Gender delinquency models

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru

Studying of juvenile sexual delinquency, which gets a number of inauspicious and very alarming tendencies recent years, represents a special interest.

A number of crimes against sexual inviolability and sexual personal freedom, made by minors, steadily increases, only taking into account the official statistics data. considering a high latency of this type of criminality, prevalence of such acts is essentially above. This increases their public danger. The analysis of a state and dynamics of criminality indicates a number of negative tendencies: its rejuvenation, growth of a number of the heaviest rapes, increase in intensity of violence and cynicism of criminals. high public danger of sexual juvenile delinquency is connected with that minors become their victim: either age-mates, or children of younger age. Sexual crimes against children and teenagers essentially break their spiritual-moral and mental development, and, finally, damage interests of society and the state.

Public danger of sexual juvenile delinquency is also defined by that they develop a high probability of their repeated commission and recidivism, having a high degree of stability. The criminological importance and social danger of such tendency is that each new youth generation is replenished with a quantitatively growing group of persons with the expressed criminal experience.

With a view to explain the mechanisms of both delinquent and criminal behavior, it is very expedient to investigate gender features of such behavior.

The gender approach was initially created in social psychology. The “gender” concept is initially defined as a basis for distinction of the characteristics, attributed to the man or the woman, and also common to both sexes. To wide extent sex is a complex of the corporal, reproductive, behavioural and social signs defining the individual as the man or the woman, the boy or the girl. Sex is determined by the hierarchical system of mechanisms: from genetic influences to a sexual partner psychological choice. The variety of these mechanisms causes the necessity of distinction of a genetic sex, gonadal (true), hormonal, morphological (somatic), civil sex, sex of education and psychological sex [2]. It is also used the concept of “psychological sex” as a characteristic of the person's personality and behavior from the point of view of masculinity-femininity. In turn, masculinity is a set of signs distinguishing the man from the woman, and femininity is a set of signs distinguishing the woman from the man. Masculinity-femininity are phylogenetically predetermined properties of mentality which are formed under the influence of social factors [2].

In psychology gender is more often interpreted as an aggregate social and biological characteristic by which people define each other as “men” and “women”. however it is necessary to notice that questions of the content of this concept and characteristics belonging to it still remain debatable. A polemic subject also consists in questions of causality, consisting in clarification of a ratio of the natural and the acquired in the distinctions inherent in men and women [4].

One of the most widespread points of view is an idea that, the “sex” concept describes biological distinctions, and the “gender” concept is applied at explanation of sociocultural distinctions between sexes. Another point of view is that researchers see the reasons of distinctions in biological and in sociocultural factors which can't be reduced to any certain causal basis. Thus it is supposed that the sex concept is rather applicable to distinction between men and women, and the gender concept is rather applicable to explanation of masculinity-femininity phenomena.

One more approach to definition of a ratio of these concepts considers gender as socially constituted relations between subjects in the space of defining characteristics voluntarily established by them [4]. The author believes that if sex is biologically defined by a dichotomy of individuals of a masculine and feminine gender, socially and psychologically there can be not two, but several gender identities.

The “sex” and “gender” terms and a ratio between them are insufficiently clear defined today. Owing to this they are often used as synonymous, and authors' choice of either of concepts is often unconditioned. For example in psychological literature there are terms: “biological gender”, “gender social relations”, “gender attributes” and so forth.

According to Sean Bern the gender approach substantial framework in social psychology includes the research of “social norms causing a certain person's, group's or the whole cultural community's reaction to sexual distinctions” [1, p. 22].

Multidimensionality of this phenomenon caused existence of a wide range of positions concerning the matters. Sometimes it is a radical confrontation by nature; especially this concern the positions of radical feminism representatives.

According to N.P. Fetiskin, in the most general plan the gender approach evolution can be reduced to the following stages:

? criticism of the psychological knowledge masculinity. The period of the researches directed on the empirical argument of a masculine orientation and the bias of psychological theories, being expressed in demonstration of advantages of men over women, based on use of inadequate standards of comparison;

? suggestion of feminine theoretical alternatives. The empirical argument of advantages of women over men using other comparative standards;

? stage of the accumulated knowledge reconsideration, that led to understanding of confrontation unproductiveness and need of search of compromise solutions. Recognition of fallaciousness of the traditional comparative logic which is under construction by an “either - or” principle and need of its replacement by a “both - and” logic [10].

Despite insufficient development, it is necessary to recognize that the gender approach and researches carried out within its framework made a positive influence on the process of reconsideration of many theoretical and methodological ideas in modern social psychology. According to Bernice Lott, social psychology can't remain out of the gender problematics since “to study conditions which form and support social behavior means to study how culture develops gender” [12, p. 506].

It is difficult to overestimate the sex value for developmental psychology in respect of understanding of psychological features and characteristics of the person's life. The problem of a ratio and change of traditional roles and psychological features of men and women, earlier considered only in the context of sexual education and family relations, appears in the psychology of our country more frequently.

The main issue in a context of the gender problematics in legal psychology is existence of a so-called gender gap (D. Steffensmeier, E. Allan, 2003). This phenomenon is that in comparison with a level of the offenses made by men, indices of female criminality (it concerns serious crimes especially) are always and everywhere less. This tendency remains for a long time and doesn't depend on social and cultural conditions.

Within this problem solution the gender specificity questions are mentioned when it is a question of female criminality features. In scientific works it is noted that female delinquency differs from male delinquency not only in a quantitative sense, but also according to content and form.

From the content point of view, the majority of researchers (D. Steffensmeier, E.Allan, 2003; N.P. Fetiskin, 2007, etc.) note that male delinquency has a violent character while women commit property crimes more often.

One of the most known criminological researches, devoted to problems of rapes, is the manual prepared by Y.M. Antonyan with coauthors (1990). The authors consider criminological approaches to studying of this phenomenon. In the work a general characteristic of rapes is presented, personal features of victims and the reason of rapes are analyzed. In a context of our work it is interesting that Y.M. Antonyan and coauthors connect subjective reasons of rapes directly with the criminal's I-concept features and his/her self-perception. In this aspect sexual crime is considered by them as an attempt of the subject to change a psychotraumatizing (often extramental) idea about self. In other cases rape can be a form of protection of the rapist's representation about self. According to the authors such a behavior is often connected with the woman's behavior subjectively humiliating the criminal which hurts his self-appraisal in a male role (Y.M. Antonyan, etc., 1990). In the work there are distinguished and described types of the rapist's personality and violent sexual behavior: hunting, regressive, totally self-asserting, conformal, impulsive, affective, rejecting passive-playing and scenario's.

It is necessary to say that a number of the authors' positions cause objections. So, they consider sexual criminal behavior as a not socialized form of sexual behavior (Y.M. Antonyan, etc., 1990). It is difficult to agree with this point of view, as both aggression, and sex are social forms of behavior [6] and owing to this fact shouldn't have an imprint of cultural, subcultural and social influences.

Thus, it is possible to believe that within studying of sexually aggressive criminal behavior, first of all, it is necessary to study gender aspects of this problematics.

In the context of studying of the specifics of forms of the gender delinquency manifestation the main attention of experts concentrates on aggression manifestation features among men and women. In this plan the analysis is carried out according to three main characteristics of aggressive behavior: orientation, manifestation forms and intensity.

Thus, for example, many researchers specify that women commit murders (as extreme manifestations of aggression) against relatives and near persons (so-called intra family aggression) while an extra family aggression committed against extraneous persons is more characteristic for men [5, 11].

In scientific works it is also noted that hidden and indirect forms of aggression manifestation are characteristic for women [10, 11, etc.].

Researches of gender distinctions in intensity of shown aggression specify that the majority of grave crimes are masculine by the nature [13].

It is necessary to notice that in legal psychology in whole within the framework of studying of deviant and criminal forms of sexual behavior greater emphasis is made on problems of masculinity development while female forms of such behavior remain out of view of researchers. On the contrary, in sociology and social psychology a great number of publications is devoted to psychosexual development of young women and girls [3 etc.], and psychological mechanisms of a normal masculinity formation aren't practically considered.

Last decades were marked by a spirited discussion: whether traditional criminological theories are applicable to female criminality as their most part is developed by men-criminologists for explanation of the phenomenon of male criminality. Now three main points of view are created:

? “gender equality” theories affirming that the factors, defining a crime rate, are more or less neutral from the sex point of view;

? gender specific theories according to which gender is a kind of lens focusing forces, operating at a macrolevel variously for men and women, i.e. the reasons of crime are general in fact, and the way of realization is defined by gender belonging;

? gender theories of crime which argue that deep distinctions between life of men and women form specific gender distinctions in types, frequency and context of criminal behavior of representatives of both sexes.

Not considering specially the critical analysis of these points of view that, undoubtedly, represents an independent scientific interest, we should note that authors' attention concentrates on explanations of female delinquency. Meanwhile, from our point of view, the gender approach can considerably expand our knowledge not only about female, but also about male delinquency. In the analysis of sexual crime this approach is especially important.

We believe that different models of gender delinquency of male teenagers are connected with various structure of gender identity and specific features of its formation. gender delinquency mentality phylogenetical

It is extremely interesting to analyze the features of sexual crime as the clearest form of gender delinquency of men. This hypothesis testing demands, first of all, definition of the main concepts.

In the psychology of our country the most operationalized is the concept of gender identity suggested by L.N. Ozhigova (2006). According to this concept, structural components of personal gender identity are gender representations (a cognitive component), gender self-appraisal (an affective component) and gender plans, ways and behavior structures (a conative component) which are represented and realized in three objective spaces of a gender being of personality (environment, organism, activity) as gender stereotypes and standards, a gender corporality, gender roles [8].

According to D. Steffensmeier and E. Alan (2003), gender distinctions in a crime character can be understood better if to consider sexual distinctions, at least, four key elements:

? gender organization (specific norms, moral development, social control, affiliation tendencies, and also reproductive, sexual and other physical features);

? availability of criminal activity (sexism of the lowest classes, distinctions in availability of acquisition of criminal skills, joining an alignment and being in the corresponding environment);

? motivation to the commission of a crime (distinctions in a tendency to risk, selfcontrol, benefit assessment, stress factors and value of relations);

? offence context (concrete circumstances at which one or another crime is committed - a way of implementation, relationship of the criminal and the victim, weapon use).

The research which has been carried out by O.Y. Mikhailova (2000) on a material of adults, condemned for sex offenses, allowed the author to distinguish a group of criminals, whose sexual aggressive behavior was defined, first of all, by the features of their self-consciousness. The revealed deformations of the examinees' self-consciousness, which underlie sexual aggression manifestation, differ on both a degree of their expressiveness, and the content.

According to the expressiveness depth three types of such disturbances were distinguished:

a) consciousness defects caused by existence of intrapersonal conflicts, lying in the extra sexual sphere, at safety of adequate sexual identity;

b) specific disturbances of sexual identity concentrating in the sexual sphere;

c) generalized disturbances of consciousness initially caused by defects of sexual identity.

From the substantial aspect deformation of the reflective level of determination is shown as various variants of the conflict of appraisals of “real”, “ideal” and “standard” I:

a) divergence between masculine self-appraisal and the overestimated hyper-masculine standards of behavior;

b) discrepancy of feminine self-appraisal to masculine standards of behavior, both own, and social;

c) discrepancy of feminine self-appraisal and the system of values to masculine social stereotypes of behavior;

d) discrepancy and/or insufficient differentiation of both self-appraisal, and be-havior patterns by which the subject is guided [6].

The gender approach in legal psychology starts with an idea of traditional sexual stereotypes of behavior, male and female style of behavior. Within this approach a hyper role behavior and inversion of a gender style patterns can be considered as a deviant behavior. however, it is possible to believe that defects of gender identity among juvenile sexual offenders will be rather different as their sexual consciousness is only at a formation stage. The juvenile period is a period of self-standardization, own “I” inclusion in concrete roles owing to what the need for identity feeling finding is so sharp that the minor can solve this problem, having become a delinquent.

References

1. Bern S. gender psychology: secrets of the psychology of men and women. - M.: Praim Evroznak, 2004. - 320 p.

2. great explanatory psychological dictionary. V. 1. - М.: Publishing house AST, 2003. - 592 p.

3. Borisov S.B. culturanthropology of girlhood. - Shadrinsk: State pedagogical institute, 2000. - 88 p.

4. Vorontsov D.V . Social and psychological characteristics of interpersonal communication and behavior of men with homosexual identity: dissertation, candidate of Psychological Science. - Rostov-on-Don, 1999. - 125 p.

5. Dmitriyeva T.B., Kharitonova N.K., Immerman K.L., Kachayeva M.A., Koroleva E.V/, Vasyanina V.I. The women charged with murders (clinical and psychological characteristics) // Aggression and mental health / under the edition of Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Science T.B. Dmitriyeva and Professor B.V. Shostakovich. - SPb: Publishing house “juridical center Press”, 2002. - P. 65-93.

6. Mikhailova O.Y. criminal sexual aggression: theoretical-methodological approach / under the edition of P.N. Ermakov. - Rostov-on-Don: the Rostov University Publishing house, 2000. - 152 p.

7. Mikhailova O.Y., Tselikovsky C.B. Sexual aggression: norm and pathology. - M.: “cREDO” Publishing house, 2008. - 200 p.

8. Ozhigova L.N. gender identity of personality and sense mechanisms of its realization: dissertation, Doctor of Psychological Science. - Krasnodar, 2006. - 431 p.

9. Steffensmeier D., Allan E. In search of models: a sex, age and crime // criminology / under the edition of j. F. Shelly / trans. from English - chapter 4. - SPb: St. Petersburg, 2003. - P. 133-182.

10. Fetiskin N.P. The psychology of gender delinquency. - M.; Kostroma: N.A. Nekrasov's KgU, 2007. - 429 p.

11. Crick N.R., Grotpeter J.K. Relational aggression, gender, and social-psychological adjustment // child Development. - 1995. - Vol. 66. - Is. 3. - P. 710-722.

12. Lott B. Social psychology. Р. humanist roots and feminist future // Psychology of Women Quarterly. - 1991. - 15. - Р. 505-519.

13. Messerschmidt j.W. maleaggressionMasculinities and crime: critique and Reconceptualization of Theory. - New jersey: Rowman and Littlefield, 1993. - 256 р.

14. Steffensmeier D. The Fence: In the Shadow of Two Worlds. - Totowa, Nj: Rowman & Littlefield, 1986. - 295 р.

Размещено на Allbest.ru