Comparing The Treatment Of Jodi Arias And Female Offenders In The Media

The purpose of this writing is to examine the treatment of Jodi Arias, and female offenders in general, in the media and to understand how this treatment fits into theories used by bio-social criminologists to analyze female offending, such as strain theory, and more specifically, objective strain. (Agnew, 2001)
Background and Case Summary Jodi Arias was convicted of killing her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander in June of 2013. (Kouri, 2015) She is a 26 year old high school dropout, trying to support herself with a job as a waitress, when she learns about a company that sells legal plans for profit. (Kouri, 2015) At a company conference, she meets Alexander, who she takes a liking to. (Kouri, 2015) A short time after this meeting, the two

(Moulds, 1978) This leads to women getting less harsh punishments than their male counterparts. So, one could argue that this need to protect women is actually hurting them, and society in general. When they are given lighter sentences, women learn that they can get away with more, because of the leniency they are given in the system. However, taking a step back and looking at the way media treats women vs men tells a very different story. For example, newspapers are more likely to publish close-up pictures of males then females. Close-up pictures tend to portray the subject as more dominant and intelligent, leading the public to believe that men are supposed to dominate over women, or are more intelligent. (Phyllis A. Anastasio, 2004) Therefore, Alexander would most likely have gotten a harsher sentence, but would be treated better by the media. While Arias was called “crazy”, Alexander may have simply been called “misunderstood” or the crime may have been called one of passion, not