Theories of Female Deviance and Crime

Melissa Bernaudo

CRJ 313 Term Paper

Women are not more deviant than men; they simply commit different crimes and are evaluated on the same set of sociological theories which were originally developed by men to account for male behavioral patterns. Throughout the history of the criminal justice system, numerous theories have been developed in an effort to explain and possibly even rationalize those actions which society has deemed to be criminal behavior. However, these vast and complicated theories have all but completely neglected the area of female criminality. Of the few male criminologists who have studied female offenders in depth, these men have tended to describe female lawbreakers as immoral, corrupt, hysterical, manipulative and devious (Rafler, 2000:70). Female criminals have long been viewed as having a biological and/or psychological defect whereas the male dominated theories of criminology attribute everything from lack of “proper” attention, poor social interaction, terrible role models and Saturday morning cartoons to the criminal activities among the male population.

Deviance can take a variety of forms and have a variety of definitions for each form. For example, deviance was defined according to Edward Sagarin as “the notion that most sociologists perceive deviance as a collection of conditions, persons or acts that society disvalues, finds offensive or condemns (Sagarin, 1975: 9). The definition of a deviant according to the American Heritage Dictionary is “(adj.) Differing from a norm or from the accepted standards of a society. (n). One that differs from a norm, especially a person whose behavior and attitudes differ from accepted social standards.” For the purposes of comparison in this paper the “normative definition” of deviance will be used. The normative definition of deviance is a departure from perceived social norms that draws social disapproval such that the variations elicit, or are likely to elicit, if detected, negative sanctions (see Best and Luckenbill, 1994:2-4)

When it comes to evaluating the behaviors of female criminal offenders which society and the criminal justice system have deemed as deviant, there are several general sociological theories which can be applied. These theories each attempt to explain the effects of social and environmental influences as well as observations and experiences, which have contributed to their ultimately engaging in deviant and criminal behaviors. For the purposes of this paper, such concepts as the Social Learning Theory, Differential Association Theory, Anomie Theory and Left Realism will be analyzed and applied to the criminal behaviors of female offenders.

The social context of deviance can and very often does include a variety of socioeconomic forces which bring female deviants together in a close environment with their potential victims as well as the times and places of their interactions. This gathering also includes efforts which are designed and implemented in an effort to stop or reduce deviance. This is the process known as social control (Clinard and Meier, 2004:34). Every social group, in every division of society is equipped with a variety of methods which it continuously employs in the prevention of and dealing with any behaviors that are viewed as a violation of the traditionally accepted social norms within that group.

The social control process consists of two main parts. The first part is an individuals’ internalization of perceived group norms, which encourages a woman’s conformity through her socialization with other women of the same social set. This helps to ensure her awareness of the expectations placed upon her by society and to which it is hoped she will aspire to meet or exceed those expectations (see also Clinard and Meier, 2004; Scott, 1971). The second part of the social control process is the external influence on an individual by social reaction in the form of sanctions from