User talk:Dancer9d
How hegemony plays in role in criminal justice: Women in Prison and what led the there.
Possible first source:Van Wormer, Katherine, (2010). Working With Female Offenders: A Gender-Sensitive Approach, New Jersey: John W. & Sons, Inc
HELLO! supposed to leave a message on a classmates talk page, so HELLO! sounds like you have a great topic! Dclow87 (talk) 05:06, 18 October 2013 (UTC)
Thoughts Behind Women In Prison
[edit]Women are put in the position to defend themselves in a society that spawns from hegemony. Women no longer want to be seen as submissive because it is weak and she will be preyed upon. Since this is an issue, it is possible that the rise in crimes perpetrated by females is due to how society defines gender. In other words, we focus always on the subordinated group and not on the dominant group - and that’s one of the ways that the power of dominant groups isn’t questioned – by remaining invisible. There’s a number of ways that this happens. The use of the passive voice when we talk about crimes against women tends to shift our focus off of male perpetrators and on to female victims and survivors. For example, we talk about how many girls were raped last year. How many women were assaulted? Or how many women were slain. As opposed to saying, how many men raped women or girls or how many boys or men assaulted and murdered women. It is possible that crimes committed by women are indeed a result of being victimized.
Dancer9d (talk) 04:26, 24 October 2013 (UTC)
Women represent a relatively small percentage of known violent offenders, which is a disproportionality in offending that increases as the severity of the crime increases (Lazarus-Black, 2005). The exception is intimate partner homicide where some studies find that U.S. rates of offending by women approach those of men (Sered and Norton-Hawk, 2011). There have been vast changes in women's rights in the last century. After fighting for years and years, endless picketing and jail sentences, women were finally given the right to vote on a national level. The later 1800's showed women exactly how lowly valued they were in the public sphere by granting the newly freed male slaves the right to vote, while women's efforts of political power were still stifled and suppressed. For the entire history of this country, women have found that rights which were automatically granted for men required an exhaustingly large amount of fighting to obtain for themselves. Historically in the United States, women have tended to be incarcerated because of moral/relational ‘female crimes:’ witchcraft, marital disobedience, prostitution, and inappropriate sexuality (Rathbone 2006). Today, the overwhelming majorities of women under correctional supervision in the United States struggle with histories of sexual abuse, trauma and/or mental illness and have been charged with non-violent, mostly minor, drug-related crimes (Chesney-Lind and Pasko 2004; Ferraro 2006;McDaniels-Wilson and Belknap 2008; Messina and Grella 2006).
http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/child-abuse/impact-on-arrest-victimization.htm
Lazarus-Black, M. (2005). Prison Notebooks: Antonio's, Carla's, and Carolyn's. Conference Papers -- Law & Society, 1.
Reckdenwald, A., & Parker, K. (January 01, 2008). The Influence of Gender Inequality and Marginalization on Types of Female Offending. Homicide Studies, 12, 2, 208-226.
Sered, S., & Norton-Hawk, M. (2012). Criminalized Women and Twelve Step Programs: Addressing Violations of the Law With a Spiritual Cure. Implicit Religion, 15(1), 37-60. doi:10.1558/imre.v15i1.37
I'd have to say that more research is needed to definitely pinpoint the rise in female criminality but there seems to be something linking hegemony and the types of crimes that females commit. Dancer9d (talk) 04:54, 24 October 2013 (UTC)
Annotated Bibliography
[edit]Hi folks. I’m in the process of editing this page to include a new section on Women in the CJ System. These are a few of the resources I’ve located that I am finding to be useful. If anyone else has suggestions or feedback, do let me know. Sources:
Chesney-Lind, Meda. (1989). Girl’s crime and a woman’s place: toward a feminist model of female delinquency. Crime & delinquency, 35(1), 5-29. doi:10.1177/0011128789035001002
A look into criminal behavior from its beginnings in juvenile delinquency is analyzed in respect to female crime. Inadequacies of research point to the need for research targeting female offenders. This paper sheds light onto how the study of crime is done through the lens of male offenders and is not translatable to that of the female. This article also addresses how although males make up much higher percentages of criminal behavior, juvenile females are charged more with ‘status offenses’ which suggests that females are committing more crimes than they actually are. While not implicitly stated, Chesney-Lind offers some suggestions on actually studying crime specifically involving female offenders and how it could contribute to adult criminal behavior if not soon understood.
Gonnerman, Jennifer. (2004). Life on the outside: the prison odyssey of Elaine Bartlett. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux.
A biographical account of a female offender is told from before she was convicted of a crime, through her prison sentence, and the life she led after release. This book details the socio-economic factors that contributed to decisions made by Ms. Bartlett to engage in certain levels of crime and how the justice system ignored issues of race, class, and gender in the sentencing of this first time offender. The author discusses how crime is looked at from a privileged white male perspective and how the ‘othering’ of people of color bleeds into perceptions of them. This book is tailored to any audience interested in how crime impacts people on a personal level and humanizes criminals and more specifically, from a female vantage point.
Heidensohn Frances, & Silvestri, Marisa. (2007). Gender and crime. Oxford Handbook Of Criminology, 12, 1-34.
This study addresses the misnomer regarding increases in criminal behavior by women. Studying increases and decreases of female offending has to be looked at with impunity because of the low numerical comparisons they have against crimes committed by men. Considerations of evolving policing practices and changes in law and policy both play a role in the increase in female crime numbers. Strengths of the argument proposed in this study are a good source for further exploration and its usefulness can be applied to recognizing how culture and law practices affect crime, specifically female crime. The generalizability of this study can be applied to many settings that involve crime, gender, and sociological implications.
Javdani, S., Sadeh, N., & Verona, E. (2011). Gendered social forces: A review of the impact of institutionalized factors on women and girls’ criminal justice trajectories. Psychology, Public Policy, And Law, 17(2), 161-211. doi:10.1037/a0021957
The need for exploratory research into the reasons behind offending females from a psychological perspective is discussed in this paper. Javdani and colleagues offer some insight into the actual minds of female offenders. Further insights are drawn upon to determine if gendered practices are taking place in the justice system and if or how these practices affects our understanding of crime in general. Social polices are examined and is arguably linked to women in the criminal system who have been either ignored or punished because of a societal refusal to study just this type of offender. Broader implications of this research suggests men and women commit crimes for different reasons and are treated the same even though female offenders need tailored social services. A change in mindset is suggested from a criminological to a psychopathological perspective to offer a more insight into the study of female crime.
Michalski, J. H. (2005). Explaining intimate partner violence: the sociological limitations of victimization studies. Sociological Forum, 20(4), 613-640. doi:10.1007/s11206-005-9060-5
Research is conducted to explain how victims of intimate partner violence define this type of violence. This proves invaluable in reports of violence, how police respond to calls of domestic violence, and the under valuing of this crime. This article was chosen to look for a relationship between victimization and causation(s) of future crimes by victims. Psychological dimensions of power and control need to be considered in our society for the proper reconceptualization of this type of violence. The author suggests social contexts of families and relationships need further analysis since these contexts may encourage or discourage future violence. Michalski provides general information that explains how definitions of intimate partner violence need to be unified across all research in order to gather precise statistics of incidence. Without a consensus on the definition, research will continue to be theoretical.
Reckdenwald, A., & Parker, K. (2008). The influence of gender inequality and marginalization on types of female offending. Homicide Studies, 12, 2, 208-226. Retrieved from: http://www.udel.edu/soc/faculty/parker/SOCI836_S08_files/Reckdenwald%26Parker_HS08.pdf
The female offender is explored from a economically disadvantaged perspective in this paper. Reckdenwald takes into account oppressive forces such as marginalization, poverty, and gender inequality and their influences on the types of crimes that females commit. The author looks into issues of intimate partner violence and other types of abuse that contributes to whether or not a female offends, if there is a direct victim involved, and the types of crimes chosen by these offenders. This paper offers a needed look into issues that are unique to disadvantaged women and the social forces in and outside the justice system that contributes to criminal behavior. More than just acknowledging social forces affecting this type of offender, the author suggests a link between these forces and opportunities of crime presented to these would be offenders.
Salekin, R. T., Rogers, R., Ustad, K. L., & Sewell, K. W. (1998). Psychopathy and recidivism among female inmates. Law And Human Behavior, 22(1), 109-128. doi:10.1023/A:1025780806538
Salekin and colleagues conducted a study of female offenders to seek out possible motivations of why they commit crime. Since almost all current research is based on studies of male criminals, the female offender psychopathy research is lacking. There is existing evidence that states that psychopathy is a predictor of recidivism in male offenders so implications of the current body of research may or may not state the same for women. The authors further argue that the generalizability of male studies cannot be transferred to female offender; however, studies conducted on females may be generalized for the female offender population. This research provides a unique psychological perspective of women in the criminal justice system and recommends more lengthy follow-up periods for this type of offender to better determine recidivism.
Shelley, Louise. (2010). Human trafficking: a global perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press, 141-198.
Root causes of human trafficking and crime in general are identified as lack of employment opportunities, poverty, economic imbalances, and social injustices. Problems specific to human trafficking are examined and from a global perspective include decline in border controls, gender and ethnic discrimination, and political instability. These factors lead to forced labor of the impoverished and for women, a life into prostitution. This book offers and looks into inceptions of sex workers and sheds light onto stereotypes of these women and its social ramifications. Since demand drives supply, changing how society views prostitutes can help in the elimination of these sex workers. The generalizability of this book promotes a discussion on the female gender as still relegated to be subordinate to males and further limits her role to images of sex, body image, and domestication.
Simpson, S. S. (1991). Caste, class, and violent crime: explaining difference in female
offending*. Criminology, 29(1), 115-135.
Simpson’s analysis offers accepting explanations of crimes committed by females, specifically African American females in relation to other populations. This paper discussed the uniqueness of this population and acknowledges the intersectionality of race, gender, and class that is influential in the types of crimes committed by African American females. Looking at privileges afforded to whites (male or female) and men (regardless of race), the author attempts to explain how unknown advantages of these groups are not considered in research about females of color. This paper offers a good step in the right direction of understanding crime by females and firmly stated that there is an over-reliance on data that is statistically based.
Van Wormer, Katherine, (2010). Working with female offenders: a gender-sensitive approach. New Jersey: John W. & Sons, Inc.
Van Wormer presents what is labeled a ‘gender-sensitive approach’ to explaining the nature of and motivations behind female offending. In an almost time-lapsed manner, this books offers knowledge into backgrounds of offending starting at juvenile levels of offending, including status offenses, to adult crimes. While maintaining the integrity of differential treatment based on gender, Van Wormer includes personal accounts of crimes told by offenders themselves. Issues of race and class are also included in determining the types of crimes committed and the social ramifications of gender. A section dedicated to the psychology of gender further explains the internalizing of gender roles and how it ultimately affects female offenders. In addition to providing statistical information on female offenders, the book goes into the prison system and discusses how it offers counseling skills and relationship building for offenders. Dancer9d (talk) 06:35, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
Taking A Deeper Look
[edit]Female Criminality
[edit]INTRODUCTION
As a result of this constant reinforcement of the modern gender, by age five children have a fairly comprehensive understanding of gender and the roles that they are expected to conform to. Modern culture, in general, tells boys that you become real men through power and control, that respect is linked to physical strength and the threat of violence, and the ability to scare people (Bailey, 2012). Focusing just on the taking power and control portion of this statement, it is arguable that women have ultimately become more aggressive to be seen as powerful. Women are put in the position to defend themselves in a society that spawns from hegemony. Women no longer want to be seen as submissive because it is weak and they will be preyed upon. Since this is a potential issue, it is possible that the rise in crimes perpetrated by females is related to how society defines gender.
Female crime rates are on the rise but there is no research supporting a definitive reason for this. Are women becoming more aggressive in response to society? Are the rising rates of female offenders simply due to increased populations? Female offenders are portrayed just as violently as men but some could argue that women are just behaving in manners to fit in or to survive their environment. Having a sociological imagination is the ability to analyze one’s life in relation to social, political, economic, and cultural factors (Mills, 2006). In doing so and accounting for hegemony, it is easy to immediately identify ‘subordinate’ individuals. There’s a number of ways that this happens. Linguist Julia Penelope talks about how the use of the passive voice when we talk about crimes against women, tends to shift our focus off of male perpetrators and on to female victims and survivors (Katz, 1999). For example, we talk about how many girls were raped last year. How many women were assaulted? Or how many women were slain. As opposed to saying, how many men raped women or girls or how many boys or men assaulted and murdered women. As for the female criminal, when women commit violence, they are always the subjects. In other words, the gendered nature of the crime is always part of the discussion. To be fair, we have to admit that there may or may not be an underlying reason for a woman to commit a crime. Especially with crimes involving malicious or deadly victimization of another person, there may not be a backstory of perhaps revenge, some type of history of mental instability, or out of pure necessity that lead women to do something illegal.
THEORIES AND EXPLANATIONS
One possible beginning to understanding crime as a whole is to first remove the blinders of who is committing it. The most important difference is in arrest profiles that are proportionately greater for female involvement in minor property crimes. This includes female arrests trends with the more inclusive, expansive definitions crime. According to research conducted in the article, "The Nature of Female Offending" by Jennifer Schwartz, the gendered nature of offending – women’s less serious [crimes] are historically less visible and has intersected with more elastic, expanding definitions of offending to “artificially” increase women’s arrest levels in comparison to men’s. This article also notes that the context of female assault incidents belies the claim that female violence is a product of changing gender roles toward female “masculinization.” Fairly recent enforcement practices have lowered the threshold of tolerance for low-level or misdemeanor violence with officers now arresting less serious, less culpable offenders and those offending against intimate partners (Schwartz, 2008). The ability of authorities to dip more deeply into the pool of offenders elevates the female share of arrest because females are involved disproportionately in less serious forms of crime (Schwartz, 2008). To compare, some criminologists have attributed increases in the female share of arrest to gains in gender equality and the women’s movement (Heidensohn and Silvestri, (2007). The media during the 1970s and recently has enthusiastically embraced the interpretation of the ‘dark side’ of female liberation where it is plausible to argue that greater freedom of women increases exposure to ‘male-like’ environments thus causing a more masculine response.
Others have looked into social forces including the justice system itself that play a role in understanding female criminality. For example, gendered practices are taking place in the justice system and if or how these practices affects our understanding of crime in general is unknown. Social polices are arguably linked to women in the criminal system who have been either ignored or punished because of a societal refusal to study just this type of offender. Broader implications of this type of research suggests men and women commit crimes for different reasons and are treated the same even though female offenders need tailored social services (Javdani and Verona, (2011). Furthermore, studying increases and decreases of female offending has to be looked at with impunity because of the low numerical comparisons they have against crimes committed by men. Considerations of evolving policing practices and changes in law and policy both play a role in the increase in female crime numbers.
Criminologist Amy Reckdenwald noted in her research, “Patriarchal power relations shape gender differences in crime pushing women into crime victimization, role entrapment, economic marginality, and survival needs.” In other words, rather than equality between the sexes leading to more female crime, it is female inequality and economic vulnerability that is more likely to shape female offending patterns. Just as research says women commit more white-collar crime, this is not a huge occurrence considering that women’s role in society has changed little. Female representation in high-level finance and corporate leadership positions is too limited to provide opportunities for insider trading, price fixing, and large-scale governmental crimes (Schwartz, 2008). They are more represented in areas such as: retail, teaching, nursing and clerical work. Although there are men who are in these professions, the majority of workers are women simply because these roles are more ‘help-mate’ and subordinate in nature. Women also [still] make less money than men even in situations when they have the same job. This economic marginality often times leads to crime. For example, a high concentration of women (90%) work in low-level bank telling or bookkeeping positions (Reckdenwald, 2012) which some can argue accounts for the high female percentages of arrest for embezzlement.
Of course there are those that say there is no correlation between hegemony and increased rates of crime committed by women. It’s just a numbers game. As population numbers increase, so does the rates of crime including the number of female offenders. Numbers are inevitably going to increase as Western Countries industrialize and women take on more dominant roles. Also, with the current economic crisis and unemployment rates, increased rates will naturally occur. These critics also have statistics to back the ‘no correlation’ argument. The number of girls coming into contact with the juvenile justice system increased 101% between 1985 and 2007, compared with only a 30% increase in the number of boys (Puzzanchera, Adams, & Sickmund, 2010). Girls now are the fastest growing segment of the juvenile justice system. Girls traditionally have been placed in facilities and programs designed for boys, where the emphasis is on security over prevention and treatment (Van Wormer, 2010). Girls tend to have more serious issues and are held longer in detention than boys (Van Wormer, 2010). Several states are trying to move away from expensive state institutions into more effective community-based services, which can provide a better continuum of care for girls (Gough and Vic, 2012). More so than boys, girls in trouble have a disturbingly increasing history of emotional, physical and sexual abuse (Gough and Vic, 2012). Estimates are that, of incarcerated girls, more than 78 percent have been abused, up to 70 percent have a mental health disorder, and many are pregnant or will become pregnant (US Department of Justice, 2010). Girls, more often than not, enter the juvenile justice system because they are running away from violence or abuse.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As society continues to project the image of women being the target of violence, so will women’s responses to it become violent in defense. “Girls are arrested for lesser offenses than boys, are often younger than boys and are three times more likely to have been a victim of sexual abuse," Leslie Acoca, Executive Director of the National Girls' Health and Justice Institute. Most female juvenile offenders get in trouble between 14 and 16 years of age (Teigan and Brown, 2012). For the critics’ sake, although literature makes clear that significant gender differences exist in the commission of crime, a more contextualized picture of female offenders and the pathways leading to criminal offending does not exist. So for now, studies can speculate relationships (or lack thereof) between society’s part in the rise of the female criminal.
There indeed is a connection between adverse childhood events and subsequent addiction problems but this argument could support the existence of a relationship between hegemony and increased female offenders or no correlation. Women in criminal-like environments and in prison seem to do whatever they need to do to survive. They embrace their current surroundings and adopt the roles that are assigned to them but only because there is no other option. In saying this, the absence of social norms (in regular society) aids in the establishment of a collective order of behavior when outside of traditional social norm. Attention should be given to ‘finding the root’ of the problem in female offenders. This could prove to be helpful in determining punishment for female offenders, especially if they commit crimes out of necessity. There should be some level of appreciation for the extensive and - most importantly, legitimate programs dedicated to understanding the female offender.
Additional Sources:
Bailey, C. (2012). Cleaning Commercials: Grease, Grime of Occluded Gender/Sex Hegemony. Media Report To Women, 40(2), 6-22.
Katz, Jackson & Jeremy Earp. (1999). Tough guise. Media education foundation. Web. http://www.mediaed.org/assets/products/212/transcript_212.pdf. Accessed November 14, 2013.
Massey, Garth. Readings for sociology. Fifth Edition. New York 2006. W.W. Norton Company, Inc. Mills, C.Wright, The Sociological Imagination.
Teigen, A., & Brown, S. (2012). Making a Difference. State Legislatures, 38(6), 20-21.
The Sentencing Project. (2012). Incarcerated women. The sentencing project. Web. http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/cc_Incarcerated_Women_Factsheet_Sep24sp.pdf. Accessed November 14, 2013
Dancer9d (talk) 02:26, 18 November 2013 (UTC)
Sex plays an increasing part in crime, but the differentiation of sexes in criminality is gradually reducing since the social and economic equality of sexes has become more comparable. According to experts, crime committed by women is on the increase, especially in urban areas. Differences in the percentage of crime among women in comparison to male signifies that the ratio is not determined by sex disparity, but it is affected by many social factors such as the condition of living, circumstances, training, codes of behaviour and ideals. Those women, who are involved in crime, were seen as exceptionally masculine, disturbed and unethical. There is a considerable increase in the number of crimes committed by girls such as minor assaults, robberies, public order offences and criminal damage. Many psychological theories have explained crime with reference to a mix of biological, psychological and sociological factors. Influence of hormonal and generative phases is particularly significant for female criminality due to psychological disturbances that they produce. As women are excessively involved in less serious forms of lawbreaking, there is a wide scope of changes law enforcement and in statutory law. A higher level of financial insecurity faced by women increases the pressure to commit consumer-based crimes. Economic and other social issues, faced by women, motivated their involvement in illegal substances related actions. Many researchers, in their studies, revealed that there may be more sympathetic attitude of juries and judges towards accused women. So, focus should be given on finding the root cause of the problem in female offenders, which will be helpful in deciding punishment for them. The article needs to be edited for some grammar errors. Due to the nature of the article, it looks repetitive at some places. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sid20078 (talk • contribs) 12:59, 24 November 2013 (UTC)