Female Deviance and Criminality

The 1970s were a decade when studies done within juvenile and criminal justice system were beginning to include women (Cernkovich, Lanctot, and Giordano 3-4). Until this point, many were of the opinion that women weren’t criminal and arrest rates for females, juvenile or adult, were low. The attitude was women were meant to follow the male in the household, a paternalistic view that still exists in some parts of the U.S. today. This view is why women weren’t thought of as criminals because with the paternalistic environment, women were taught to behave, stay quiet, and take care of the household. As we have progressed since the 70s, women’s role in society has morphed. Women now work full-time jobs rather than staying home with the kids, either because of financial or reasons otherwise, so the household is not paternalistic like it once was. Married couples have lives outside their marriages, and with women working and supporting the family in a financial way, independence exists much more because of that.

Independence allows women to express emotions when before it wasn’t looked upon as important. Women’s strains and reactions to those strains are different then men’s. Women tend to express anger through self-hurt, while men express anger through physical violence against others(Baron 278). To be more specific, women from different ethnic and socioeconomic status would also have different reactions to the same stimuli because of their background (Katz 633-660). So, it would make sense that female deviance is different from males, as white female deviance is different from minority female deviance. Because female deviance has now been researched separately from male deviance, we can understand how females perceive their environment and react to strain. Policies have not reflected this new research, so while female deviance exists, it does not overlap as frequently into the male deviance model of crime inadvertently used by the justice system. For that reason, we can begin to understand the statistical inaccuracy between male and female delinquency and crime.

Starting in infancy, girls respond differently than boys. A study called “Gender Differences in Emotional Expression” studied 7-13 month old infant’s reactions to facial expressions. The girls tended to have a quicker reaction to the different social stimuli presented, which means girls are more attentive in social situations. The boys were more into the toys and less responsive to the social stimuli. This responsiveness can help understand why females place a great value on how they are perceived by others and in intimate relationships; its a biological trait of the general female population (Losonczy-Marshall 267-274).

Because females tend to place value on different social aspects more than males do, the strain that comes with that is different. For Example, there is an expectation to be in shape and pretty. Girls who don’t feel as though they are, can use “socially deemed” deviant methods of obtaining those goals. For example, bulimia and the act of purging are deviant acts within society but being overweight is also a negative within society and this creates a strain and the reaction from that strain is to harm yourself, purging, to obtain the goal of being thin (Sharp, Terling-Watt, and et al 171-188).

The idea of the general strain theory from Agnew is, more sources of strain are likely to create a more deviant attitude. However, statistics tell us that female crime is still less than males. What statistics doesn’t account for is the differences between gender and the expression emitted because of the strain. The statistical information we receive is about criminal sanctions, which is based off of male behavior because that’s all was studied when policies were implemented. Socially deviant behavior would include male and female behavior, and would be more accurate. Female deviance is not viewed as criminal within our society because of the policies based off of outward male deviant acts, and because most of the female deviant acts are self inflicted.  So female deviance is continually overlooked because according to statistics females aren’t as criminal but our definition of criminal has to change with the times just as the role of women has if we plan to incorporate accurate statistics of female deviance.

Baron, Stephen. "Deviant Behavior." Deviant Behavior. 28.3 (2007): 273-302. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.

Cernkovich, Stephen, Nadine Lanctot, and Peggy Giordano. "Crime and Delinquency." Crime and Delinquency. 54.1 (2008): 3-33. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.

Katz, Rebecca. "Violence Against Women." Violence Against Women. 6.6 (2000): 633-660. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.

Losonczy-Marshall, Marta. "Social Behavior and Personality." Social Behavior and Personality. 36.2 (2008): 267-274. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.

Sharp, Susan, Toni Terling-Watt, et al. "Deviant Behavior." Deviant Behavior. 22.2 (2001): 171-188. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.