According to Giddens and Sutton (2013) the ministry of Justice 2011 statistics shows an overwhelmingly and well establish pattern of crime committed by males. According to the Irish Prison Service (2012) the percentage of Irish prisoners that were female in Irish Prisons in 2012 was 15.5 in comparison to 84.5 of men.
According to McCullagh (1996) crime is predominately a male activity. Theories of gender differences argue that aggression is as a result of genetic influence. Studies have shown that men are more aggressive than women (Harris and Knight-Bohnhoff 1996; Knight et al. 1996). According to Tovey and Share (2003) men are characterize as aggressive and goal – driven, they are brought up to be rational, competitive and instrumental while women are trained to be submissive and co-operative. Therefore men have more of an opportunity and are incline to commit crime.
Functionalist believes that women are responsible for domestic position, and the socialisation of children and for the management of the family, while men are expected to be found in the world of work. McCullagh (1996) draws on the work of Merton’s (1968, p.40) “certain kinds of society systematically generate pressure that leads to crime and deviance”. According to control theory, girls are being supervised and more strictly controlled. Boys are encouraged to take risks and to be tough and aggressive. According to Heidensohn (1996) women’s socialization, domestic responsibilities plus the control imposed on them by men discourage the deviance from social norms. As a result they have less inclination, less time and fewer opportunities to commit crime. Denno (1994) draws on the work of Bonger, a Socialist Criminologist; the low crime rate in women is as a result of lack of courage and not having enough strength than men. Bonger argued that women don’t have the physical strength to commit sexual crimes and because of ‘the role of women in sexual life’ (Denno, 1994).
Heidensohn (1996) labelling theorist argues that there is little opportunity for women because of opportunity structure in society being legitimate and illegitimate. Heidensohn (1996) believes legitimate structure of society gives access to regular income jobs and this is more restricted to women than it is for men. As a result women are limited to engage in occupational and corporate crime. In addition to this, McCullagh (1996) suggests, for some men masculinity may be tied up with earning an income and in this view earning money through crime may not be inacceptable. According to McCullagh (1996) women receive shorter prison sentences than men. As stated by the Irish Prison Service (2012), 7 women prisoners served less than three months sentence compared to 107 men. Pollak (1961) notes that judges and other court personnel hesitate to proceed against women (McCullagh, 1996). According to Worrall (1990), women who break the law are able to persuade the police and authorities and their actions are interpreted in a particular way. They invoke what has been called ‘gender contract’ where women are stereotyped to be inconsistent and impulsive, and in need of protection. In view of this, the police and court are sympathetic and do not punish women for behaviour that would be considered unacceptable for men.
Having reviewed the theories of crime there are many contributing factors that leads to high crime rate in men, it may be biological factors, environment or sociological factors. An understanding of why men commit more crime then women can be enlightened by applying theories of crime and to know that there is always a critique.
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