Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Sample SY3 answers analysed Note for teachers: If you have the electronic file, print this without the review button if you want just the answers and with it if you want to see the commentary attached. For simplicity, note that errors of spelling and grammar have mostly been removed, but they are taken into account in marking scripts. Question 3 Assess the view that crime is a masculine activity. Crime is committed by approximately 90% of the UK population at some point in their lives; therefore this means that both sexes, all ethnicities, ages and classes of people commit crime. Statistics and other data show that males do commit more offences in all types of society around the world. This may be for different reasons. Data shows that although men are more often the perpetrators of crime, they are also the victims and whilst women are more scared of violent crime, men between the ages of 16-24 are twice as likely to be a victim of crime as women. Studies have shown that there are some physiological reasons that could be linked to why men offend more often. Lombroso, an Italian Army captain conducted studies in which he concluded that men today are throwbacks to early man and have some primitive physical characteristics which may indicate this: big jaws and hands, extra fingers/nipples, insensitivity to pain and a love of orgies. Maters and Jeaves found that 60% of prisoners had facial deformities compared with 20% of the normal population. Sheldon investigated different types of body shape within men and found that mesomorphs with a more athletic build and muscled shape were more likely to commit and attract crime. Moir and Jessel found that low IQs inherited from fathers and low levels of serotonin increased the likelihood of being a criminal and Price discovered that chromosomal abnormality affecting only men could result in the makings of a criminal. All these studies were undertaken on men, which suggests that men either commit more crime and are predisposed to it, or the researchers were preoccupied with studying male crime. Heidensohn said, from a feminist perspective that academics and researchers involved with studying crime and sociology as a wider subject were mostly men and this therefore created a bias in research. Home Office statistics indicate that there may be a leniency towards women when sentencing and convicting them for crimes. They show that for first offences, women are only half as likely to be convicted as men. The Chivalry Thesis indicates that due to the overwhelming number of men working within the criminal justice system, 1|June 2010 SY 3 there is a paternal or sexist view of women which actually favours them and allows them leniency. Women are punished more harshly for serious crimes as they have not only broken the rules of society but brought shame on themselves as women too. These factors will certainly have an impact on what we believe about the balance of crime committed by both sexes. If we see more men convicted then we will believe they are committing more crime today. The media also compounds this idea by focussing on dramatic crime stores which are usually committed by men. We don’t see the stories about women being imprisoned for prostitution or TV licence evasion as they are simply too boring, hence we don’t think of women committing crime at all. There are psychological reasons which may mean men are more predisposed to crime than women. Linking in with the physiological idea that men with an extra Y chromosome commit more crime, the behaviour that results from this condition is also psychological and can cause neurotic behaviour with men tending to be more extroverted, aggressive, risk taking and therefore ready to participate in crime. Bowlby suggested that there is a link between maternal deprivation and crime. This deprivation could lead to poor socialisation into learning the rules of society and norms and values may not be learned. This could occur more in males than females as females tend to be more cared for physically and emotionally at birth and in childhood. Studies have shown that baby boys are left to cry whilst girls are picked up and cuddled and boys are encouraged to step out on their own whereas girls are socialised into being a little more cautious. There are theories which suggest that women and men dominate different spheres within society, giving them more or less access, routes and temptation to offend. Women dominate the private sphere which consists of the home where they take care of the family, have a caring busy role with little time or opportunity to commit crime, whereas men dominate the public sphere which includes the workplace, pubs and clubs. There are more opportunities to commit offences in the public sphere thus agreeing with the idea that men do commit crime. Strain theory (Merton 1930s) suggests that in the lower classes among young males, there is status frustration. This is when young men are frustrated with their position in society and they feel that they need to commit deviant acts to improve their image. Most males feel that their masculinity is contributed to by the role they play in society and their occupation, but in many lower working class communities there is high unemployment and they may turn to crime to combat this. As women hold more of a caring, homeworking position and gain their rewards from looking after a house and family, they may be less affected by unemployment and less likely to commit crime. Along with a strain is anomie in which norms within society are broken down or absent 2|June 2010 SY 3 these reasons cement earlier theories. Leading on from strain theory, the subcultural theory explain how males form subcultures with society with their own norms as a way to improve their image and status. Often these subcultures become gangs as there is a need to commit crime in front of an audience for approval to be given and these gangs may turn to more violent crime. Although there are female gangs in the UK and USA, it is much less common as females would be seen as doubly deviant. The types of crimes or deviance commited by both sexes vary. Men are more likely to be involved in violent crime, sex crimes, intimate crimes, child pornography and terrorism. Women usually commit less serious offences and of the 4,000 in prison today, most are in prison for minor crimes such as not paying bills. We do know however that 92% of rape victims are made up by women and that in domestic violence, 89% of violence takes place with a man attacking a woman. ¼ of women will experience domestic violence in their lives and only 1/6 of men. 2/3 of women do not even report the offence as they feel shame. This can give an inaccurate result in crime statistics as there may be much higher levels that actually recorded. Even though social control and socialisation plays a part in both the lives of females and males, the way they react to it is clearly different. Males are socialised to be aggressive, risk takers who can look after themselves and from past studies, this may be compounded with physiological and psychological evidence. They frequent the public sphere more often and there is more opportunity for crime . Often white collar crime is committed by men because they are in positions of power. Crime is primarily a masculine activity according to research studies and statistics. Even though gender roles are changing, for example, Ladette culture, Denscombe (2001) there may be a combination of forces that means it will always be this way. AO1 - 13 AO2 - 32 Mark – 45/45 3|June 2010 SY 3 Question 3 Assess the view that crime is a masculine activity. Gender has a large impact on the levels and types of criminal activity conducted by an individual. Crime has generally been associated with males; an aggressive and angry activity. The questions that should be asked with thinking about crime being a masculine activity are: ‘Why are males associated with such high levels of crime?’ and ‘Why are females negatively labelled when associated with crime?’ In a post modernistic society, women are encouraged to be independent, sexually available for whom they please and are now steadily moving up in the political, wealth, status and power ladder. Ideology has not been developed as such to place criminal behaviour and women in a box together. Crime has recently risen, with 97% of Black men filling the prison population; it is still viewed as a negative aspect of social life. If a female is seen in a prison cell with a criminal record or seen leaving a police station, society labels her as naturally deviant and this leading to the development of deviant behaviour when creating notions without knowing the facts. According to Sheldon, there is a link between the physical make up of a person and the levels of crime. He identified three body types in his study and found that those with a more muscular build (mesomorphs) were more likely to attract negative aggressive behaviour. Similarly, in the C19th, an Italian sociologist, Lambrose, claimed that it was those that came from working class backgrounds and had poorer diets eventually had facial and bodily deformities and they could be identified as individuals who would and will commit crimes. He identified deformities such as a third nipple, large hands, large ears and a large jaw. Although society has developed from a conservative society to more tolerant, people still regard those who behave deviantly, the people who break out current society such as homosexuals. Homosexuals are often referred to by a more conservative group of people as ‘f**’ and ‘q**s’. Taylor, Walton and Young, argued in the New Criminology that it should be the deviant who should be tolerated and sympathised with as they are fighting against capitalistic society. On the basis of gender, male are often regarded as being more aggressive but within sub-group other such as hippies, homosexuals, tramps and even youths are considered to be deviant, through the formation of moral panics through the mass media. 4|June 2010 SY 3 Crime and gang violence are associated with masculinity and being a ‘real man’ but the number of women in prisons has risen in the past few years. Heidensohn argues that magistrates often take the fact that a female offender has other, for example, young children who are dependent on her, into account and as a result, not charge or give a custodial sentence to the female offender this resulting in an innocent manipulation of the figures of female crime taking into account that though the female offenders are ‘troublesome’ and ‘troubled’ the fact that she has children may relieve her of a prison sentence. Not only are different aspects of gender and crime manipulated innocently, but when crime is linked to ethnicity, males who are Black are eight times more likely to be stopped and searched in a public place by the police under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) Though according to assumptions and history, men are most likely to act off in crime, why they act out in the form of criminal activity should be explored. Merton argues on behalf of the strain theory that if an individual does not achieve the level of access that is created by society by the institutionalised methods, a individual (usually a male) will resort to deviant behaviour in order to deal with the frustration of not reaching the vague level of good life. The strain of society which eventually leads to criminal behaviour is viewed in different forms. The forms that results due to a low number of grades in exams and a job that leads to no increase in status, wealth and power is one that forces an individual to suffer because he is a double loser. According to Marx, it is the exploitation and the use of power and ideology which leads an individual into acting out in crime in order to rebel against capitalist society. This exploitation is done by the ruling class through the change and adaptation of ideology in the education system and the legal system in order to protect their hegemonic position. This exploitation which can take place in the workplace by the bourgeoisie (the ruling class) which results in exploitation in the home according to Marx leads to the breakdown of the nuclear family and the increase of deviant behaviour in and outside the household. Criticising this theory is the functionalist theory, studies and developed by the French sociologist, Emile Durkheim who argued that crime and deviance was good for society and enabled society to create a moral about what is right and what is wrong. This positivists approach is often criticised for being too idealistic but it creates a new ideology as society develops. This is proven as capitalist punishment is not accepted in Britain, but accepted in the United States of America and in the 1940s one would be arrested for swearing in public. As society has developed, ideology and morale has also developed. Though society has become increasing tolerant over the last two decades, the stereotypical view 5|June 2010 SY 3 of crime being a male activity has not. Sociologists such as Sheldon, Marx, Miller and Holdaway all have put forward valid arguments as to why and how crime is a deviant act that is mostly conducted by males. All in all, it is society that informally places social controls (Schools, religion, organisation) on that is preventing women from acting out through criminal behaviour. This is to an extent. Once the criminal act has been conducted by a female, different factors such as children and the state of health of the female are considered before retribution takes place and the female is punished by formal social control, for example, the police or criminal justice system. The current capitalist society may exploit individuals but also protects them in order to maintain a social equilibrium. AO1 – 8 AO2 – 14 Total mark 22/45 Evaluating an essay Markers will use the mark schemes and the specifications to guide their judgements, but for purposes of self evaluation, students might be directed to the following questions. 1. Is there a brief introduction that provides an indication of the overall flow of your essay? 2. Is there a logical progression of concepts and information as appropriate for the main body? 3. Is there enough accurate detail, or specifics, language, theory and examples? 4. Have you managed to avoid describing studies and findings rather than using them to support the points you want to make? 5. Did you write clearly, in paragraphs and in clear English? 6. Could any reader understand the points you are trying to make? 7. Is your handwriting acceptable and easy to read? (Neatness is not an issue, clarity is) 8. Are your sentences short, with simple construction and clear punctuation? 9. Does your concluding paragraph or sentence sum up a response to the question? 10. Does the content of the essay refer constantly to the discussion under consideration? . 6|June 2010 SY 3