Criminal Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Criminal doings - Essay ExampleAn investigation of male and female crook activity will see a shift in female behavior that has been influenced by favorable and heathen pressures, and a narrowing of the commotion between male and female perpetrators.Recent decades birth seen an increasing prevalence of female criminals and the crimes that they commit have become more ruddy. During the 10-year period from 1986 to 1997 the adult male correctional population increased by 67 part, while the womens population increased by 100 percent (Demographic trends, 2008). Still, crime is an activity that is dominate by males as 5 percent of them are under some form of correctional supervision in the US compared with only 1 percent of the female population. However, female crimes have become more carmine in nature. In 1989, 13 percent of the crimes committed by females were violent in nature, but that fig had increased to 17 percent by 2002 (US Department of Justice, 2004). In addition, in the year 2000 women constituted 6.7 percent of the total state and federal prison population, and that number had increased to 7.2 percent in 2007 (US Department of Justice, 2008). selective information from a variety of sources verifies that women have become more active in crime in a more violent fashion.The contrast between male and female crime and the shift in demographics in recent years can help give an indication of the motivations that underlie criminal activity. Emotion has a far lesser impact on a mans decision to commit a crime than it does for a female. When men commit a crime it is often the result of learned behavior that has been the result of social interaction. Ramoutar & Farrington (2006) report that, According to social encyclopaedism theory, if individuals have ample opportunity to observe aggressive or violent behaviour, this will increase the chance that they will learn to value violence and incorporate it into their behavioral repertoire (p.562). These beha viour patterns are learned from parents, family members, social networks, and promoted through the culture of the popular media. The male dominated society has traditionally tolerated male violence and males are responding to the motivation of perpetuating the existing social norms (Womens Aid, 2005, p.7). Social and cultural norms are at the foundation of the difference in male and female demographics in regards to the types of crimes committed. Women commit violent acts as a means of reacting to their socially repressed status, while males commit violent acts as a learned behavior and minimizes the act based on societys acceptance of male domination. While social learning is a factor that impacts a males decision to commit a crime, it is also a factor that discourages women from criminal activity. Social control theory further states that human beings have a natural tendency to invade in antisocial behavior, irrespective of gender and that strong community, family, workplace, and social ties all contribute to a persons waver to engage in criminal activity (Li & MacKenzie, 2003, p.279). According to Corbett (2007) there are significant informal pressures and sanctions primed(p) on women by family to conform to appropriate gender prescribed behaviours that discourage deviance (p.258). Women have traditionally been perceived as the weaker sex and sheltered from the male dominated activities associated with