HSRV210 EOY exam - The entire course load for HSRV, including mandatory assignments, notes, and PDF

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The entire course load for HSRV, including mandatory assignments, notes, and the end of year exam. A grade received overall. ...

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Alice Stratford 76507611

Question one: Critically consider the importance of foregrounding gender when considering certain aspects of the criminal justice system. Please give an example.

Foregrounding gender when examining aspects of the criminal justice system (CJS) is important to recognise how gender inequality manifests itself within the system. The court’s and policing in terms of corrections and the police force are indispensable institutions within the CJS where gender inequality is deeply imbedded, and attention and reform are needed.

The court system is an essential institution within the CJS whereupon anachronistic considerations of female offenders continue to influence how women are viewed and prosecuted within the system. Before the 1970’s criminology failed to recognise or legitimize female offenders on the mistaken conception that women are not capable of being criminal activity (Simpson, 1989). Even in the present, women’s propensity for offending is dismissed and instead their behavior is assigned labels like; battered, mad, sexually deviant, incapable mothers, which projects the misconception that this behavior is abnormal and exceptional when it occurs (Weare, 2013). The defense of Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) is a key example of how female offending is dismissed as if BWS is proved beyond a reasonable doubt, a claim of temporary insanity may be supported which has been accurately criticized for excusing the offending rather than recognising it (Noh, Lee, & Feltey, 2010). This defense is in line with the prospect of chivalry thesis which entails that ‘respectable’ females are more likely to receive a lenient sentence (Simpson, 1989). Overall, the ability for female offenders to be prosecuted ‘leniently’ and diversely to their male counterparts reveals that this aspect of the CJS is flawed, and these misconceptions and gender inequality demand attention and reform.

Another aspect of the CRJ where gender inequality is especially prevalent is policing which deters women from entering the profession and undermines its

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effectiveness and success. The theory of gender essentialism is the consideration that women and men are born with distinct biological differences (Chandler & Munday, 2016). This belief is deeply imbedded within policing culture (Jurick, 1985) and disregards the impact that individuals, upbringing, culture, and other circumstances play on determining their mental, physical, and emotional capabilities (Chandler & Munday, 2016). Within the force some of the essentialist assumptions are that women are physically and mentally weaker than men (Jurick, 1985) and accordingly are assigned to ‘feminine’ tasks like human relations and child protection and deemed incapable to attend volatile situations where there is a potentiality of violence (Joyce & Walker, 2015). However, an individual in Chan (2013) study shared that in these situations’ communication skills are what is truly necessary and of utmost importance (Jurick, 1985). These imbedded misconceptions about men and women’s relative ability within the force are inaccurate and mirror the same gender equality that existed decades earlier within the force that confined women to ‘domestic duties’ like assisting lost children and escorting female prisoners (Chan, 2013). Therefore, foregrounding gender when looking at the police force reveals imbedded, and inaccurate gender assumptions and inequality within the force.

To foreground gender when looking at the police force is necessary to counteract the disproportionate gender ratio which has a negative outcome on effective policing. Sworn female police officers only constitute 13% of the force in the United States and in Europe between 2-20% of officers are women (Kurtz, 2012). This disproportion can be attributed to the harassment and discrimination that women are faced with in their career, lack of support from friends and family, and lack of prospective growth they have available to them within the industry (Brown et al.,2018). Furthermore, women are also expected to prove their worth as their capability is under constant scrutiny (Jurick, 1985). The impact that these factors have on women within policing is evident through Kurtz (2012) study which revealed that harassment and discrimination experienced by women are the main reasons influencing recruit dropout. Therefore, gender inequality and discrimination within policing functions as a disincentive for women to choose the career path. This has an adverse effect on

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effective and successful policing. This is because females within policing have received fewer complaints, a higher level of compliance from the public, and were received better in general which acts towards quelling expectations of violence and hyper-masculinity the public expect (Brown & Silvestri, 2019). Ultimately, the reality is that gender collaboration within policing has been discovered as essential for adherence to the law though regardless of this reality, gender inequality within the force functions as a disincentive for women to remain within and enter the field.

Ultimately, gender inequality is a multi-faceted issue within the court system and policing which undermines the tenants of fairness and effectiveness within these aspects of the CJS. To change this, transparency of the problem is necessary and to achieve this gender needs to be foregrounded in the investigation.

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References Brown, J., Fleming, J., Silvestri, M., Linton, K., & Gouseti, G. (2018). Implications of police occupational culture in discriminatory experiences of senior women in police forces in England and Wales. Policing and Society 29(2), 121-136.

Brown, J., & Silvestri, M. (2019). A police service in transformation: Implications for women police officers. Police Practice and Research, 1-17. Retrieved from https://www-tandfonlinecom.ezproxy.canterbury.ac.nz/doi/pdf/10.1080/15614263.2019.1611206? needAccess=true

Chan, M. S. (2013). Negotiating Gender and Police Culture: Exploring the Barriers to Retention and Progression of Female Police Officers in New Zealand (Published doctoral thesis) Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.

Joyce, Y., & Walker, P. S. (2015). Gender essentialism and occupational segregation in insolvency practice. Accounting, Organization and Society, 40, 41-60

Jurik, C. N. (1985). An Officer and a Lady: Organizational Barriers to Women Working as Correctional Officers in Men’s Prisons. Oxford University Press, 32(4), 375-388.

Kurtz, L. D. (2012). Roll call and the second shift: the influences of gender and family on police stress. Police Practice and Research, 13(1), 71-86.

Noh, M. S., Lee, M. T., & Feltey, K. M. (2010). Mad, bad, or reasonable? Newspaper portrayals of the battered woman who kills. Gender Issues, 27(3), 110-130.

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Simpson, S. (1989). Feminist theory, crime, and justice. Criminology, 27(4), 605-631.

Weare, S. (2013). “The Mad”, “The Bad”, “The Victim”: Gendered Constructions of Women Who Kill within the Criminal Justice System. Laws2013, 2, 337-361. https://doi.org/10.3390/laws2030337

Biological essentialism. (2016). In Chandler, D., & Munday, R., A Dictionary of Media and Communication. Retrieved from https://www-oxfordreferencecom.ezproxy.canterbury.ac.nz/view/10.1093/acref/9780191800986.001.0001/ acref-9780191800986-e-218?rskey=owvJVV&result=4

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