Free Mainstream Criminology Essay Sample

Pamela J. Schram in her book Theory and Practice in feminist Criminology implies that Criminology is a wide area mainly concerned with criminal activities, the perpetuators in this case the criminals, regulations. This was the traditional perspective that continuously hampered more developments in this area due to the limited scope they offered. In the postmodern era this has been expanded in terms of the activities, the participants, law enforcement and most importantly, criminology is currently treated as a separate field of study. The studies current out by different scholars lead to more inventions in criminology with one major interest being developed on the role of the female sex in crime. This is in contrary with the traditional perspective where criminology was associated with the male sex only, not only is this new revolution accustomed to crimes but it has drawn the attention of the female scholars thereby broadening the perspective.

Feminism and criminology

The criminal justice system is highly influenced by sexism, the criminology scholarships therefore needs to acknowledge the limitations of the traditional views on criminology by appreciation of the fact that on the complexity and diversity in individuals. Feminist criminology had not been well understood .Its impact on the study and practice of criminal justice is inevitable. In the past there was no exposure of the relation between the feminism aspects and the mainstream criminologist disciplines, hence criminology was associated with men while women were associated with feminism activities that confined them to slavery.

The importance of feminism contribution to criminology was neither understood nor appreciated by the criminal practitioners and criminologists due to these perspectives. There were early demands by the feminists that the process that involved the analyzation of the crimes should consider the aspects of gender. According to Daly, K & Stephens, J. (1995) the study of the crimes should consider "..How class, gender, and race (and age and sexuality) construct the normal and deviant ...how these inequalities put some societal members at risk to be rendered deviant or to engage law-breaking, and ...how law and state institutions both challenge and reproduce inequalities."(p.193).

Women can commit offences that measure to high levels of criminality, crimes such as child abandoning, stealing and cruelty against the infants. Illegal abortions due to the fear of giving birth to unwanted children counts to major criminal offences that should never be neglected. In cases that involve theft of property, women are most likely to be involved either in the initial preparations or during the terminal stages as the recipients of the stolen property. Family loyalty is the main cause of the most implications that involve women in connection to theft since they are linked to usage and storage of goods in the house holds that belongs to lovers, husbands or sons.

Criminal offences such as frauds and forgery do not require any kind of masculinity to be performed; it only requires someone with a little literacy to commit such like offences. Women have equal opportunities in such cases to be involved in such crimes that were perceived to be for men in the men's domain (Williams, 2001). This is mostly evidenced in cases such as larceny which highly matches with the every day lifestyle of women in activities such house shopping and settling of the bills. Women tend to demand very high benefits when it comes to social security whereby they have been deserted. This has been attributed to the fact that a man must support a woman who lives with him financially irrespective of whether they are married or cohabiting. This is due to the social role that the society has attributed to them.

Violence offences are not an exception when it comes to the feminine sex, though in such cases it is normally treated as an exception case. Women are likely to commit offences linked to murder and even carry out terrorist activities like suicide bombing but hide under the Umbrella created by the society which attributes this to the exceptions in association nature. Women have higher chances of being involved in dangerous activities such as homicide due to the easy in accessing the victims. The conception that fewer women are likely to be involved in criminal cases is based on the assumptions that are made from the statistical data Presented by research. However women are likely to be involved in other minor offences such as female genital mutilation especially in the developing countries where it can not be noticeable due to cultural enslavement.

In conclusion social crimes such as prostitution has a completely different way of approach, it is handled according to the definitions laid down by state laws, religions, and cultures. Psychological have given which links it to fixations due maternal deprivation in the case of women while for men who are associated with this crime it is believed to be out of personal desire (Schram & Koons-Witt, 2001). Most studies link small offences such as shoplifting to women and to some extent offences that are related to sex. This is further explained by the conception that female offender are likely to be influenced by biological and psychological imbalances associated with their feminine nature.

Men are likely to be linked to crimes which tend to be economical or social in nature. The literature available in mast cases is biased towards domination while marginalizing women in the area of criminology. Therefore there is need for a balanced study with some aspects from the feminism side.

 

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