Examine Some of the Reasons Why Females May Be Less Likely Than Males to Commit Crime. (12 Marks)

At a first glance, most crime in the UK appears to be committed by males, by the age of 40, 9% of females have a criminal conviction as opposed to 32% of males. Women are typically convicted of property offences such as theft.

Official statistics would suggest that women commit less crime than men, however, the case might be that these crimes aren't reported or punished. For example, crimes such as shoplifting go unreported or unnoticed because of the miniscule amount of damage done.

Also, the chivalry thesis suggests that agents of social control such as police officers are mainly males who are socialised to act in a chivalrous way towards women. This would mean that they would act in a more lenient way towards females. This is supported by Otto Pollak who said that men have a protective attitude towards women and are more lenient, therefore their crimes are less likely to end up in official statistics.

Lombroso and Ferrero said that criminality is innate but there are very few female born criminals, this is a biological explanation of female crime. Also, it has been said that higher levels of testosterone in males mean that males might feel the need to commit crime more than females.

Functionalists would say that primary socialisation has a huge impact on females' likelihood to commit crime. Boys are encouraged to be tough and agressive whereas girls are taught to be polite and 'ladylike', suggesting that boys will be criminal by nature.

Heidensohn argues that womens behaviour is conformist. They commit fewer crimes than men because patriarchal society imposes greater control over women which reduces their opportunities to commit crime. It was said that women are controlled at home, in public and at work. Womens domestic role includes housework and child care which imposes severe restrictions on their time, often keeping them at home for long periods of time. Women who try to reject the domestic role might find themselves subject to domestic...