- TO A LARGE EXTENT IGNORES THE ROLE OF
  GENDER

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THE INFLUENCE OF 1970s FEMINISM

• GENDER FOCUS- WE MUST LOOK AT ALL ASPECTS OF
  LIFE THROUGH GENDER- INCLUDING CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR
• METHODOLOGY- WE MUST FIND NEW WAYS OF
  RESEARCHING CRIME
• THE THEORIES AND METHODS OF SOCIOLOGY.DERIVED
  FROM THE VISIONS OF THE SOACIAL WORLS HELD BY
  MEN ( Ackner 1983)
• CRIMINOLOGY EXCLUDES WOMEN FEMALE CRIME ON THE
  INCREASE THEREFORE IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND WHY?

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DEMONIC THEORY

• CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR IS BEYOND THE CONTROL OF THE
  INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY
• DUALISM IN RELIGIONS- EG IN CHRISTIANITY GOD V
  DEVIL
• EXAMPLE THE WITCH CRAZE 16th CENTURY.
• USE OF DEMONIC LANGUAGE IN REPORTING

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THE FLOATING WITCH
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NATURALISTIC VIEW OF WOMEN.

• ACCEPTABLE FEMALE NORM IS CLOSELY RELATED TO
  BIOLOGY
• WOMEN CLOSER TO NATURE THEY GIVE BIRTH,
  MENSTRUAL CYCLE, CARERS
• GIRLS SUGAR AND SPICE AND ALL THINGS NICE
• BOYS SLUGS AND SNAILS AND PUPPY DOGS TAILS
• THEREFORE WOMEN CRIMINALS ARE UNNATURAL /EVIL
  (MYRA HINDLEY ULTIMATE TRANSGRESSOR AS SHE
  KILLED CHILDREN)

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TRADITIONAL CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY

• BIOLOGICAL /PHYSIOLOGICAL
• BIOLOGICAL /PSYCHOLOGICAL (OFTEN RELATES FEMALE
  CRIME TO SEXUAL DEVIANCY)
• METHODOLOGICALLY FLAWED?
• LATE VICTORIAN PERIOD AND CHARLES DARWIN (The
  Descent of Man 1884)
• LOMBROSO AND FERRERO WOMEN LESS BIOLOGICALLY
  EVOLVED (ATAVISM)
• THE FEMALE OFFENDER (1895)- NORMAL WOMEN LACKED
  EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESS (AS DID CHILDREN AND
  CRIMINALS)
• CRIMINAL WOMEN MORE LIKE NORMAL MEN . A MAN
  ARRESTED IN HIS INTELLECTUAL AND PHYSICAL
  DEVELOPMENT
• CRIMINAL WOMEN HAD STRONG PASSIONS AND INTENSLY
  EROTIC TENDANCIES, MUCH MUSCULAR STRENGTH AND A
  SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE FOR THE CONCEPTION AND
  EXECUTION OF EVIL (1895)
• ATIVISTIC STIGMATA

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• THOMAS 1923 FEMALE CRIME PATHOLOGICAL
• SOCIETY AND SOCIAL DISORGANISATION
• CONTROL OVER WOMEN LESSENING AND DEVIANT WOMAN
  EMERGING
• THE PROBLEMS OF MANOGOM AND PENT UP SEXUAL ENERGY
• THE UNADGUSTED GIRL- AND THE IMPORTANCE OF
  WISHES
• OTTO POLLACK (1950s) WOMENS TRUE NATURE HIDDEN
  BY THE CHIVALRY OF MEN
• WOMENS BIOLOGICAL PHASES UNDERMINE THEIR
  INHIBITIONS AND FORCE THEM TO EXPLORE THEIR
  SUBORDINATION
• DECEITFUL, VENGFUL AND EMOTIONAL- HIDE
  MENSTRATION AND FAKE ORGASM
• WORK IN OCCUPATIONS THAT HIDE THEIR CRIMES
• CONTEMPORARY
• PMT (DALTON 1961)
• MOIRE AND JESSEL (1997)
• NOW USED IN CJS AS MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCE
• ABOVE THEORIES DENY RESPONSIBILITY
• BWS- RELATED TO POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER