ABSTRACT
Many writers have agreed that sex role socialisation is linked to criminality in such a way that it accounts for the much lower rate of female crime. Carol Smart began her 1976 analysis using a mixture of socialisation and role theory:
Differential socialisation prepares the growing child for different pathways in life. Writing in 1976, Scutt presented a picture, perhaps now under stress, whereby girls are encouraged to be passive and gentle and they are taught not to fight with each other and their brothers. During childhood they are constantly reminded of the role expected to be adopted in the future; ever-present is a mother who represents the adult they will become. This is different for boys since their father is away from home, at work, every day.
