Peer Review 2

GOALS OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The purpose of this assignment is to provide substantive feedback to your peers.

In this way you will 1) expand your knowledge and views of Victimology, 2) learn to appropriately provide constructive criticism, and 3) learn how to appropriately respond to constructive criticism.

QUESTIONS FOR PEER REVIEW ASSIGNMENT

Be sure to identify which peer Rlection you are reviewing at the top of your responses and summary report, then answer the following questions. You must elaborate on why you answered yes or no for all of the yes/no questions.. Simply rephrasing the question in the form of a statement does not accomplish this and you will not receive full credit if that is all that you do to “elaborate.”

• Does the author communicate his/her ideas clearly? YES/NO
• Does s/he directly address all of the questions for the Flash Reflection? YES/NO
• Is everything presented relevant to the overall topic? YES/NO
• Is the overall organization clear and effective? YES/NO
• Are there disorganized parts? YES/NO
• Does the language seem appropriate for its intended audience? YES/NO
• Are there

  Typos? YES/NO
  Grammatical errors? YES/NO
  Punctuation and/or spelling problems? YES/NO

• Does the author take a clear position on the issue? YES/NO
• Does the author present a convincing argument? YES/NO 
• What other problems exist?
• Suggestions for improvement:

REVIEWERS:

You will be evaluated on how well you identify the strengths/weaknesses in the Flash Reflection as well as on the quality and accuracy of your suggestions for improving it. Please see the rubric provided with this assignment in the Canvas course shell for further details.

Your task is to help the author to improve his/her knowledge of the subject matter as well as their skills at communicating this knowledge to an audience. For each of the two reflections you are assigned, you need to answer the below questions for each Flash Reflection as well as write a summary of your thoughts on each author’s Flash Reflection.

• Be aware that simply answering to all questions as if there are no problems when there actually are identifiable shortcomings in the assigned Flash Reflections will result in a poor grade for this assignment. Remember, it is your task to help your peers improve their work. Ignoring problems hurts both them and you.
• Before starting your reviews, you must read the Peer Review Guidance available in the Canvas course shell. This, along with the guidance AND rubric listed for Flash Reflections should also guide your

Gender differences amongst offending has been a concern on whether women offend differently than men. Criminal offending covers a wide range of behaviors from sexual assault, physical assault, or even destructive acts and stealing. Research has shown that men have always engaged in greater amounts of criminal acts, while women become more involved in crime and the criminal justice’s system. Today, I personally feel that majority of the time, men are the face of crime but, arrest rates trends over time demonstrate that there was an overall decrease in violent crimes for both women and men, but there was an increase in property crimes for women. Personally, I have never experience anything involving criminal offending, but to others that have, I learned among my research that your experience may not have been pleasant. Through research and exploration, women and girls are known to be treated differently from their male counterparts by agents of social control, such as, police, prosecutors, or even judges, for the result of their gender. As mentioned in the textbook, Women, Gender, and Crime (Core Concepts), by Stacy L. Mallicoat, “Women’s participation in the crime of homicide accounts for less than half of the arrests of men. And as with the rates of male violence, women’s participation in these crimes has decreased, with homicide offending rates for females declining from 3.1 offenders per 100,000 in 1980 to 1.6 offenders per 100,000 in 2008 (Cooper & Smith, 2011)”. With this statement, I was able to conclude that violent crime perpetuated by women, rarely occurs, and that men engage in far more acts of violence than females. Unfortunately, there have been cases where Mothers kill their children in which it, presents a significant challenge to the cultural ideas of femininity and motherhood. If this instance unfortunately occurs, the court may find someone (female) guilty for postpartum syndromes, mentally ill, in which this distinction can allow them to serve a portion of their sentence in a treatment hospital or a related facility. In a case that I learned in
Chapter 8: Female Offenders and Their Crimes,
“Andrea Yates was convicted of murder and sentenced to 40 years to life by the state of Texas in 2002, her conviction was later overturned. In her second trial, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was committed to a state mental health facility for treatment.” Now, if the results were somehow reverse, men would have a higher convicted sentence and most likely, not receive mental health treatment. With this, research was even proven that women are more likely to be treated leniently than men by prosecutors who determine the charges that were filed against an offender and charge-reductions strategies would be implanted in order to secure a guilty plea. Regardless, it has been true that women engage in every category of crime, yet their rates of offending are significantly lower than male offending practices.

The main objective of theories on criminal behavior try to explain why offenders engage in crime. Causes of crime focus on macro or micro explanations for criminal behavior. Macro theories mainly explore the large-scale of social explanations for crime, such as the topic of poverty and community disorganization. While micro theory is the opposite, focusing on an individual difference between law-abiding and law-violating behaviors. Out of all the theories I have read upon, the one that is the least convincing to me is the social bond theory. This theory is an alleged gender-neutral theory that sadly failed to consider the lives of girls and women. With this theory, it happens to focused on four criteria, or bonds, that prevent people from acting on criminological impulses or desires. During this time throughout the 20th century, number of arrests involving females increased dramatically. Data happened to reflect changes in polices regarding societal perspectives of female offending versus a direct increase in the rates of offending by women. Mentioned in the YouTube video,
Shortcuts to crime and Deviance: Women and Crime,
during the second wave feminism, patriarchy took over women’s lives, which lead to men having a hold over women. The statement above reminded me of the social bond theory, in which I didn’t like. The theory that was the most convincing to me happens to be the differential association theory. The differential association theory focuses on the influence of how relationships lead to a crime, and the influence of peer relationships on delinquent behavior. The theory is suggested that it is influenced by social learning theory, which happens to advocate that criminality is a learned behavior. Discussions of gender were absent, which was great since it focused on that individual, similar to the micro theory. There as, critiques of these theories demonstrate a need in a greater discussion about women and crime, especially the relationship between the context of females lives and their offending behaviors.

Researchers Daly and Chesney-Lind (1988) mentioned that, “Feminist discussions about crime are not limited to “women’s issues.” They argue that it is important that any discussion of women’s lives and criminality incorporates conversations on masculinity and patriarchy. Given the historical distortions and the casual assumptions that have been made about women’s lives in relationship to their criminal behaviors, incorporating feminist perspectives can provide a richer understanding about not only the nature of female offending but also the role of how experiences with victimization of women shape this process”. During the process of evolution, Feminist pathways research show how life events and trauma affects the likelihood of engagement in crime. I see the second wave feminism movement as the important change for women and crime. This movement advocated and introduce the women’s liberation and civil rights movements which influenced the first time that feminism was recognized in criminology, as a result of the feminist scholar’s acknowledgment and the exclusion of gender from criminological analysis (YouTube Video from Module B, Week 6: Theories on Female Offending: Imxxmercedes. (2013, May 01). The Feminist Theory of Crime. Retrieved November 09, 2020, from

). Overtime, development in feminist research addressed the relationship between victimization and offending. Female criminologist worked at identifying issues upon race, class, and sexuality. Through these developments, we learned that women of color experience multiple marginalized identities, which in turn their trajectories of offending. As scholars continue to study and pursue opportunities in their research and activism, it is important for these scholars to educate others to eliminate consequences for the lives of women, their families, and their communities.

Flash Reflection Two

1. Describe your personal thoughts and experiences on how women offend differently than men and contrast that with what is described in the course materials.

There have been many studies and statistics done on the male offenders throughout time but very little about the female offenders. Most of the traditional theories of crime focused mostly on male crime; very few focused on female crimes. Although most of the serious crimes are done by men, there are women who commit awful crimes as well. The spotlight has always been on men offenders until Lambroso and Ferrero attempted to investigate the nature of the female offenders. In 1895 Lombroso and Ferrero published The Female Offender. There are a lot of women who turn to crime and prostitution because they need to gain control over their lives after they have been abused during childhood. Many women who practice prostitution turn to that kind of lifestyle after escaping from an abusive household. Of course there are women who also commit murder and assaults. The Manson Women committed homicide numerous times under the influence of Charles Manson. Many times female offenders get away with offenses such as rape or assault because the men are shamed by society if they admit they have been raped by a woman. Since women are biologically weaker than men, men are expected to be able to defend themselves against a woman.

2. Consider the theories to explain 
female criminality and offending
 that were covered in this module. Which of them do you find the most convincing? Which is the least convincing? Why? Explain your answer for each theory you selected.

The theory I find most convincing is the life course theory. The life course theory suggests that the events that happened in someone’s life, from birth to death can provide insight as to why someone engages in crimes. Adolescence is seen as a crucial time in the development of offending behaviors. I find this theory most convincing because the events that happen in everyone’s life can have either a very positive or a very negative effect. Sometimes Bad thing that happen can either strengthen a person or weaken them to the point where they start turning to crime. Sometimes, kids who have been sexually harassed end up doing the same to others. Girls who commit offenses sometimes do so in order to be able to get shelter or food. A very traumatic life event can really change a person and it can make a person do things that normally they would’ve never done.

The theory I find least convincing is the power control theory. The power control theory suggests that boys are supervised less than girls and that they are encouraged to be more aggressive and ambitious than girls. This theory suggests that women will have a lower chance of taking part in criminal behavior due to lower opportunities. The theory also suggests that women raised in a patriarchal family structure are more law abiding and less likely to commit crimes. I find this theory least convincing because the more a person is controlled, the more that person wants to rebel. When a girl is always stopped from doing certain things while a boy is allowed to do it the girl will find a way to do it without the parents finding out. The more someone is controlled, the sneakier the person gets.

3. Trace the evolution of the typical Criminal Justice response to female 
offenders
 and the impact that feminism has had over that evolution.  Which of these evolutionary changes do you see as the most important for women and crime?  Why? Explain your choice. 

Since females offenders have been also studied and now we know women are just as capable of committing the same crimes as men are, women do not get away with their crimes as much anymore. It is important that female offenders get just as much punishment as men do when they commit crimes.