Essay
Evaluate the relationship between gender and crime.
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- WJEC
An evaluative essay of the relationship between crime and gender. 32/40 marks
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Evaluatethe relationship
between gender and crime.
Statistics between show that there is a relationship between crime and
gender, that some crimes are more likely to be committed by one gender than
the other. Statistics show that 92% of men are sentenced to immediate
custody and only 8% female, it can be argued that this is because
men commit more serious crimes (sexual, violent crime) making them more
dangerous to society if left unsupervised in comparison to women. Reports
show 85% of arrests are made on men suggesting men are either more likely
to offend or women are less likely to be caught. This could also be
explained by the police and law enforcement officials are majority male who
feel the need to protect women, so when women offended, they be less
forceful, and this can be seen in these statistics. And men make up 95% of
the UK’s prison population however it has been found that men commit more
imprisonable offences than women. The Crime Victim Survey has found that
Men are more likely to be victims of personal crime, violent crime, crime
against the person and women are more likely to be victims of domestic
violence. However, the Victim survey is not an official crime statistic as
not all the crimes that have are considered have been officially reported.
It can also be perceived that the court prosecute men to the full extent of
the law in comparison to women as women are more likely to receive
conditional charges this is most likely to stop their children from going
in to foster care. In most crimes men serve longer sentences than women
except in the crime violence against a person where they tend to serve
equal sentences. This could be because law officials deem this law ‘unlady
like’ and as a result they are punished equally to make them conform to
social norms.
According feminist’s chivalry is a symptom of male superiority and can be
patronising, cementing the idea that women are fragile and in need of
protection. Therefore, as most police officers are male, they are more
likely to be lenient to women who commit crimes, this is the chivalry
thesis. The Ministry of Justice in 2009 found that women are more likely to
be cautioned than men and Hood (1992) also found that men are more likely
to be jailed than women as they are treated more leniently however Box
(1981) observed that women commit less serious crimes than men.
It can be argued that the chivalry thesis is void and Heidensohn (1996)
supports this as he found women are punished more severely when they don’t
conform to social norms for women or when committing crimes against
children which is considered against the kind and nurturing nature of
women. Women are especially demonised and punished harshly when they are
perceived as bad mothers (Stewart 2006). The idea that men in the
magistrates and law enforcement are less sever to women does not apply to
serving justice in defence of women as most male judges are out of touch
with rape. When prosecuting a man on the crime of rape it is often the
victim’s morals on trial rather than the man, this can be seen in welsh
footballer Ched Evans used this to his advantage when he was on trial for
allegedly raping an ex-girlfriend. To avoid persecution Ched Evans paid a
man £50,000 to besmirch the victim’s reputation, portraying her as immoral
and untrustworthy to the court and as a result was released from prison.
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