Crime And Gender

Question 1

Chivalry thesis

Answer 1

Pollack argues that men have a protective attitude towards women so don’t like to accuse them of crimes or arrest them. CJS is therefore more lenient to woman and so their crimes are less likely to end up in the official statistics. This gives and invalid picture that exaggerates the extent of gender differences in rates of offending

Question 2

Evidence of the chivalry thesis

Answer 2

Evidence from self report studies suggests that female offenders are treated more leniently.
Flood-Page et al found that while only 1 in 11 female self reported offenders have been cautioned or prosecuted

Question 3

Official statistics of chivalry thesis

Answer 3

Females are more likely than males to be released in bail rather than remanded in custody
Females are more likely than males to receive a fine or community sentence and less likely to be sent to prison

Question 4

Evidence against chivalry thesis

Answer 4

Chivalry thesis ignores the fact that many male crimes don’t get reported. In 2012 only 8% of females who had been victims of a serious sexual assault reported it to the police