1. (they are doing it – just getting let off!)
EXPLANATION
KEY ARGUMENT/POINTS/
THINKERS
CRITIQUE
Chivalry thesis
(they are doing it – just getting let off!)
Police/courts are mainly men – raised to be chivalrous to women
Pollack – men don’t like to accuse women
Police let women off (Mott/Kalven & Zaesel)
Self-report studies show more women do crime (Graham and Bowling)
Flood-Page found that women who had admitted to committing crimes were less likely to be charged compared to men
Women are cautioned more than men
Hood found that women in court were 1/3 less likely to be imprisoned compared to men
Farrington & Morris – women are not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences
Buckle & Farrington – observed shoplifting – more men doing it than women (but crime stats show male /females about equal)..so more men are getting away with it
Women may be treated more leniently as offences are less serious
Box – women who commit serious crimes are not treated leniently
Women more likely to show remorse so more likely to get a caution
Heidensohn – courts treat women more harshly than men for deviating from their gender role
Heidensohn – double standards = courts punish ‘wayward’ girls – promiscuous sexual activity..but not boys.
Carlen – ‘women are assessed more in terms of being wives, mothers and daughters’ . Less conventional girls are punished harsher
Women who are ‘stereotypical’ matching role/expectations = leniency
Criminal justice system is patriarchal
Smart – rape cases and judging the victim as to blame!
Walklate – rape victims have to prove their respectability

2. (trapped and monitored)
EXPLANATION
KEY ARGUMENT/POINTS/
THINKERS
CRITIQUE
Sex role theory
(socialisation)
Parsons
Socialisation – gender role
Girls not develop deviant values
Crimes = extension of roles
Girls follow female role model – caring/gentle
Walklate – too much biological assumption that women are gentle/maternal etc
Control theory
(trapped and monitored)
Heidensohn (1985)
Women conform – controlled by patriarchal society and reduces opportunity to offend
Home – nuclear family- prison
Gender expectation = housewife role
Domestic violence as control if they fail (Dobash and Dobash)
Men control finances – limit wives’ activities
Daughters – monitored - McRobbie & Garber (bedroom culture)
Public – women fear sexual violence/stay home
Fear of bad reputation (Lees) – boys control girls with such judgements
Women’s opportunities outside home – independence (liberation theory)
Modern relationships are more equal
Many couples are now dual workers
More people divorce if relationship unequal
More policing of domestic violence
Changing role/identity of girls – ladette – less fear in public
Greater sexual freedom and definitions like ‘slag’ are less potent
Poverty/
Marginalisation
(frustration from failed promises)
Carlen (1988)
Promise of reward – class/gender deal (conform to femininity = reward)
W/c women – not liberated
Class deal = if work – promised material rewards and decent standard of living
Gender deal = material/emotional rewards – good family life if fulfil expectations
If no reward – frustrated/cheated – choose crime
Many w/c women in poverty (failed class deal)
Gender deal failed – poor family life/abuse/ domestic violence – gave up on this path
Many turned to drug/alcohol addiction/craved excitement = criminal behaviour attractive
Too much focus on male control of the class/gender deal – this undermines importance of free will/choice
Carlen sample was very small - unrepresentative

3. (changing role of women = more opportunity for women do be criminal)
EXPLANATION
KEY ARGUMENT/POINTS/
THINKERS
CRITIQUE
Liberationist Theory
(changing role of women = more opportunity for women do be criminal)
Changing role of women
Higher paid jobs
More public presence
Adler
Changing structure of society = increased female crime
Less control of them by men
More masculine roles – in work and crime
Be in control/independent/look hard
Greater self-confidence and assertiveness
More women in white-collar jobs (fraud convictions for women have increased)
Westwood
Identities reconstructed – no longer traditional role
Recent growth of ladette/girl gangs – risk taking behaviour (Smart/ Denscombe)
Female crime rate began rising in 1950s – long before women’s liberation
Most female criminals are working class – who have not been hit by women’s liberation
Lind (1997) – women branching into ‘male’ crimes like drugs..but mainly due to links to prostitution (very unliberated lifestyle)
Very little evidence of illegitimate opportunity structure of professional crime has opened up to women