Carol Smart created her theory on gender and crime as she believed that criminological theories have rarely been concerned with female criminality, this is due to the fact that females statistically commit less crimes than males. Therefore there is a lack of interest when it comes to theorising female criminality. It has not been treated as an important issue within society and also the crime's that are assosciated with women such as petty offences so are therefore not seen as a threat to society (Smart, 1976).
Smart argues that classical and contemporary definitions of female criminality are sexist. This is due to characteristics being attributed to women which are seen as undesirable and are then seen as natural characteristics of women. There is also biological determinism of women which suggests that menstruation or menopause affect the hormonal balance of women so much that it leads to women committing crimes. Due to this, Carol Smart introduced the idea of transgression criminology. By this, was the suggestion that criminology was tied to male questioning and concerns, and due to this it would never be able to answer feminist questions. Her theory is called transgression as it goes beyond the criminology boundaries. Women are seen as being deviant when committing a crime as not only are they breaking the law, but they are also going against their gendered laws. Smarts theory has led to feminists focusing more on women and how women were treated by the law (Smart, 1976).
Within rape trials, Smart has stated that rape "celebrates male sexual needs and female sexual capriciousness" (Smart, 1989). That is, it focuses on the sexual desires of men and blames women for being impulsive and unpredictable. Sandra Walkate supports this by stating that the female victim ends up on trial rather than the male offender (Walklate, 2004).
Carol Smart's theory of crime highlights how and why female criminality is not seen as a social issue and how it is a sexist issue. It also highlights how even when a women does commit a crime, they are seen as being deviant for going against societies norms. However, it doesn't take into consideration the socialisation of men and how this affects them.
References:
Smart, C. (1989). Feminism and the power of law. 1st ed. London u.a.: Routledge.
Smart, C. (1976). Women, Crime and Criminology. 1st ed. Newyork: Routledge.
Walklate, S. (2004). Gender, crime and criminal justice. 2nd ed. London: Willan.
Law.jrank.org. (2017). Crime Causation: Sociological Theories - Critical Theories. [online] Available at: http://law.jrank.org/pages/819/Crime-Causation-Sociological-Theories-Critical-theories.html [Accessed 29 Apr. 2017].
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