men are convicted for 6 indictable offences to every 1 committed by a woman

typical female crimes such as shoplifting are less likely to be reported. female types of crime are more likely to go unnoticed.

argues that the CJS is dominated by men, who are socialised to act in a chivalrous way towards women (benevolent and protective view of female offending).

this means that women offenders are seen as less guilty, more vulnerable and in need of protection. As such they are treated more leniently, so their crimes are less likely to feature in official statistics

this creates a distorted picture is generated, exaggerating the gender differences in crime rates.

women are not always treated "Chivalrously" by the CJS - in rape cases it is not the defendant who is on trial but the victim, since she has to prove her respectability in order to have her evidence accepted

Fitting certain stereotypes of women impact their experience of the CJS (sex work; racism; etc)

Differences in sentencing almost disappear when severity of crime is taken into account

men still commit more crime, however this trend is changing nationally/internationally

women have more independence, more successful careers, more time out on the streets, so are more evident to the surveillance authorities.

criminality is innate, but it's rare for female criminals to be born

sociologists reject this and have put forward explanations of female cirminality.

socialisation - boys are meant to be tough and aggressive and take risks, whereas girls are meant to take a more expressive role

Parsons x - sees crime rates differ due to gender roles in the nuclear family.
> Females remain at home to socialise the children
> Boys tend to distance themselves from female models and engage in compensatory compulsory masculinity

Cohen (1955) x - The lack of adult male role models means boys are more likely to turn to male gangs as a source of masculine identity.
Status gained by toughness/aggression

Walklate (2003) x - Argues that theory is biologically determinist. The theory suggests that women are best at child rearing just because they can bear children (not really based on socialisation)

imposes greater control over women, meaning they gave double jeopardy of stigma and being considered an unfeminine, uncaring woman.

the patriarchy controls women in three areas: Home, Public and Work

females therefore have fewer opportunities to commit crime.

However, it recognises that patriarchy can have the adverse impact of pushing women into crime e.g., prostitution, etc

Study - Carlen conducted a study following w/c women who had criminal convictions. She argues that most serious crimes are committed by the w/c

women are encouraged to conform by the following of 2 deals: the class deal and the gender deal

most women accept and achieve these deals. Sometimes these deals are not available because of poverty, unemployment or domestic violence. Women then take the rational decision to commit crime as they have little to lose.

many women reached the conclusion that, 'Crime was the only route to a decent standard of living, they has nothing to lose and everything to gain'

as women become liberated from patriarchy their crime becomes more frequent.

weaker gender roles control than in the past - women now out and about, not just socialising at home (Heidensohn - work, home, public)

as a result, women have begun to adopt traditional male roles in work as controls and discrimination lessen. This leads to women committing more male type crimes, with greater opportunity to commit these crimes.

female crime rose to 1 in 6 from 1 in 7 between the 1950s and 1990s

Hand and Dodd (2009) x - found that between 2000-2008, police stats show a 17% yearly increase in violent female crime

Carlen x - w/c women are more likely to be criminal, but they are the least affected by women's liberation

Chesney-Lind x - found that women did go into male crimes, however, this was more likely due to prostitution links.

Adler x - draws attention to women's changing position and patterns of crime.

found that there is a masculinised 'ladette' culture, in which young women are: Binge drinking; Joining gangs; Taking part in more risk behaviour to look tough

Sharpe (2009) x - found that professionals in the CJS are influenced by media stereotypes of violent 'ladettes', meaning that moral panics are causing the sentences given to females are becoming harsher.

Heidensohn and Silvestri (2012) x - suggested that the reported increase in female violence is down to changes in labelling and criminalisation of girls' bad behaviour.

Hand and Dodd (2009) x - support Adler's theory in finding that females arrested for violent crime rose by an average of 17% per year.

therefore, this suggests that female involvement of crime hasn't changed, but that the CJS is just net widening by arresting women for less serious crimes.

USA DV mandatory arrests - Chesney-Lind (2006) x - found that where both couples have been fighting, both are arrested, even is the woman id the victim, therefore increasing arrest statistics.

women are more likely to be victims of intimate crimes - sexual assault, DV, etc. These crimes are also least likely to be reported to the police and/or lead to conviction

1 in 4 women, and 1 in 6 men, experience DV at some point in their lives

150 people are killed by a partner each year - 80% of which are female.

only 40% of incidents are reported to the police - then only 5% of this results in conviction.

female victims are more likely to know their killer (in 60% of these cases it was their partner of ex-partner)

males are more likely to be killed by a friend or an acquaintance

street homicides are usually committed by men and male victims

women are more likely to be affected by homicides in the home

research attempts to better understand how gender influences victimisation risk, types of victimisation, and other key factors

they see gender as socially constructed, despite this, it is a social construct that has very real and tangible consequences in out society

by the age of 40, 9% of females have a criminal conviction compared with 32% of males

a higher proportion of female then male offenders are convicted of property offences (except burglary).

a higher proportion of male than female offenders are convicted of violence or sexual offences

For example, men are about 15 times more likely to be convicted of homicide

from a sample of 1,721 14-25 yrs they found that while men were more likely to offend, it was a lower difference than in official statistics.

while men were 2.33x more likely to admit to committing an offence, official statistics placed this at 4x more likely to offend.

found that while there was twice as many male shop lifters, they were shown to be equal in number between male and female in official statistics - CJS can work against women to increase their offending rate

ignores that fact that many male crimes go unreported - women typically suffer 35 assaults before reporting domestic violence to the police.

many feminist argue against the chivalry thesis and instead the CJS is harsher against women. this is because it is patriarchal - e.g. rape cases

double standards - girls and not boys are punished for premature or promiscuous sexual activity

women who do not conform to accepted standards of monogamous heterosexuality and motherhood are punish more harshly.

Carlen 1997 x - when women are jailed, it is less for 'the seriousness of their crimes and more according to the court's assessment of them as wives, moths and daughters'

can be accused of seeing women's behaviour as determined by external forces such as patriarchal controls o r class and gender deal, when in fact free will and choice in offending have an impact