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Feminist Criminology and Victimization Theory
Feminist Criminology
Feminist criminology theory proposes that social and ethnic structures that lead to gender oppression will increase the prevalence of criminality among the oppressed (Bernard, 2013). In most cultures, including the west, there exists a history of subjugation of women at all levels of society. The feminist movement in the United States and elsewhere accordingly sought to reduce or eliminate the power of these social, legal, and religious sanctions that relegated women to second class citizenship. This was the driving force behind the emergence of the feminist criminology model.
In support of the feminist criminology model, Bernard (2013) points out that some women within society have a higher risk of incarceration. In the U.S., this high-risk demographic is non-white, young, living in poverty, under-educated, and unmarried with children. There also tends to be a multi-generational history of drug/alcohol problems and domestic violence. This demographic represents one of the most vulnerable groups within American society, politically and legally.
In support of the...
Surprisingly, 54% were adult-onset offenders, a finding which contrasts with the view that criminal behavior for males generally begins in adolescence. Adult-onset women offenders were less likely to have a criminal history, criminals for friends, to use violence offensively, or to experience violence generally. They were, however, more likely to be victimized by an act of violence, such as rape, robbery, or assault than their younger peers. The main factor discriminating adult-onset female offenders from childhood-onset or adolescent-onset offenders, however, was that they were significantly more likely to be married. This too contrasts with the male offender research suggesting that marriage is protective against criminality. The pathways to incarceration therefore differ significantly between men and women, due in part to victimization by male partners.
Victimization
There…
References
Bernard, April. (2013). The intersectional alternative: Explaining female criminality. Feminist Criminology, 8(1), 3-19.
McCollister, Kathryn E., French, Michael T., and Fang, Hai. (2010). The cost of crime to society: New crime-specific estimates for policy and program evaluation. Drug & Alcohol Dependence, 108(1-2), 98-109.
Simpson, Sally S., Yahner, Jennifer L., and Dugan, Laura. (2008). Understanding women's pathways to jail: Analysing the lives of incarcerated women. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 41(1), 84-108.
Wilcox, Pamela. (2010). Victimization, theories of. In Bonnie S. Fisher and Steven P. Lab (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Victimology and Crime Prevention. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Adverse Responses to Homosexuality While adverse responses to behavior viewed as deviant is a common and sometimes essential element of social order, too frequently this tendency goes overboard, such that these adverse responses actually end up disturbing social harmony far more than the perceived deviance. This is nowhere more true than in the case of homosexuality, because not only do homosexuals continue to face adverse responses to their sexual orientation, recent
Sex Gender Sexuality Sex, gender and sexuality are issues that have been thoroughly explored in various field including criminology, psychology and sociology. The research has revealed important facts related to how sex, gender and sexuality are viewed in society. The purpose of this discussion is to explore Sex, gender and sexuality from a sociological perspective and evaluate the implications for criminology. Sex, gender and sexuality According to an article entitled "Sex, Gender and
Schwartz (2006), many arguments are presented, most of which generally criticize the Western treatment of First Nations people or address women's rights issues. As an example, "Aboriginal Australia: Current Criminological Themes" by Rick Sarre (2006) focuses on the affect of British colonialism in Australia on the Aborigines, connecting it to a vast overrepresentation of Aborigines in the Australian penal system. "The Left Realist Perspective on Race, Class, and Gender"
More recently, Miedzian (1991) has studied peer pressure, the socialization process, and military impact that has resulted in violence becoming standard behavior in males, and Thompson (1991) has demonstrated that violent acts are more often performed by males with greater masculine gender orientations. Another slant on this topic was placed by West and Zimmerman (1987) in "Doing Gender," that looked at gender not in terms of a set of traits
Critical feminist theory cuts both ways. On the one hand, people are less likely to believe that women have committed a violent crime. On the other hand, when there is indisputable evidence that a woman has committed a violent crime, she is more likely to get a severe sentence than a man who has committed as similar crime. The most dramatic examples of this occur when parents kill their
Questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=104546663 Duncan K. (1996) Gender differences in the effect of education on the slope of experience-earnings profiles: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979-1988. www.highbeam.com/Search.aspx?q=glass+ceiling+%20publication:%5b%22The%20American%20Journal%20of%20Economics%20and%20Sociology%22%5dThe American Journal of Economics and Sociology: www.highbeam.com/Search.aspx?q=glass+ceiling+%20pubdate:%5b19960928;19961004%5dOctober 1, 1996. Retrieved 18 February, 2007, from www.highbream.com. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5008547670 Gazso, a. (2004). Women's Inequality in the Workplace as Framed in News Discourse: Refracting from Gender Ideology. The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 41(4), 449+. Retrieved February 19, 2007, from Questia