CC200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Atavism, Paternalism, Social Control
Document Summary
Traditional criminology focuses on theorizing about males, then generalizing about girls. Cohen was first to include females in his analysis, but all he said was that his theory did not apply to girls. This is a misrepresentation because we know that girls do commit crimes, but often for different reasons. Ignoring them in theory means they are missed by policies. Females are assumed to be incorrigible and overly sexual. In old policies, girls were more commonly put in training facilities to preserve their virginity, while boys didn"t have to be imprisoned because their crimes were reversible (stolen goods can be returned, etc. ) Lombroso, atavism: assumption that girls are inherently passive and nurturing. Criminal women are born criminal when they have masculine physical qualities, or they learn criminal behaviour through association. Some theories explain female youth delinquency as due to women being more manipulative and deceitful (even though evidence suggests no gender difference).
