Gender Disparity In Corporate Crime Case Study

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It is common for society to view gender as having an influence on crime. Most people believe that males commit a large majority of criminal acts. In addition, research on crimes has been focused on males. Recently, criminal activities of women are becoming more alike those of men. Steffensmeier (2001) conducted a study to determine if women were committing more crimes compared to the past. The results showed that female violent crime has been increasing since 1960. This increase was either equaled or even surpassed by males. So, the gap between females and males in rates of violent crime has not decreased. Also, the property crimes rates for females have increased significantly. For example, between 1960 and 1975, combined property index offenses arrests rates per 100,000 increased from 101.9 to 421.2 (Steffensmeier, 2001, p. 571). For property offenses, females had larger relative increase compared to males. Larceny and …show more content…

Gender differences toward crime are due to different focal concerns, including norms. “The separation between what is feminine and what is criminal is sharp, whereas the dividing line between what is masculine and what is illegal is often thin” (Steffensmeier et al., 2013, p. 452). In addition, males find it easier to justify their illegally behavior, especially if it is for status-seeking or financial reasons. Their study found that the majority of corporate offenders are male. When involved, women performed more minor roles in corporate fraud schemes and profited less than their male co-conspirators. Also, the majority of offenders were either top executives or upper-level officials, where as women are mostly in mid-level roles. Only around fifteen percent of top executives are female. Therefore, they support that females have minimal involvement corporate criminal

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