CRJ305 Arizona State University Female Offenders Discussion

CRJ305 Arizona State University Female Offenders Discussion

Reply to a minimum of two peers, commenting on their original post in a substantive and insightful manner. Your two response posts (150 minimum word count for each)

RESPONSE 1 sadie flatland

. Why should we focus on issues distinct to female offenders?

Or female victims or female criminal justice professionals? What is to

be gained?

In reading the assigned text this week, it has become apparent to me that the many theories explaining what causes an individual to commit crime have largely ignored how they relate to female offenders specifically. As described in the text, women and girls have historically been left out of studies conducted on criminal behavior (Belknap, 2015). In order to better understand female offenders, it is essential that the theories used to explain criminal behavior include and examine female offenders. Should our correctional system hope to deter potential crime or rehabilitate those who are already in the system, it is crucial that the criminal behavior of female offenders is understood as a distinct issue from males.

2. Do you feel we should not make a distinction between male and female offenders, victims, and professionals? Explain why or why not.

Upon reading this week’s text, a distinction between male and female offenders, victims, and professionals must be made since the research in explaining the patterns and causes of criminal behavior has largely been focused around males up until recently (Belknap, 2015). The text points out that although gender is directly linked into predicting what individuals may break the law, these studies rarely included women and girls in their samples (Belknap, 2015). Until the same focus that was given male offenders, male victims, and male professionals is given to women, the distinction must be made.

3. Finally, why are we not focusing on males in a similar way? Is this unfair? Explain your position.

Historically, most of the efforts behind explaining criminal behavior through studies was done so through the use of male subjects, female criminal behavior being thrown together with the data collected on those male subjects (Belknap, 2015). While the many theories that have arisen from such studies still do hold relevance today, the focus of studies on criminal behavior must be directed upon women and girls or incorporate both males and females equally in terms of study and data collection. There is a significant amount of research on explaining the patterns and causes of criminal behavior as they relate to male offenders, but attention must either be switched to females to ensure that the reasons and causes of female criminal behavior is better understood or to incorporate both female and male samples into future research.

RESPONSE 2 richard huntress

We should focus on issues distinct to female offenders, victims, and female criminal justice professionals because it is one side of criminal justice that we do not often study or take into consideration. I agree with the sentiment that our criminal justice system was constructed “by men for men (Belknap, 2014).” Reflecting on pass courses, the preponderance of my research has been about why and at what men commit crimes, only differentiating by race and type of crime. While most of the crime is still carried out by men Criminal Intelligence Analyst Jonathon Alston explains that over the past two decades there has been an increase in criminal actives being carried out by women (Baverstock Psychology, 2014). So, by not understanding why females commit crimes, become victims, and understanding their roles as criminal justice professions, we are only getting part of the information. Whereas if we were to understand females within the criminal justice system better, we might be able to better understand not only the rise in female crime but a better understanding of male criminality (Belknap, 2014).

I do believe there should be a distinction between males and females in all regards. We still make dictions between race age and location to help understand why certain groups in certain areas commit crimes. Why would it not be the same for differentiating between males and females? By differentiating between male and females, we can work towards equality. This idea may seem to be counter-intuitive, but to fix a problem, you must see and understand the problem, especially when considering gender inequalities.

Lastly, we are not focusing on males similarly because most of the

research that we all know is already male-centric. I do not believe that

it is unfair when considering that “women and other marginalized groups

are ignored, devalued, or misrepresented (Belknap, 2014).” I welcome a

different view of the criminal justice system.

RESPONSE 1 ETHICAL GUIDELINE, LUKE ALLEN

Ethical guidelines are important because they allow researchers to consider how to conduct research while minimizing harm to those involved in the study. Without guidelines, for each study a researcher would have to start from scratch trying to figure out the best way to make sure that any possible harms are minimized. And guidelines have the advantage of learning from the mistakes of the past, so a researcher’s personal blind spot does not result in research participants being harmed. Even with the best of intentions, a researcher may inadvertently cause harm to participants.

The Milgram Experiment is commonly cited in this area. Those who conducted this and similar experiments do not intend to do harm to their subjects, but psychological harms can be done in many cases. In this case there would be obvious to those playing prisoners, but also likely less predictable harm to those playing guards. Not only would careful adherence to ethical considerations help to minimize the harm to participants, but also minimize incidences of data being lost when experiments have to be cut short. If careful analysis of ethical issues is done, it may be possible to go ahead with research after taking precautions to minimize or eliminate the issues found.

Guidelines also allow for some flexibility, where a set of strict regulations would not. For instance, the difference between anonymity and confidentiality allows researchers to use the method that best allows for the research to be completed. In a longitudinal study, for example, a requirement that participants be anonymous would not allow for subjects that move, change careers, graduate from school, or make other changes in their lives to be found. Keeping identities confidential would be the better approach for this type of study.

In a study that simply needs to measure the number of people in attendance at an event or in a place on a particular day, however, the identities of the subjects would likely not be needed for the completion of the study. Anonymity would better protect the participants from possible abuse.

Psychological harms are a special consideration for criminologists and criminal justice researchers, because the subjects studied are often at a point of extra psychological vulnerability in their lives during live studies, or are being asked to discuss those episodes. Furthermore, anonymity and confidentiality can be harder to protect, since publicly related police and corrections reports are often involved, or separately report on incidents used as data. Finally, studies in the criminal justice field have the potential to shape lives, careers, laws, and the economies of entire regions- so maintaining objectivity is not only more crucial, but more difficult, as well.

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