Crime in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Crime in the UK - Essay Example In addition, the victimisation of the population is also gender specific. Women fall victim to some crimes in greater numbers than men, while some crimes have men as their main target. An evaluation of the gender specific issues that impact the perpetrators and the victims of criminal activity can help illuminate the forces and theories that explain criminal behaviour. In many ways, men and women have become more socially equal in the last decade, though there are still important social and cultural differences. Eighty percent of the 1.42 million offenders that were sentenced in the UK in 2006 were male, and in the crime of sexual assault the number rose to 97 percent (Office for National Statistics, 2008, p.12). While gender was highly correlated to specific crimes it was also had a relationship to the gender of the victim. Females were almost six times as likely to be the victim of domestic violence, while men were four times more likely than women to suffer from the violence inflicted by a stranger (Office for National Statistics, 2008, p.12). Acquaintance violence was more nearly even with men becoming the victim 58 percent of the time (Office for National Statistics, 2008, p.12). Understanding the social and cultural differences that create these disparities can help further to design policies that will further reduce the crime rate. In addit ion to the different motivations that gender presents to the criminal act, the perceptions of the victim are also gender specific. Women are likely to be fearful of crime and worry about it to a degree that it impacts their quality of life, while these same emotions impact men to a lesser degree. An evaluation of social forces, crime theory, and victim theory can help to reduce crime further and limit the unwarranted worry of becoming a victim. The examination of the crime of assault reveals the role that acquaintances, relationships, and gender play to impact the initiation of violence. Men are slightly more likely to be the victim of acquaintance violence than a woman (Office for National Statistics, 2008, p.12). Studies have shown that there is a substantial propensity for violence among women, but the expression of violent behaviour is largely limited to intimate and personal relationships (George, 1999, p.76). Inter-relationship female on male violence has its foundation in rage, frustration, jealousy, and anger, while the perpetrator does not stop to consider the size of the male, their own defencelessness, or the possibility of retribution. According to George (1999), "It has been suggested, in relation to violence in dating relationships, that females may perceive aggression toward male romantic partners as more acceptable or less dangerous than aggression toward others and hence tend to confine their aggression to such intimate relationships" (p.76). However, the rates of domestic violence indicate that the threat of retaliation is real, and simply ignored. When women initiate violent assault, they suspend their social values and pragmatic judgment and their behaviour becomes controlled by the emotionally charged self. This is further reinforced by the other emotional traits when "to be the centre of attention and putting one's needs before the needs of others (self-centredness) doubled the odds of female participation in violent crimes" (Ramoutar & Farrington, 2006, p.565). For women, emotion plays a central role