contribution of Frances Heidensohn to feminist criminology- Grade: 62 PDF

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Short essay around the contribution made to feminist criminology by Frances Heidensohn within the 1960s and 1980s...

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UP822179 Discuss the contribution made to feminist criminology within the period of the late 1960s-1980s made by Frances Heidensohn.

An apparent fact in criminology currently is that men commit crimes more frequently than women, with the nature of these crimes being more often, violent offences. However, in the 1960s this was unconsidered in criminological research, despite now being a central part of the subject due to the work of feminist criminologists actively researching the area. One of these was Frances Heidensohn who identified the apparent gender gap in sociological research in the 1960s, and consequently raised a number of issues (Silvestri & Heidensohn, 2012). An issue highlighted by Heidensohn’s work was the apparent neglect of research on deviant women, and why such work has been neglected. In addition, she also looked at the little research which had been conducted on deviant women and concluded that such research was sexist and therefore not entirely valid. This essay will focus these two points as the contribution made by Heidensohn to feminist criminology (Heidensohn, 2010). In identifying the gender gap, Heidensohn acknowledged the fact males commit crimes more commonly than females as a reason for concentration on male offending over that of female offending (Denno, 1994). The lower deviancy rates seen with females on face value suggests a higher urgency to study male delinquents as it appears to pose more pressing social problems. However, in her 1968 paper, Heidensohn expressed her dissatisfaction with this explanation for the altogether exclusion of female offenders from important literature and argued that such reflected an unconcern for approximately half the population. As a result, the present research of delinquency in the 1960s could be argued to have been skewed and not entirely valid due to such a generalization problem (Heidensohn, 2010). Through her work, Heidensohn put out a demand further studies to be conducted on female criminality, and its recognition in important literature; without a stereotypical basis. Research into delinquency, if it acknowledged female offending, often portrayed a sexist image. At this time, prevailing theories rained from Lombroso whose research suggested that the lower crime rate of females was a result of a lower intelligence and an increased maternity compared to males. Therefore, it argued that female criminality resulted from women who lacked feminine qualities, and therefore were of higher intelligence and physical strength. This was supported by beliefs of society during this time, that female criminals were not capable of serious crimes as they were too physically demanding. This further skewed the available research due to the apparent sexism seen in such few theories of female criminality. Heidensohn expressed the opinion that research into female delinquency like Lombroso’s relied heavily on the female stereotype, and therefore lacked validity in reality (Denno, 1994). In conclusion, Heidensohn’s research impacted the future development of feminist criminology, amongst other pioneering researchers, who achieved the recognition of female deviance in academically significant literature. Although there can still be said to be issues in the research conducted between genders in present day, the work carried out by Heidensohn during second-wave feminism has aided the cultural shift in criminology to take an interest in gender differences in criminality (Heidensohn, 2012). Her contribution to the development of feminist criminology cannot be disputed, in that Heidensohn raised issues from which feminist criminology arose from as a now significant stand-alone area within the subject if criminology itself. Word Count: 542

UP822179 Denno , D.W. (1994) Gender, Crime, and the Criminal Law Defences, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 85(1) pp. 80-179. Available from: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi? referer=https://www.bing.com/&httpsredir=1&article=6808&context=jclc Heidensohn, F. (2010) The deviance of women: a critique and enquiry. The British Journal of Sociology, 61, pp.111-126. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.14684446.2009.01242.x [accessed: 26 March 2018] Heidensohn, F. (2012) The Future of Feminist Criminology, Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal. 8(2), pp. 123-134. Available from: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1741659012444431#articleCitationDownloadContain er Silvestre, M., Heidensohn, F. (2002) Gender and Crime. The Oxford handbook of Criminology, 3, 491530. Available from: https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/30584629/Gender_and_Crime_Oxford_Hand book_of_Criminology.pdf? AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1522133516&Signature=8%2Fj %2FePaAhgdYvKiQ5u4TOrAW24g%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename %3DGender_and_Crime_in_Oxford_Handbook_of_C.pdf

Explain the significance of left realists use of relative deprivation as an explanation for crime

Relative deprivation emerged into the subject of criminology in the early 1980s in response by left realists to the conservative party focusing on tougher laws, and shifting away from the social-welfare approach to the criminal justice system. This led to left realists moving away from the critical perspective of Marxist which suggested poverty as a cause of crime (absolute deprivation), to rather relative deprivation being a primary cause (Webber, 2007). In doing this, left realists were able to explain the paradox of an increasing crime rate, alongside an increasing wealth within society; which had originally contradicted the idea of poverty as a significant cause of crime (Jazera, 2016). In addition, they also used the theory to explain how differences between two groups can lead to the feeling of being relatively deprived. Relative deprivation is when individuals or even groups perceive themselves as having an unfair disadvantage over others. Injustice is more likely to be sensed between two groups whose differences are slight as this allows for comparisons between them to be more obvious. The way in which relative deprivation causes discontent is how left realists use this theory to explain crime (Young, 2000). This feeling of discontent between groups can be argued to be a major factor in people’s motivation to commit crime as it can be considered by them as a way of evening out the perceived disadvantage. Such assessment of what is unfair or unjust is a subjective one as it relies on the individuals’ perception (DeKerseredy, Cullen, & Wilcox, 2010). Relative deprivation is supported by research which shows a significantly increased crime rate in societies where wealthier and poorer estates are placed near each other compared to where they are not. This is due to the higher amount of relative deprivation felt by those living in the poorer areas as they are able to compare themselves to those with greater wealth more regularly and can therefore be argued to have a greater sense of injustice at their own situation. Whereas areas where such estates are not placed together, the crime

UP822179 rate would be less as those living in poorer areas would not be able to compare themselves so often to those better off, and as a result, have reduced feeling of deprivation (Young, 2000). Left realists such as Lea and Young, highlighted the rise in living standards following World War two correlating with a rise in crime rates; relative Deprivation was one way in which they explained this paradox. It can be said living standards have improved significantly since the 1950s, therefore the levels of deprivation have fallen since, yet crime rates are higher now than in the 1950s. Despite people being generally better off at present times, there is a greater feeling of relative deprivation due to a greater emphasis on material possessions (Jazera, 2016). Had the previous standpoint of absolute deprivation been accurate, a reduction in the crime rate would have been observed alongside the increasing wealth of society, however, this is not the case. This paradox can be explained by relative deprivation, as the increase in wealth has consequently created a greater divide between the wealthy and poor, therefore the sense of deprivation has also increased. This means that those who could be considered poor in today’s society may perceive themselves as even poorer, unfairly so, when comparing themselves to other groups of people who they would consider undeserving by comparison (Webber, 2003). Overall, the use of the theory of relative deprivation by left realists within criminology was significant in that it caused a shift away from the use of critical criminology in the 1980s as a principle explanation of crime. The use of the relative deprivation theory to explain crime was able to account for the contradiction of an increasing crime rate alongside increasing wealth when previous theories, such as absolute deprivation suggested crime would reduce alongside increasing wealth. Word Count: 646 DeKeseredy, W.S., Cullen, T., Wilcox, P. (2010) Encyclopaedia of Criminological Theory: Left Realism Criminology, SAGE Publications: Thousand Oaks, pp.547-551. Available from: https://study.sagepub.com/system/files/Left_Realism_Criminology.pdf Jazera, A. (2016) Left Realist Criminology, ReviseSociology, Available from: https://revisesociology.com/2016/09/06/left-realist-criminology/ [Accessed: 3 April 2018] Webber, C. (2003) Youth Crime and Relative Deprivation, Crime and Justice, pp.20-21. Available from: https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/sites/crimeandjustice.org.uk/files/09627250308553545.pdf [Accessed: 4 April 2018] Webber, C. (2007) ‘Revaluating Relative Deprivation Theory’, Theoretical Criminology. 11(1), pp.95118. Available from: http://www.academia.edu/163086/_Revaluating_Relative_Deprivation_Theory_Theoretical_Crimino logy_2007_Volume_11_No._1_95-118 Young, J. (2000) Relative Deprivation. Available from: https://www.malcomread.com/JockYoung/relative.htm [accessed: 2 April 2018]...