Introduction What Is Gender Sex vs Gender Gender Binary Sex refers to biological apparatus Gender refers to what it means to be feminine or masculine in a particular society Artificial division of the world into people or things that are masculine or feminine for men or for women Gender Display Presentation of self as a certain kind of gendered person through dress cosmetics adornments and permanent and reversible body markers Pluralizing Gender Gender is fluid and dynamic Masculinities Femininities Gendered Process The social practice of learning being taught and picking up cues for gender appropriate or non gender appropriate behavior Organization of society that shapes social behavior and social attitudes Emphasizes the collective and social basis for behavior Social Structure Hegemonic Masculinity Emphasized Femininity Manly macho men head of the household bread winners Women who engage this way are viewed as perfect partners Ex Legally blonde There s a blurring of lines between offenders victims and professions due to Section 1 Overview Women Crime The blurring of lines research Belknap s Research status in society There is an exclusion of studies on women and girls Focus of criminological theories historically Have been on men Official Data Sources UCR Uniform Crime Reports Represents crimes known to the police FBI Good for examining trends over time One of the largest datasets on crime in the U S What type of data is collected o Includes demographic data o Age o Gender o Race ethnicity o Location state o Region metropolitan suburban rural How often is data collected o Annually Types of Crimes o Part 1 offenses index crimes 8 different offenses Aggravated assault forcible rape murder robbery arson burglary larceny theft and motor vehicle theft Limited definitions that fail to capture the true extent of arrests made for these crimes o Part 2 offenses Limitations o Issues with police recording crimes No federal laws requiring agencies to report o Issues with crimes being reported 1 50 of crimes are not reported at all So the UCR data is only dependent on what police know about criminal activity and how they use their discretion in these cases If the police are not a witness to a crime or are not called to deal with an offender they cannot make an arrest 2 Collects data only on certain types of crime versus all types of crime o The Hierarchy Rule Only the most serious crime is reported in cases where multiple crimes are committed during a single criminal event This skews the understanding of the prevalence of crime as several different offenses may occur NCVS Victimization Data Largest victimization study in the U S Tries to fill the gap between reported and unreported crime often described as the dark figure of crime What type of data is collected o Rape sexual assault o Gives more info of crime and information on crime from the victim s perspective o Situational factors o Victims race ethnicity etc o Perceptions of offenders How often is data collected o Once every 6 months Types of Crimes Limitations of Victimization Data o Limited Focus o 6 types Rape robbery theft assault burglary motor vehicle theft Limited number of crimes Little to no information on victims under the age of 12 o Problems administering interviews o Sampling and Estimate Problems Section 2 Theories of Victimization Why did victims assistance programs develop at this time Increased pressures to support the needs of victims throughout the criminal justice process Victims felt their needs were not being addressed Why is there a reluctance to report crime Victims feel embarrassed by the crime or feel that nothing will be done or feel it is a personal matter Relationship between victim and offender Negative Consequences of victim blaming Low reporting rates of crime because they re met with blame and refusal to help Negative effect on the recovery of victims Can lead the victim to blame themselves for their own victimization and shift the responsibility away from the offender Assumes people are able to change the environment where they live assumes only innocent victims are true victims creates a false sense of security above Fear of victimization the role of the media Over exaggeration of violent crime in society As individuals increase their consumption of local and national television news their fears about crimes increase regardless of actual crime rates gender or a personal history of victimization Crime is generally presented as graphic random and violent incidents Gendered experience of the fear of victimization Men rarely respond with fear to a situation where a man is watching them walk to their car Women show more fear Girls are more likely than boys to indicate fears about victimization in situations that involve things such as poorly lit parking lots and sidewalks Parents are more likely to show concern for the safety of their daughter then the safety of their sons This fear results in a lack of freedom for girls in addition to an increase in the parental supervision of girls Although this is meant to protect women it significantly decreases their confidence levels Negative consequences of the fear of crime and victimization Women who are fearful of crime particularly violent or sexual crimes are more likely to isolate themselves from society in general This fear reflects a threat regarding the potential loss of control that a victim experiences as a result from being victimized Fear of crime can also be damaging toward one s feelings of self worth and self esteem Routine Activities Theory Potential victims experience feelings of vulnerability and increased anxiety Designed to explain victimization from property crimes Suggests that the likelihood of a criminal act occurs with the convergence of three essential components o 1 Offender o 2 Victim o 3 Absence of guardian Lifestyle Theory victimization Explores the risks of victimization from personal crimes Seeks to relate the patterns of one s everyday activities to the potential for So people who engage in risky lifestyle choices put themselves at risk for victimization through an increased exposure to criminal activity and an increased exposure to motivated offenders Feminist Pathways Approach Draws upon the historical context of women and girls lives to relate how events and traumas affect their likelihood to engage in crime A cycle of violence for female offenders that starts at their own victimization and leads to their involvement in