Gender, crime and justice

Question 1

do women commit less crime?

Answer 1

sociologists argue official stats underestimate the amount of female offending:
1) females less likely to be reported (women’s shoplifting less likely to be reported than men’s violence)
2) even when women’s crimes are reported, they’re less likely to be prosecuted.

Question 2

chivalry thesis

Answer 2

women are less likely to be prosecuted for their offences as CJS is more lenient to women. it’s agents eg. police are men socialised to act ‘chivalrous’ to women.

Question 3

Pollak’s chivalry thesis

Answer 3

Pollak: men have a protective attitude to women, unwilling to arrest, charge, prosecute or convict them. their crimes are less likely to end up in official stats (giving an invalid picture under-representing female crime)

Question 4

Pollak application

Answer 4

he suggests that women are positively rather than negatively labelled by male agents of social control as a result of their socialisation. labelling theory