Module 6 DB2: Gender Differences in Crime in the U.S
The data presented by Catalano et al. (2009) is an eye-opener in terms of shading more light on gender differences in crime in the U.S. Before going through the information provided by Catalano et al. (2009) on female victims of violence, I assumed that men generally commit more crimes than women in the United States. Such a notion is supported by Bernard, Snipes, Gerould, and Vold (2009, p. 286), where the suggestion is that men are more likely to offend than women. However, Figure 1 (Catalano et al. 2009, p. 2) presents an interesting statistic on partner violence trends against both males and females. The first learning point is that when it comes to partner violence, both men and women fall victim to such from their current or ex-partners. Such shows that one cannot entirely depend on gender in explaining why individuals commit crimes. It is also not clear why men are more likely to commit criminal offenses than women (Bernard, Snipes, Gerould, & Vold, 2009, p. 286). However, the most striking information from Figure 1 (Catalano et al. 2009, p. 2) is that the trend in nonfatal intimate partner violence for both males and females had declined from 1993 to 2008. While in previous modules, I had come to learn that crime rates in the U.S have declined over the last two decades. Labeling theories present the best avenue in explaining the declining trend of nonfatal intimate partner violence. With labeling theory, Lemert’s postulate that a person’s self-image has a significant role in determining whether they will be involved in criminal and deviant behavior can explain the downward trend (Bernard, Snipes, Gerould, & Vold, 2009, p. 243). Given that people find it essential to maintain noncriminal self-image (Bernard, Snipes, Gerould, & Vold, 2009, p. 243), nonfatal intimate partner violence being categorized as a criminal act by the law and being reported to the authorities has helped in reducing the occurrence of such criminal acts in the U.S. For example, in 2008, 72 % of intimate partner violence against men were reported to the police while 49% of intimate partner violence against females was reported (Catalano et al. 2009, p. 2). As such, labeling such acts as criminal behavior appeared to have encouraged people to report them to the authorities leading to their decline in the U.S. However, a limitation to labeling theory, based on Lemert’s suggestion, is that not all people who commit criminal offenses have a criminal self-image (Bernard, Snipes, Gerould, & Vold, 2009, p. 243),
References
Bernard, T. J., Snipes, J. B., Gerould, A. L., & Vold, G. B. (2016). Vold’s Theoretical criminology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Catalono, S., Smith, E., Snyder, H., & Rand, M. (2009). Female Victims of Violence (Links to an external site.). [PDF, File Size 368KB] (Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings). Retrieved from http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/fvv.pdf