GCSESociologyAQAExam QuestionsCrime & DevianceFactors Affecting Criminal & Deviant Behaviour: Gender

Factors Affecting Criminal & Deviant Behaviour: Gender (AQA GCSE Sociology): Exam Questions

Exam code: 8192

30 mins6 questions
14 marks

Item B

Item B not reproduced here due to third-party copyright restrictions

Source: Heidensohn, F, Women and Crime, 1985.

From Item B, identify and explain one reason why women commit less crime than men according to Heidensohn, including what you know of her perspective on this issue.

How did you do?

24 marks

Identify and explain one disadvantage of using official statistics to understand the extent of crime committed by women.

How did you do?

34 marks

Item B

Carlen was interested in explaining female criminality, and conducted ground-breaking research.

She conducted her research using unstructured interviews with 39 women between the ages of 15 and 46, all of whom had been convicted of one or more crimes. According to Carlen, four major reasons were given by the women as to the cause of their criminality: poverty; being in residential care; drug and alcohol addiction; and the quest for excitement.

Although all the women had committed at least one crime for financial gain, most of them agreed that it was one of these four factors which led them to develop criminal careers.

Source: Carlen, P, Women, Crime and Poverty, (1988)

From Item B, identify and describe the research method used by Carlen, including what you know of her perspective on female criminality.

How did you do?

42 marks

Item A

In 2018, the Ministry of Justice published a report entitled ‘Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System 2017’. This report presented information on offending and victimisation according to gender.

The report used information from a wide range of sources, such as national statistics and the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). The report stated the following:

  • 85% of arrests are men

  • 74% of offenders prosecuted were men

  • 95% of the prison population was male

  • women are more likely to experience domestic abuse than men

  • women were most likely to be prosecuted for TV Licence fee evasion, truancy of their children from school, and shoplifting.

Source: Ministry of Justice, 2018

From Item A, examine one strength of the research.

How did you do?

54 marks

Item A

In 2018, the Ministry of Justice published a report entitled ‘Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System 2017’. This report presented information on offending and victimisation according to gender.

The report used information from a wide range of sources, such as national statistics and the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). The report stated the following:

  • 85% of arrests are men

  • 74% of offenders prosecuted were men

  • 95% of the prison population was male

  • women are more likely to experience domestic abuse than men

  • women were most likely to be prosecuted for TV Licence fee evasion, truancy of their children from school, and shoplifting.

Source: Ministry of Justice, 2018

Identify and explain one reason for the differences in male and female criminal activity, as referred to in Item A.

How did you do?

612 marks

Discuss how far sociologists would agree that women are less box likely to commit crime than men.

How did you do?