Crime in the UK: Gender Issues - Coursework Example

Crime in the UK: Gender Issues The last decade has brought some welcome news to the citizens of the UK as the crime rate has consistently fallen throughout this period. The bad news is that it is still too high. While the statistics have fallen on almost all crimes across the board, there has been a significant shift in demographics as related to gender. Women have recently been committing crimes in higher numbers in categories of crimes that were once exclusively male dominated. Still, gender is a determining factor in the types of crimes committed, the potential to re-offend, and the underlying motivation that initiates a criminal act. In addition, the victimisation of the population is also gender specific. Women fall victim to some crimes in greater numbers than men, while some crimes have men as their main target. An evaluation of the gender specific issues that impact the perpetrators and the victims of criminal activity can help illuminate the forces and theories that explain criminal behaviour. In many ways, men and women have become more socially equal in the last decade, though there are still important social and cultural differences. Eighty percent of the 1.42 million offenders that were sentenced in the UK in 2006 were male, and in the crime of sexual assault the number rose to 97 percent (Office for National Statistics, 2008, p.12). While gender was highly correlated to specific crimes it was also had a relationship to the gender of the victim. Females were almost six times as likely to be the victim of domestic violence, while men were four times more likely than women to suffer from the violence inflicted by a stranger (Office for National Statistics, 2008, p.12). Acquaintance violence was more nearly even with men becoming the victim 58 percent of the time (Office for National Statistics, 2008, p.12). Understanding the social and cultural differences that create these disparities can help further to design policies that will further reduce the crime rate. In addition to the different motivations that gender presents to the criminal act, the perceptions of the victim are also gender specific. Women are likely to be fearful of crime and worry about it to a degree that it impacts their quality of life, while these same emotions impact men to a lesser degree. An evaluation of social forces, crime theory, and victim theory can help to reduce crime further and limit the unwarranted worry of becoming a victim. The examination of the crime of assault reveals the role that acquaintances, relationships, and gender play to impact the initiation of violence. Men are slightly more likely to be the victim of acquaintance violence than a woman (Office for National Statistics, 2008, p.12). Studies have shown that there is a substantial propensity for violence among women, but the expression of violent behaviour is largely limited to intimate and personal relationships (George, 1999, p.76). Inter-relationship female on male violence has its foundation in rage, frustration, jealousy, and anger, while the perpetrator does not stop to consider the size of the male, their own defencelessness, or the possibility of retribution. According to George (1999), "It has been suggested, in relation to violence in dating relationships, that females may perceive aggression toward male romantic partners as more acceptable or less dangerous than aggression toward others and hence tend to confine their aggression to such intimate relationships" (p.76). However, the rates of domestic violence indicate that the threat of retaliation is real, and simply ignored. When women initiate violent assault, they suspend their social values and pragmatic judgment and their behaviour becomes controlled by the emotionally charged self. This is further reinforced by the other emotional traits when "to be the centre of attention and putting one's needs before the needs of others (self-centredness) doubled the odds of female participation in violent crimes" (Ramoutar & Farrington, 2006, p.565). For women, emotion plays a central role whether hitting an intimate partner or committing a more serious violent crime. Men who commit violent crimes are less likely to act as a result of emotion than as a result of their social conditioning. "According to social learning theory, if individuals have ample opportunity to observe aggressive or violent behaviour, this will increase the chance that they will learn to value violence and incorporate it into their behavioural repertoire" (Ramoutar & Farrington, 2006, p.562). This can be learned in the home, school, society, or through the media and becomes an important part of a male's decision to commit a violent act. This learned behaviour results in a misuse of power that has been legitimised by society and seeks to maintain the role of male dominance (Women's Aid, 2005, p.7). In contrast, parental labelling had a greater effect on female violence than any other theoretical factor, and the more that women viewed themselves as negatively labelled, either by parents, self, or institutionally, the more likely they would be to commit a violent act (Ramoutar & Farrington, 2006, p.568, 570). If society devalues women as a social norm, the official labelling will result in violence, both by and against women. In women, violence is the emotional acting out against an imposed oppression, while men initiate violence as a means to fulfil society's expectations. The motivations for committing a property crime are different from committing an act of violence, but once again there are gender specific issues. Theft is the most common crime committed by both men and women. It is clearly the crime of choice for women as 56 percent of the women arrested in 2002 were charged with theft (National Statistics, 2004). Both men and women share many of the same motivations for participating in property crimes. Financial rewards, feelings of self-reliance, impulsivity, and venturesomeness all were factors the compelled both males and females commit a property crime (Ramoutar & Farrington, 2006, p.563, 567). Female perpetrators who believed that the commission of a crime would elevate their social standing among their peers, experience an economic gain, viewed the experience as a valid expression of anger, or reaped the emotional rewards that come from committing a crime "were at a greater risk of participating in property crimes than those who did not expect to receive these rewards" (Ramoutar & Farrington, 2006, p.565). While both genders have similar motivating factors that initiate the participation in a property crime, the factors that limit their deviant behaviour have significant differences. Just as social learning theory can predict the commission of a violent crime, and especially domestic violence, it can also be a factor that limits a perpetrator's willingness to participate in a property crime. When males or females are socialized with a respect for private property, they will naturally be less prone to be involved in theft. Closely associated with social learning is the social control theory of crime. "The fundamental assumption of the social control theory is that human beings have a natural tendency to engage in antisocial behavior, irrespective of gender" and that a strong sense of community, employment, education, and strong family ties all work to inhibit criminal activity (Li & MacKenzie, 2003, p.279). Previous literature has noted that there are "informal pressures and sanctions placed on women by family to conform to appropriate gender prescribed behaviours that discourage deviance" (Corbett, 2007, p.258). While this may hold true for general behaviour, the social control theory does not hold for females in relation to criminal activity. Li and MacKenzie (2003) reported that the factors that create strong social ties that worked to reduce male crime actually served to increase female crime (p.294). This worked across property crimes as well as drug use. This seeming contradiction may be due to the female's increased exposure to deviant behaviour when involved with a relationship, employment, or a school setting (Li & MacKenzie, 2003, p.296). In addition, as women have entered the workforce and gained positions of trust in greater numbers, they have had more opportunity to commit the typical female property crimes of fraud, embezzlement, forgery, and theft (Simon & Ahn-Redding, 2005, p.81). These factors may help explain the apparent increase in female crime in the recent years. Drug use, a crime against the self, is often the harbinger of other criminal activity committed to financially support the drug user's habit. The types of crimes committed to generate the money needed for drugs vary by gender. For example, one recent survey of female drug users found that over 90 percent of the female drug users surveyed were involved with prostitution and had been, on average, for seven years (Bloor et al., 2006, p.4). Women were also found to be more likely to commit shoplifting and forgery, while men were more likely to be involved with "vehicle theft, burglary of a non-dwelling, and drug-supply offenses" (Holloway & Bennett, 2007, p.917-918). In addition to the different types of crimes committed to support a drug habit, males and females differed in their perception of why they committed drug related crimes. Research by Holloway and Bennett (2007) found, "female arrestees more likely to describe the connection in terms of economic necessity and males more likely to describe the connection in terms of poor judgment" (p.916). Again, social learning and social control exerted a greater effect on the males who perceived their crimes as being a violation of social norms, while women viewed their crimes in light of the economic reality. The genderisation of crime also extends to the perception of crime, the fear of becoming a victim, and the victimisation of crime. Levels of worry about burglary, violent crime, and car crime were significantly higher among women than men, even though this was in contradiction to the actual level of threat (Kershaw, Nicholas, & Walker, 2008, p.125-126). Actual victimisation is explained by the general victim theory that "predicts that higher rates of victimization are associated with proximity to motivated offenders, exposure to high risk situations, target attractiveness of the potential victim, and low levels of guardianship (Stewart, Elifson, & Sterk, 2004, p.160). Women place themselves more at risk for sexual crimes and domestic violence, while males are more likely to subject themselves to situations where there is a high probability that a crime will be committed. This theory also explains the high rates of repeated victimisation reported by the British Crime Survey (Kershaw, Nicholas, & Walker, 2008, p.35-37). While society, and especially women, worries about becoming a victim of crime, the probability of an offence may have as much to do with the victim as it does the perpetrator. In conclusion, the crime rate that has fallen in recent years affects males and females in different ways. Gender issues impact the propensity to commit crime as well as the types of crimes committed. More importantly, the motivation for male and female crime differs as social norms and cultural beliefs that form the perception of crime differ in men and women. While many people have a fear of becoming a crime victim, women's elevated level of fear does not bear out in the statistics, and while the perpetrator holds the ultimate responsibility for their acts, there may be actions that can be taken to reduce a person's probability of becoming a victim, or being repeatedly victimised. The gender issues that impact crime and victimisation need further study in an effort to continue the downward trend that crime has seen in recent years. References Bloor, R. (2006). The impact of treatment on female drug-using sex workers. London: National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. Corbett, C. (2007). Vehicle-related crime and the gender gap. Psychology, Crime & Law, 13(3), 245-263. George, M. J. (1999). A victimization survey of female- perpetrated assaults in the United Kingdom. Aggressive Behavior, 25, 67-79. Holloway, K., & Bennett, T. (2007). Gender Differences in Drug Misuse and Related Problem Behaviors among Arrestees in the UK. Substance Use & Misuse, 42(6), 899-921. Kershaw, C., Nicholas, S., & Walker, A. (Eds.). (2008). Crime in England and Wales 2007/08. London: Home Office Statistics. Li, S. D., & MacKenzie, D. L. (2003). The gendered effects of adult social bonds on the criminal activities of probationers. Criminal Justice Review, 28(2), 278-298. National Statistics (2004, January 8). Retrieved December 10, 2008, from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.aspid=442 Office for National Statistics. (2008). Focus on gender. Newport, South Wales: Author. Ramoutar, K. M., & Farrington, D. P. (2006). Are the same factors related to participation and frequency of offending by male and female prisoners Psychology, Crime & Law, 12(5), 557-572. Simon, R. J., & Ahn-Redding, H. (2005). The crimes women commit, the punishments they receive. Oxford, UK: Lexington Books. Stewart, E. A., Elifson, K. W., & Sterk, C. E. (2004). Integrating the general theory of crime into an explanation of violent victimization among female offenders. Justice Quarterly, 21(1), 159-181. Women's Aid. (2005). Domestic violence: Frequently asked questions factsheet 2004/05. Bristol, UK: Author . Read More