Gender, crime and justice

Gender Patterns - it appears men commit more crime than women.

Do women commit less crime?

• Sociologists argue OS underestimate the number of women offending
• female crimes is less likely to be reported 
• even when they are reported they are less likely to be prosecuted 

The Chivalry thesis - Women are less likely to be prosecuted for their crimes because male police officers, judges etc were socialized to be chivalrously towards women. 

Pollack - Men have a protective attitude towards women, so they are unwilling to arrest or convict them. So the crimes are less likely to end up in the OS - invalid picture of female crime.

Evidence for the chivalry thesis -

• Self-report studies show female offenders are treated more leniently 
• compared to men women were more likely cautioned rather than prosecuted 
• OS show women are more likely to get a fine than sent to prison
• However, SRS show males commit more crimes
• A lot of male crimes are also under-reported

Bias against women -

• Feminists believe the CJS is biased against women rather than for them as the chivalry thesis states.
• Women are more likely to be jailed if their children were in care
• Women treated more harshly in court for sexual behaviors than men.

Female crime - Overall women do have a lower crime rate of offending than men. How then can we explain the behavior of those women who do offend? - 

Functionalist sex role theory - Parsons 

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