Question

In what ways and why have women and girl offenders traditionally been treated differently from men and boys in the criminal justice system?  

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary. Also, I have cited papers as this seems to be a question with a secondary qualitative analysis.

(Answer) Firstly, in the United States and most other nations, there are far fewer women offenders than men. Furthermore, the types of crime committed by women are generally different than men.

There have been papers that suggest that women are treated far better than men in the criminal justice system. Pollack in 1950 wrote a paper where he talked about how women tend to beguile individuals within the criminal justice system and hence get away with less stringent measures than men.

However, Heidensohn, a feminist who wrote a paper on the same subject in 1985 suggested that Pollack was considering a biological outlook and was, therefore, being ahistorical, not sociological and ideological. Heidensohn suggested that women face twice the pressure when they are on trial.

“Criminal statistics show that only 19% of known offenders were women in 2002. Women also commit violent crimes such as theft or fraud. The most common indictable offence for women was ‘theft and handling’ accounting for 57% of recorded female offenders in 2002” (Data: Home office 2003. Source: Are female offenders treated differently from male offenders within the criminal justice system? Marcia Y. Lise)

The question focuses on the “treatment” of offenders based on gender. However, the true focus in most discussions is that the crime itself differs greatly. This is an objective and most importantly a “macro” view. Although, if one looks at the same crime committed by two individuals (a man and a woman), the response might be different. Firstly, it would depend on the state regulations, the nuances of the crime, the judge and jury in question and what legislature or amendment would apply. This would make the response differ on a case by case basis. This is because each case entails different attributes and the issue would need a “micro” view.