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Abstract

The gender imbalance prevalent within the criminal justice system (CJS) contributes to both conscious and unconscious biases experienced by practitioners and the public. The impacts of these biases are experienced disproportionately by women interacting with the system, often in the form of prejudice and harassment. To rectify this issue, increasing female representation within the CJS is critical, driven by motivating more women to take up careers in the CJS. Conversely, the consumption of true crime media follows the opposite trend, with women consuming higher levels of true crime media.
This dissertation examines the existing motivations for students pursuing degrees and careers in the CJS, and the gender differences in these motivations. It also examines how true crime media may encourage people toward careers in CJS and the gender differences in these motivations, as well as the perceptions of the CJS that true crime promotes among criminal justice-based degree students.
Primary research was conducted through the distribution of an anonymous online survey, consisting of both quantitative and qualitative questions. From the resulting 70 responses, inferential analysis and inductive thematic analysis was conducted, which revealed existing gender differences in criminology student motivations. The use of true crime media did contribute to degree and career choice for some respondents, however significant gender differences in responses were not identified. However, the results showed that female students are significantly more likely to engage with media related to their degree.
The findings of this study have implications for the recruitment and education of criminal justice students, particularly when seeking to resolve the gender imbalances within the CJS. The findings also suggest that more research into the impact of social role theory on student decision making would be of benefit to the understanding in this field.

Course: Criminology and Forensic Studies - BSc (Hons) - C2039F

Date Deposited: 2024-11-20

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14532.html