Gender - Patterns + Chivalry Thesis

• What do official statistics show?

  -4 out of 5 convicted offenders in England and Wales are male

  -by age 40, 9% of females have a criminal conviction against 32% of males
• What are statistics on the gender differences in types of crime?

  -women are more likely to be convicted of property offences (except burglary)

  -men are more likely to be convicted of violence or sexual offences

  -men more likely to be repeat offenders, have longer criminal careers and commit more serious crimes
• How do these stats underestimate the amount of female crime?


  -'female' crimes are less likely to be reported - e.g. shoplifting compared to violent crime

  -prostitution is unlikely to be reported

  -some claim that women's crimes are less likely to be prosecuted or let off lightly
• What does Pollack call that second point?

  chivalry thesis
• What is the chivalry thesis?


  -most CJS agents like police and judges are men

  -men are socialised to act in a 'chivalrous' way and protect women

  -so the CJS is more lenient towards women and their crimes are less likely to be in official stats

  -this exaggerates the gender differences in rates of offending
• How does evidence from self-report studies show this? (Graham and Bowlings)


  -sample of 1721 14-25yr olds

  -found males more likely to offend

  -but the difference was smaller than in official stats

  -men 2.33 times more likely to admit to an offence - official stats show men as 4 times more likely to offend
• How do official statistics support the chivalry thesis?

  -women more likely than men to be released on bail rather than remanded in custody

  -women more likely than men to receive a fine or community sentence

  -women less likely to be sent to prison and get shorter prison sentences

  -1 in 9 female offenders receive a prison sentence for shoplifting - 1 in 5 males
• What is Farrington and Morris' evidence against the chivalry thesis?


  study of sentencing of 408 offences of theft in court found women were not sentenced more leniently
• What did Buckle and Farrington's study of shoplifting show?


  -they witnessed twice as many men shoplifting as women - despite the numbers of male/female offenders being equalish

  -suggests that women shoplifters may be more likely to be prosecuted
• What is a limitation of this study?

  small-scale
• How do self-report studies go against the chivalry thesis?

  -young men more likely than women to report binge drinking, drug use or disorderly conduct

  -men more likely to be offenders in all major offence categories

  -studies suggest the gender gap increases as offences become more serious
• How is there under-reporting of male crimes against women?


  -chivalry thesis ignores that many male crimes do not get reported

  -2012 - 8% of females who had been victims of serious sexual assault reported it to the police

  -Yearnshire - 35 assaults before reporting
• What is another explanation for why women are treated more leniently?

  -their offences are less serious?

  -the lower rate of prosecutions of women compared with self-report offending may be because crimes they admit are less serious and less likely to go to trial

  -female offenders show more remorse - more likely to receive a caution
• What is the directly opposing theory against the chivalry thesis?

  Heidensohn argues the CJS is biased against women and courts treat women more harshly than males when they deviate from gender norms
• What is an example of this?

  -double standards - courts punish girls but not boys for premature sexual activity - 7 out of 11 girls compared to 0 out of 44 boys

  -women who do not conform to standards of heterosexuality and motherhood are punished harshly - magistrates' perceptions are based on stereotypical gender roles
• How is Carlen's view similar to this?

  -argues women are judged based on the court's assessment of them as wives/mothers/daughters rather than the seriousness of their crimes

  -girls whose parents believe their daughters are out of control are more likely to get custodial sentences compared to girls who live more conventional lives

  -less likely to sentence who they saw as good mothers compared to mothers who had children in care
• Why do these double standards exist according to feminists?

  the CJS is patriarchal
• What is another example of this?

  -the way the system deals with rape cases

  -there are many cases of male judges making sexist, victim-blaming remarks
• What does Walklate argue about rape cases?

  -it is not the defendant who is on trial but the victim - she has to prove her respectability to have her evidence accepted

  -women who are deemed to lack respectability (like single parents) find it difficult to have their testament believed by courts