Gender and crime | AQA A-Level Sociology
Updated: Aug 30
For Specification 7192
AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time: 65 to 75 minutes
Gender is one of the three social divisions AQA requires you to examine when studying the social distribution of crime and deviance. This Gender and crime A-Level Sociology revision page examines why males and females appear differently in recorded crime and how sociologists explain these patterns through socialisation, masculinity, opportunities, informal social control and the criminal justice system. A crucial exam skill is distinguishing explanations of actual offending from explanations of recorded crime. The topic develops ideas from social control [Social order and social control] and can be compared with patterns by ethnicity [Ethnicity and crime] and social class.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Describe the social distribution of recorded crime and deviance by gender.
Distinguish gender differences in offending from gender differences in recorded crime.
Explain how gender socialisation may contribute to differences in offending.
Explain how informal and formal social control may contribute to gender differences.
Analyse the relationship between masculinity and offending.
Evaluate evidence and sociological explanations concerning gender and crime.
Revision Notes 📚
Gender and crime A-Level Sociology revision
The AQA specification requires students to study the social distribution of crime and deviance by ethnicity, gender and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime. Students must examine both the evidence and sociological explanations for these patterns.
Gender and crime therefore involves two connected questions:
Why might males and females differ in their actual offending?
Why might males and females differ in their likelihood of having offences officially recorded?
These are not the same question.
Understanding this distinction is essential before moving on to recent crime patterns [Recent patterns and trends in crime].
The basic pattern
AQA assessment material consistently treats crime as showing a clear gender pattern, with females less likely than males to appear as offenders in many forms of recorded crime.
The specimen assessment asked students to explain why females may be less likely than males to commit crime, while the 2021 assessment specifically focused on reasons for gender differences in recorded crime.However, sociologists do not simply accept recorded crime figures at face value.
A gender difference in official statistics could result from:
different levels of offending;
different opportunities to offend;
different patterns of socialisation;
different levels of informal social control;
different treatment by the criminal justice system;
differences in labelling and social reaction.
This makes gender and crime a useful example of the wider distinction between behaviour and criminalisation introduced in crime and deviance [Crime and deviance].
Recorded crime is not the same as offending
Recorded crime refers to offences that become part of official criminal justice records.
The process can involve several stages:
offending → detection → police response → recording → prosecution → conviction
A difference between males and females at any of these stages can influence the final statistical pattern.
For example, if males and females committed the same amount of a particular offence but one gender was less likely to be formally processed by the criminal justice system, official statistics would not accurately reflect the original behaviour.
This is why sociologists need to distinguish between:
Question | What it examines |
Why do males and females offend differently? | Possible differences in actual behaviour |
Why are males and females recorded differently? | Behaviour plus criminal justice processes |
Why are males more visible as offenders? | Offending, labelling and detection |
Why might female offending be underestimated? | Possible differences in recording and treatment |
This distinction is especially important because AQA examiners have identified confusion between recorded crime, reported crime and victimisation as a specific student error.
Gender socialisation
One sociological explanation focuses on gender socialisation, the process through which males and females learn different expectations about appropriate behaviour.
AQA's specimen mark scheme explicitly recognises differences in gender socialisation as an explanation for gender differences in crime.
It suggests that boys may be encouraged towards qualities such as:
toughness;
aggression;
risk-taking.
These characteristics may make some forms of offending more likely.
The basic argument is:
different gender socialisation → different expected behaviour → different likelihood of offending
This is a sociological explanation because it emphasises learned social expectations rather than treating differences in behaviour as inevitable.
Gender roles and female conformity
The specimen mark scheme also recognises the importance of women's expected roles as carers and nurturers.
If girls are socialised towards caring and nurturing roles, this may encourage behaviour that is less compatible with some forms of crime.
AQA also accepts the idea that females may be less likely to participate in delinquent subcultures and therefore less exposed to peer pressure to offend.
These explanations suggest that gender differences may emerge because males and females experience different:
expectations;
role models;
peer groups;
pressures to conform.
Evaluating gender socialisation
Gender socialisation provides a clear explanation of how social expectations might produce different behaviour.
However, it cannot automatically explain every male or female offender.
Not all males respond to socialisation in the same way, and not all females conform to expected gender roles.
It is therefore better to describe gender socialisation as a process that may influence patterns of offending, rather than something that determines the behaviour of every individual.
AQA's specification requires students to connect Crime and Deviance to socialisation, culture and identity, making this a useful link between individual behaviour and wider social expectations.
Masculinity and crime
A related explanation focuses specifically on masculinity.
AQA's 2021 mark scheme accepts the argument that males may commit crime as a way of accomplishing a traditional form of masculinity. Criminal behaviour may be used to demonstrate characteristics associated with being tough or "macho". The mark scheme uses the concept hegemonic masculinity.
Hegemonic masculinity refers here to a dominant ideal of masculinity associated with characteristics such as toughness and machismo.
The explanation can be represented as:
expectations of masculinity → pressure to demonstrate toughness or risk-taking → some forms of offending
This can help explain why particular types of offending may be disproportionately associated with males.
Masculinity, violence and risk
AQA's 2021 mark scheme also recognises the argument that males may be more likely to commit acts of violence because male socialisation encourages toughness, aggression and risk-taking.
These ideas overlap, but they are not identical.
Gender socialisation explains how males learn particular expectations.
Masculinity explanations focus on how crime itself may become a way of demonstrating a masculine identity.
This distinction can improve an extended response because it prevents you from simply repeating the same idea under different labels.
Labelling and masculinity
Gender expectations may also influence how other people react to offending.
AQA's 2021 mark scheme accepts the possibility that males are more likely to be labelled as criminal. Media representations of men as more criminal may contribute to this process and potentially produce a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when a label contributes to behaviour that makes the original label appear true.
The argument is:
male labelled as more criminal → greater association with criminal identity → possible further offending
This approach shifts attention away from simply asking why males offend and asks how social reactions may reinforce the pattern.
This provides a useful link with media representations of crime [The media and crime].
Informal social control of women
One of the most important explanations of gender differences is social control.
AQA assessed this directly in 2024.
The examination item distinguished:
informal social control, through role expectations;
formal social control, through criminal justice processes.
Domestic roles and opportunities
AQA accepts the argument that women's domestic roles may restrict their opportunities to offend.
If women are expected to spend more time carrying out responsibilities within the home, this may:
restrict their time;
restrict their movements;
reduce some opportunities to commit crime.
The specimen mark scheme describes this specifically as the social control of women.
The 2024 mark scheme similarly explains that women's domestic role may mean they are more likely to be confined to the home, reducing opportunities for offending.
The chain of explanation is:
gender role expectations → greater informal control → fewer opportunities to offend → lower levels of some offending
Patriarchal control
AQA's 2021 mark scheme explicitly uses patriarchal control at home and in the workplace as an explanation for women having fewer opportunities to commit crime.
Patriarchal control refers to control associated with unequal gender relations in which women's behaviour and opportunities may be more restricted.
Applied to crime, the important point is not simply that women are controlled.
You must explain the consequence:
Greater control may reduce freedom, time or opportunity to engage in offending.
This links gender and crime directly to the course-wide theme of social differentiation, power and stratification.
Formal social control and the criminal justice system
Gender differences in official statistics may also result from the operation of formal social control.
The 2024 AQA item specifically identifies the criminal justice system as a source of formal social control.
One explanation is that males and females may not always be treated identically by criminal justice agencies.
AQA's 2021 mark scheme accepts the argument that women may receive more lenient treatment because of stereotypes and chivalry, meaning that female offences may be less likely to appear in recorded crime.
The argument is:
different treatment by the criminal justice system → different chances of being formally recorded or convicted → gender differences in official statistics
This is crucial because it is an explanation of recorded crime, not necessarily an explanation of why males and females initially behave differently.
The chivalry explanation
The chivalry explanation proposes that women may sometimes receive more lenient treatment from criminal justice agencies.
If this happens, official statistics could underestimate women's involvement in offending.
For example:
female behaviour may be treated less seriously;
women may be less likely to progress through formal criminal justice processes;
female offending could consequently be less visible in official records.
AQA's 2024 examiner report notes that students successfully used gender theory when analysing formal and informal social control, and specifically mentions Pollak as one source students used to develop their answers.
The central examination point, however, is the process, not merely remembering a sociologist's name.
Evaluating the chivalry explanation
If women are sometimes treated more leniently, this provides a strong reason to question whether official statistics perfectly measure gender differences in actual offending.
However, this does not automatically prove that males and females commit equal amounts of crime.
Gender differences in recorded crime could result from a combination of:
genuine differences in behaviour;
differences in opportunities;
different levels of social control;
criminal justice responses.
A strong evaluation therefore distinguishes between questioning the size of the gender difference and claiming that no genuine difference exists at all.
Gender, labelling and official statistics
A different possibility recognised by AQA is that males may be more readily labelled as criminal.
If men are stereotyped as more likely offenders, this may influence social reactions and possibly criminal justice attention.
This means official gender patterns could be produced through two processes operating together:
gendered behaviour + gendered reactions to behaviour
An effective Sociology answer therefore avoids presenting official statistics as though they are produced entirely by offenders themselves.
Delinquent subcultures
AQA's specimen mark scheme also recognises differences in membership of delinquent subcultures.
If females are less likely to belong to groups where offending is encouraged or rewarded, they may experience less peer pressure to commit crime.
This explanation links:
peer group membership → social pressure → opportunities and encouragement to offend
It also shows how the same basic gender pattern can have several sociological causes.
Gender socialisation may influence peer-group membership, while peer groups themselves may reinforce particular forms of masculine behaviour.
Gender and opportunities to offend
Opportunity is therefore an important theme running across several explanations.
Women may have fewer opportunities because of:
domestic responsibilities;
role expectations;
patriarchal control;
lower participation in delinquent subcultures.
Men may have greater opportunities where:
peer groups encourage crime;
risk-taking is rewarded;
masculinity is demonstrated through offending.
This does not mean opportunity alone causes crime.
It means opportunities can interact with socialisation and social control to produce different patterns.
Gender differences and the criminal justice system
It is helpful to separate explanations into two groups.
Explanations of possible differences in offending | Explanations of possible differences in recording |
Gender socialisation | Chivalrous treatment |
Masculinity | Criminal justice discretion |
Informal social control | Gender stereotypes |
Domestic role expectations | Labelling |
Opportunities to offend | Differences in conviction |
Peer groups and delinquent subcultures | Formal social control |
Some explanations can affect both columns.
For example, labelling may influence criminal justice treatment but could also contribute to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
This distinction is a powerful way to organise an essay.
The importance of precise evidence
AQA examiner reports show why terminology matters.
In the 2021 question, students were asked specifically about recorded crime. Some instead discussed:
reported crime;
victims of crime.
Examiners identified this as a common error.
These concepts are different.
Recorded crime
Crime formally entered into criminal justice records.
Reported crime
Crime brought to the attention of relevant authorities.
Victimisation
The experience of becoming a victim of crime.
A question about one cannot automatically be answered with information about another.
This attention to evidence will also be important when comparing gender with social class patterns [Social class and crime].
Social control as an explanation of the gender gap
The 2024 Paper 3 question is particularly useful because it required students to connect gender differences specifically to social control.
Two broad explanations were available:
Informal control
Women's behaviour and opportunities may be restricted through gender role expectations and domestic responsibilities.
Formal control
Women may experience different treatment from criminal justice agencies and therefore be less likely to be convicted or officially recorded.
AQA's highest-level mark scheme required students to develop both item applications and analyse how far social control explains the gender difference.
This demonstrates an important exam principle:
Do not simply write everything you know about gender and crime. Answer the specific explanation named in the question.
Evaluating social control explanations
Social control explanations are useful because they can account for both:
differences in opportunities to commit crime;
differences in official recording.
They also connect gender differences to wider power relations rather than treating gender as a biological characteristic.
However, social control is not the only sociological explanation.
A fuller account may need to consider:
gender socialisation;
masculinity;
peer groups;
labelling;
criminal justice treatment.
A strong evaluative argument therefore asks how far each process explains the overall gender pattern.
Gender and social change
Because gender roles and social expectations are socially produced, sociologists can also ask whether changes in these expectations might affect crime patterns.
The key principle is that explanations based on:
role expectations;
opportunities;
socialisation;
social control
do not assume the gender pattern is fixed forever.
This links naturally to recent patterns and trends in crime [Recent patterns and trends in crime], where students consider changes in crime rather than treating recorded patterns as permanent.
Do not assume, however, that changing gender roles automatically produce a particular numerical change in offending unless evidence is provided.
Comparing the main sociological explanations
Explanation | Main idea | How it may explain the gender pattern |
Gender socialisation | Males and females may learn different behavioural expectations. | Toughness, aggression and risk-taking may encourage more male offending. |
Masculinity | Crime may be used to demonstrate a masculine identity. | Some males may offend to display toughness or machismo. |
Informal social control | Women's behaviour may be more restricted by role expectations. | Fewer opportunities may reduce some female offending. |
Patriarchal control | Women's activities may be controlled at home and in the workplace. | Reduced freedom and opportunity may contribute to lower offending. |
Delinquent subcultures | Peer groups may encourage offending. | Females may experience less peer pressure from delinquent groups. |
Chivalry | Women may sometimes receive more lenient criminal justice treatment. | Female offending may be under-recorded. |
Labelling | Males may be more strongly associated with criminality. | Greater labelling may reinforce criminal identities or affect recorded patterns. |
The best answers compare these explanations rather than simply listing them.
Evaluating evidence concerning gender and crime
To evaluate evidence properly, ask four questions.
1. What is actually being measured?
Are you looking at:
offending;
reported crime;
recorded crime;
arrest;
conviction?
These cannot automatically be treated as identical.
2. Could criminal justice processes affect the pattern?
If males and females are treated differently, official statistics may not perfectly reflect underlying behaviour.
3. Could genuine differences still exist?
Yes. Socialisation, masculinity, opportunity and informal control provide sociological explanations for why behaviour itself may differ.
Questioning official statistics does not automatically show that males and females offend at the same rate.
4. Can one explanation account for every offence?
Different types of offending may involve different social circumstances.
It is therefore safer to evaluate explanations according to the particular behaviour being discussed rather than assuming one theory explains every crime.
How to build an evaluative answer
Suppose the question asks:
"Evaluate sociological explanations of gender differences in crime."
A strong structure could be:
Gender socialisation: explain how toughness and risk-taking may encourage male offending.
Develop with masculinity: crime may be used to demonstrate masculine identity.
Evaluate through social control: lower female offending may instead reflect restricted opportunities.
Develop formal control: chivalrous criminal justice treatment may reduce the recording of female offending.
Evaluate the evidence: official statistics may therefore reflect both behaviour and criminal justice processes.
Judgement: gender differences are unlikely to have one cause, and explanations of actual offending should be distinguished from explanations of recorded crime.
This keeps AO3 focused directly on the issue being examined.
Key Words 🔑
Key word | Student-friendly definition | How it may be used in an exam |
Gender socialisation | The process through which people learn expectations associated with gender. | Use to explain differences in aggression, risk-taking or conformity. |
Hegemonic masculinity | A dominant ideal of masculinity associated with characteristics such as toughness and machismo. | Use when explaining crime as a possible way of demonstrating masculinity. |
Informal social control | Regulation of behaviour through social expectations and relationships rather than formal law. | Apply to domestic roles, role expectations and opportunities to offend. |
Patriarchal control | Gendered control linked to unequal power relations between males and females. | Use when explaining restrictions on women's opportunities to offend. |
Formal social control | Regulation through officially established rules and institutions. | Link to police, courts, punishment and recorded crime. |
Chivalry | The idea that women may sometimes receive more lenient treatment from criminal justice agencies. | Use when evaluating whether official statistics underestimate female offending. |
Labelling | The process through which someone is socially defined in a particular way. | Use to explain why males may be more strongly associated with criminality. |
Self-fulfilling prophecy | A process in which a label contributes to behaviour that makes the label appear true. | Apply to explanations in which criminal labelling encourages further offending. |
Recorded crime | Crime formally entered into criminal justice records. | Distinguish carefully from reported crime and actual offending. |
Delinquent subculture | A social group in which deviant or criminal behaviour may be encouraged. | Use when explaining gender differences in peer pressure and offending. |
Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡
AQA examiner reports contain direct lesson-specific guidance on gender and crime.
Examiner hint: Read the wording of the question precisely. In 2021, some students answered a question about recorded crime by discussing reported crime or victimisation. These are different concepts and did not meet the exact demand of the question.
Examiner hint: Do not overwrite 4-mark and 6-mark questions. The 2021 report notes that students often wrote far more than required. For a 6-mark "outline three" question, give three distinct reasons and develop each briefly.
Examiner hint: In a 10-mark analyse question, use the specific item hooks. In 2024, the item offered informal role expectations and formal criminal justice control. Successful students used these ideas and developed them with sociological knowledge.
Examiner hint: Keep every point focused on the named explanation. The 2024 report states that some students drifted into general gender and offending material when the question specifically required an explanation through social control.
Examiner hint: Specialist sociological knowledge can strengthen application. The 2024 examiner report notes that many students successfully used relevant theory when developing the social-control question.
Examiner hint: AO3 remains a major area for improvement. Evaluation should assess how far an explanation accounts for the gender pattern rather than simply placing another theory beside it. For example, ask whether chivalry explains recorded differences, while socialisation and opportunity explain possible differences in actual offending.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Treating recorded crime as a direct measure of all offending
Why this is incorrect: Official statistics are produced through processes of detection, recording and criminal justice decision-making.
How to improve: Distinguish clearly between actual offending and recorded crime.
Mistake: Confusing recorded crime with reported crime
Why this is incorrect: AQA examiners specifically identified this error in the 2021 gender question. A crime being reported does not automatically mean it becomes recorded in the same way.
How to improve: Underline the key word in the question before writing.
Mistake: Discussing victimisation when the question asks about offending
Why this is incorrect: Being a victim of crime and committing crime are different social patterns.
How to improve: Check whether the question asks about offenders, victims or the criminal justice system.
Mistake: Saying that men commit more crime simply because they are male
Why this is incorrect: This is not a sociological explanation. AQA requires sociological explanations of the social distribution of crime.
How to improve: Explain a social mechanism, such as gender socialisation, masculinity, peer pressure or opportunity.
Mistake: Treating masculinity and gender socialisation as exactly the same explanation
Why this is incorrect: Gender socialisation concerns how expectations are learned. Masculinity explanations focus on how offending may become a way of demonstrating a particular masculine identity.
How to improve: Make the causal process of each explanation explicit.
Mistake: Describing patriarchal control without linking it to offending
Why this is incorrect: Simply saying women experience greater control does not explain crime.
How to improve: Complete the chain:
greater control → restricted time or opportunities → lower likelihood of some offending
Mistake: Using chivalry as an explanation of actual offending without qualification
Why this is incorrect: Chivalrous treatment primarily explains why female crime might be less visible in official criminal justice records.
How to improve: State whether your explanation concerns behaviour or recording.
Mistake: Drifting into general gender theory in an item question
Why this is incorrect: The 2024 examiner report identified answers that discussed gender and crime generally but failed to remain focused on the specified idea of social control.
How to improve: After each paragraph, ask: "Have I explained the gender difference through the factor named in the question?"
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
Define gender socialisation. [1 mark]
Question 2
Explain one reason why recorded crime statistics may not provide a complete measure of gender differences in offending. [2 marks]
Question 3
Outline two ways in which gender socialisation may contribute to differences in offending between males and females. [4 marks]
Question 4
Outline three sociological reasons why males may be more likely than females to appear in official crime records. [6 marks]
Question 5
Explain two ways in which masculinity may be related to offending. [4 marks]
Question 6
Read Item A and answer the question that follows.
Item A
People experience different expectations according to gender. Some individuals experience greater restrictions on where they spend their time and the roles they are expected to perform. Peer groups may also reward behaviour associated with toughness and risk-taking.
Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which gendered social expectations may contribute to differences in offending. [10 marks]
Question 7
Read Item B and answer the question that follows.
Item B
Recorded crime is produced through the operation of the criminal justice system as well as through offending. Some sociologists argue that gender stereotypes can influence how offenders are treated. Others argue that gender differences begin before formal criminal justice processes because opportunities to offend are unequal.
Applying material from Item B, analyse two reasons why males and females may appear differently in recorded crime statistics. [10 marks]
Question 8
Read Item C and answer the question that follows.
Item C
Gender differences in crime may result from different socialisation, role expectations and opportunities. Some sociologists also argue that masculinity can encourage particular forms of offending. However, official statistics may exaggerate the difference if males and females are treated differently by the criminal justice system.
Applying material from Item C and your knowledge, evaluate sociological explanations of gender differences in crime. [30 marks]
Answers and mark scheme
Question 1
1 mark for a clear definition referring to the learning of socially expected gender roles or behaviour.
Example answer: Gender socialisation is the process through which individuals learn the behaviour and expectations associated with gender.
Question 2
Award up to 2 marks.
Example answer: Males and females may be treated differently by criminal justice agencies. If women receive more lenient treatment, some female offending may be less likely to appear in official records.
One mark for identifying an appropriate issue and one further mark for explaining its effect on recorded crime.
Question 3
Award 2 marks for each of two clearly outlined ways.
Possible answers include:
Aggression and toughness: boys may be socialised to value toughness and aggression, increasing the likelihood of some forms of offending.
Risk-taking: males may be encouraged to take greater risks, which may increase participation in criminal behaviour.
Caring roles: girls may be socialised towards caring and nurturing expectations that discourage some forms of offending.
Peer expectations: gender socialisation may influence membership of groups where criminal behaviour is encouraged.
Do not credit the same explanation twice using slightly different wording.
Question 4
Award 2 marks for each of three distinct sociological reasons.
Possible answers include:
Gender socialisation: males may be encouraged towards aggression and risk-taking.
Masculinity: offending may provide a way to demonstrate toughness or machismo.
Patriarchal social control: women may experience greater restrictions and therefore fewer opportunities to offend.
Delinquent subcultures: females may experience less peer pressure to participate in crime.
Chivalry: women may receive more lenient treatment, making their offending less likely to be formally recorded.
Labelling: males may be more readily associated with criminality, which can influence social reaction and potentially produce a self-fulfilling prophecy.
One mark identifies the reason. The second mark develops how it creates a gender difference.
Question 5
Award 2 marks for each of two developed explanations.
Possible answers include:
Toughness and aggression: Some males may view violent or risky behaviour as compatible with socially expected masculinity, increasing the likelihood of particular offences.
Accomplishing masculinity: Offending may become a way for some males to demonstrate a masculine identity based on appearing tough or macho.
The two points must be sufficiently distinct.
Question 6
Students should develop two different hooks from Item A.
Hook 1: restrictions and role expectations
Women may experience greater informal social control through domestic or other role expectations. This can restrict time and opportunities to offend.
Hook 2: toughness and risk-taking
Male peer groups or gender socialisation may reward toughness and risk-taking. Crime may therefore be used to demonstrate masculine identity.
8 to 10 marks: Good knowledge and understanding of two ways, two developed applications of Item A and clear analysis of how gendered expectations produce different patterns of offending.
4 to 7 marks: Reasonable knowledge with some successful application and analysis, although one point may be stronger.
1 to 3 marks: Limited knowledge, little effective use of the item or largely descriptive material.
0 marks: No relevant material.
Question 7
Students should distinguish between an explanation based on criminal justice processes and one based on opportunities or informal control.
Hook 1: gender stereotypes within criminal justice
If women receive more lenient treatment, their offences may be less likely to result in formal recording or conviction. This can widen the apparent gender gap in official statistics.
Hook 2: unequal opportunities
Greater informal social control or domestic role expectations may reduce women's opportunities to offend in the first place, producing a genuine behavioural difference.
8 to 10 marks: Two developed applications of Item B, accurate distinction between recorded crime and offending, and appropriate analysis.
4 to 7 marks: Some effective knowledge and item application with partial development.
1 to 3 marks: Limited knowledge or little distinction between offending and recording.
0 marks: No relevant material.
Question 8
This question requires knowledge and understanding, application, analysis and evaluation.
Indicative content may include:
Gender socialisation
toughness;
aggression;
risk-taking;
caring and nurturing roles;
differences in peer-group expectations.
Students may explain how socially learned gender expectations contribute to genuine differences in offending.
Masculinity
hegemonic masculinity;
toughness;
machismo;
offending as a way of accomplishing masculine identity.
This can explain why some forms of crime may be particularly associated with males.
Informal social control
role expectations;
domestic responsibilities;
patriarchal control;
restrictions on opportunities;
differences in peer groups and delinquent subcultures.
These explanations focus on why women may have fewer opportunities to offend.
Formal social control
criminal justice system;
chivalry;
stereotypes;
differences in treatment;
conviction and recording.
These explanations challenge the assumption that official statistics provide a perfect measure of the original gender difference in offending.
Labelling
males stereotyped as more criminal;
media representations;
self-fulfilling prophecy.
This provides an interactionist explanation for how social reaction may contribute to the pattern.
Evaluation of evidence
Students may distinguish:
actual offending from recorded crime;
recorded crime from reported crime;
behaviour from criminal justice reaction.
A strong answer should recognise that questioning the validity of recorded statistics does not prove that there are no genuine gender differences in offending.
25 to 30 marks: Sound, conceptually detailed knowledge of a range of relevant sociological explanations. Item material is applied accurately. Analysis and evaluation explicitly compare explanations of actual offending with explanations of recorded crime. A reasoned judgement is reached.
19 to 24 marks: Accurate and reasonably broad or deep knowledge. Application is mainly focused and there is some explicit evaluation, although parts may be incomplete.
13 to 18 marks: Largely accurate but narrower knowledge. Some application is present, but evaluation may rely mainly on placing alternatives alongside each other.
7 to 12 marks: Limited or undeveloped knowledge with weak application and little evaluation.
1 to 6 marks: Very limited relevant material or major misunderstanding of the gender pattern.
0 marks: No relevant material.
A strong conclusion should avoid claiming that one explanation completely accounts for gender differences. It could argue that socialisation, masculinity and informal control help explain possible differences in actual offending, while chivalry and labelling show why the recorded gender gap may not correspond exactly to the underlying behaviour.
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