CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Objectives 3.0 Main Content
3.1 Definition of Gender 3.1.1 Gender and Crime
3.1.2 Gender and Victimization
3.2 Gender Roles, Stereotypes and Criminality 3.2.1 Gender and Pattern of Crime
3.2.2 Criminality, Sex and the Law 4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment 7.0 References/Further Reading 1.0 INTRODUCTION
Until very recently, interests in the study of female crime and deviance was extremely limited. In fact, some general theories in the areas of sociology and criminology continue to neglect gender as a factor influencing criminality. This is despite the fact that official figures suggest that gender is perhaps the most significant single factor in whether an individual is convicted of crime. Consequently, contemporary criminological or sociological theories which fail to explain the relationship between gender and crime could be seen as inadequate.
2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
Define ‘gender’ as different from ‘sex’.
identify gender stereotypes and its relationship with criminality.
Understand the causes of female crime and deviance.
3.0 MAIN CONTENT 3.1 Definition of Gender?
to the biological differences between the male and female. Thus sex differences are the products of heredity and biology. While gender differences result from socialization. For example, it is society that raises the female child to know that she is a female and must engage in domestic house chores like cooking, dressing as a female etc. While the male is socialized from the beginning as a dominant figure in society. It is from this social constructs that concept of “gender inequality” derives.
3.1.1 Gender and Crime
Sexual variations of crime are striking, as men are arrested and convicted many times more than women. According to Ohaeri (1996), available police records indicate that the perpetrators of murder in Nigeria were males in 94 percent of the cases. Recently, however, female crime rates have shown percentage increases, although the percentage increases in female arrest rates computed on very narrow bases, obscure the fact that female crime seems to be growing about as rapidly as male crime. While crime by females typically has been non-violent and confined often to petty offenses, arrest of women for serious offenses has increased by over 25 percent during the last two decades. The number of women in Nigerian prisons has also increased. Increases in female crimes are sometimes attributed to the feminist emancipation of women, their domestic liberalization, civilization, urbanization, changes in family structure (particularly changes in female roles within this structure and perhaps most importantly, modern Nigeria economic imperatives and exigencies, which have forced women to compete more aggressively with men in the available economic climate.
3.1.2 Gender and Victimization
Many studies have been conducted on the phenomenon of gender variables and criminal victimization. According to the CWI, males are four times more likely than females to be victims of armed robbery and nearly eight times more likely to be victims of assault. Males are also more likely to loose property to thieves, burglars and fraudsters.
Females are 98 percent more likely to be raped and 95 percent more likely to be victims of domestic violence.
Several reasons can be adduced for this trend, the most important of which perhaps, is the structure of the Nigerian society itself. Nigeria is a patriarchal (male dominated) society, which implies that men are more visible, flaunt their wealth, and visit areas where they are more likely to be victimized (bars, night clubs, highways etc) more often than women, although the female ratio of victims is increasing steadily.
When females are attacked in Nigeria, the perpetrator usually is a male relative or acquaintance. Husbands, boyfriends, in-laws, distant relatives, or acquaintances attack the majority of female crime victims.
On the other hand, males are likely to be victimized by other males with whom they had had no prior contact. The number of women victims of crime is increasing however, perhaps due to the increasing clamour for and liberalization of women and their subsequent involvement in economic activities. Their improved economic status, visibility, interpersonal relations, and integration into the economic structure of society have marked them out as suitable targets for criminal victimization. In a sense therefore, just as more women are getting involved in criminal activity, including violent crime, so are many women getting victimized by criminals including violent criminals.
3.2 Gender Roles, Stereotypes and Criminality
Gender inequality is virtually universal. Many people hold that the ultimate reason gender differences are so widespread is biology. This is because gender roles are the expected behaviours, attitudes, obligations and privileges that a society assigns to each sex; while gender stereotypes are over simplified but strongly held ideas about the characteristics of males and females. They help maintain gender roles by shaping ideas about the tasks to which men and women are naturally suited. These roles and stereotypes that are socio-culturally constructed helps to identify personality traits, interests, abilities of males and females that make gender a significant consideration in determining
“criminality”. These differences indicate that men are more aggressive, strong, proud, disorganized, courageous and confident while women were described as emotional, talkative, sensitive, affectionate and patient.
It is the belief that with the distinction between male and female “the males are better endowed” to commit crimes than women as a matter of physiological differences and by way of socialization (Calhoun, et al 1994:272).
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1
1. Differentiate between Sex and Gender from what you learnt.
2. Men are more criminal than women. True or False?
3.2.1 Gender and Pattern of Crime
information on gender and the pattern of crime could be adduced to a number of reasons. Some significant areas are that:
Most crimes committed by women seem to be of a comparatively trivial nature and may therefore be considered unworthy of recording.
That most criminologist(s) and crime experts tended to be male dominated. Consequently, their focus are on studies of men and about men in crime.
That traditional criminology is motivated by a desire to control behaviour that is regarded as problematic, and since women’s criminality has been seen as less problematic than men’s, it has received correspondingly less attention.
Overall, women are seen/tend to commit fewer crimes than men, so female offenders are seen as less of a problem to society
3.2.2 Criminality, Sex and the Law
According to Otto Pollak (1950) “official statistics on gender and crime were highly misleading. He claimed that the statistics of most countries seriously underestimated the extent of female criminality. He further asserted that from the examination of official figures in a number of different countries, he identified certain crimes that are usually committed by women but which are particularly likely to go unreported.
Such as shoplifting and criminal abortions; and many other unreported crimes committed by female domestic servants – such as poisoning of relatives and sexually abusing their children as well as crimes of prostitution (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004:382-383).
In theory at least, the vast majority of laws are sex blind: the possibility of being charged, or the type of offence for which you are charged does not depend upon your sex. However, there are few laws that only apply to members of one sex. For example, in Britain, only men can be convicted of rape or offences of homosexuality. On the other hand, only women can be convicted of infanticide or soliciting as prostitutes. In reality, only a very small proportion of crimes come into one of these categories and legal definitions therefore make little difference to the overall statistics for male and female crimes.
4.0 CONCLUSION
Whereas “gender” is significant in understanding crime in society; our knowledge is still in its infancy. In comparison with the massive documentation on all aspects of male delinquency and criminality, the amount of study done on the area of women and crime is extremely
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit, you learnt about how the term “gender” is socio-culturally constructed; and how it has been used to determine the trend and pattern of criminality between males and females. You also learnt in this unit, how female crimes are under reported by law enforcement agents and how the law itself has not been able to effect the errors of sexuality and crime.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
1. Describe how criminality has been influenced by sexual variation.
2. Is it true that official statistics on Gender and Crime is misleading? Why?
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
Calhoun, et al (1994). Sociology. International Edition. New York:
McGraw–Hill.
Haralambos, M. and Holborn, M. (2004). Sociology. Sixth Edition.
London: Harper Collins.
Igbinovia, et al. (2003). Crime and Delinquency in Nigeria: Theories, Patterns and Trends. Benin City: Kryme Monitor Books.
Ohaeri, J. (1996). “Violent Crimes in Nigeria” in Issues in Crime Prevention and Control in Nigeria. Edited by A. B. Dambazau, M. M. Jumare, and A. M. Yakubu. Kaduna: Baraka Press and Publishers Ltd.
Pollak, O. 1950). The Criminality of Women. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press.
Smart, C. (1976). Women, Crime and Criminology. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
1.0 Introduction 2.0 Objectives 3.0 Main Content
3.1 Overview of Socio-Cultural Environment of Crime 3.2 Physical Environment and Crime
3.2.1 Housing design and block layout 3.2.2 Land use and circulation patterns 3.2.3 Residents-generated Territorial Features 3.2.4 Physical Deterioration
3.3 Socio-Cultural Implications and Crime level in Neighbourhoods
UNIT 4 SOCIO-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF