Chivalry Thesis

• Main criminal justice agents are men who are thus socialised to act in a chivalrous way towards women 
• Pollack 1950: ‘men hate to accuse women and thus send them to their punishment, police officers dislike to arrest them, district attorneys to prosecute them, judges and juries to find them guilty’
• Graham and Bowling 1995: used self-report study and found that whilst men were more likely to commit crime, the extent to which was exaggerated on official statistics 
• Flood-Page et al 2000: while only 1/11 female self reported offenders had been cautioned or prosecuted, for men it was 1/7 
• Official Statistics support for chivalry thesis: 

  1. Females more likely to be released on bail 
  2. Females more likely to receive a fine or community sentence 
  3. Women have smaller prison sentences 
  4. 1/9 female offenders received prison for shoplifting, whilst ⅕ men