When the criminal justice system was established, one of the goals was to create neutrality and fairness between the sexes. However, during those times, women were not known for behaving in such manners. If a woman did in fact take part in any criminal activities, those crimes would have been blames on an individual that could of not fought for themselves. Even though people might believe that there is no such thing as ‘stereotyping’ in the criminal justice system, it is quite obvious that women are constantly being looked down upon because of their sex. In general, women tend to be treated like fragile objects that could break at any moment; the truth is that women can behave like men. Society stereotypes women; and, the criminal justice system is no different. When it comes to the stereotyping of women in the criminal justice system, society presents women who are indeed capable of committing such crimes as victims because by doing do they can achieve a lesser sentence or if necessary a longer sentence that will protect them from any harm.
Throughout history, certain crimes have been separated into different categories based on their prevalence. For every crime, the offense and charges are different. In addition, certain crimes tend to be committed more often by women than men, and vice versa. Crimes such as larceny, fraud, forgery, and prostitution (Chesney-Lind, 1986) tend to be committed more often by women; whereas, assault, murder, trafficking, etc tend to be committed by men.
Statistical evidence has shown that women do in fact receive lesser and longer sentences when they are convicted of the similar crimes as men, such as drug related crimes (Coughenour, 1995). Criminologists provide different theories that explain the...
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...d ‘protecting’ women when in fact they are oppressing them and portraying them as weak (mentally, emotionally, and physically), as well as dependent on men to ‘save’ them.
Works Cited
Anderson, E. A. (1976). The "Chivalrous" Treatment of the Female Offender in the Arms of the Criminal Justice System: A Review of the Literature. Social Problems, 23(3), 350-357
Coughenour, J. Separate and Unequal: Women in the Federal Criminal Justice System. JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014
Chesney-Lind, M. (1986). Women And Crime: The Female Offender. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 12(1), 78.
Moulds, E. F. (1978). Chivalry and Paternalism: Disparities of Treatment in the Criminal Justice System. Political Research Quarterly, 31(3), 416-430.
The Sentencing Project: Research and Advocacy for Reform. (2007) Women in the Criminal Justice System: Briefing Sheets.
These women have been increasingly going to jail for longer periods of time for minor crimes, the most frequent crimes that are being convicted are mostly related to drug and alcohol related crimes as well as theft (Mental Health Coordinating Council, 2010). A survey conducted in New South Wales of female inmates had concluded that; 80% are current smokers, 78% have used an illicit drug(s), 67% were unemployed in the six months prior to incarceration, and 66% of these women had also been in a violent/abusive relationship (Mental Health Coordinating Council, 2010). It has been argued that the risk factors for offenders are derived from that of genetic theories of crime and that they are an adequate guide for correctional supervision and treatment-planning decisions for females, however others argue that this approach is highly flawed and does not take into account gender differences (Rettinger & Andrews 2010). This is an issue in the CJS and its importance cannot be undervalued, the assessment for the risk and need has implications for the assignment of female offenders to a correction option that is the least restrictive, the assignment to an appropriate intervention dosage, appropriate targeting of criminogenic needs, and an understanding of female offending (Rettinger & Andrews 2010). Due to the increasingly large number
In 1981 women only made up around 4 percent of inmates in prison. The criminal justice world is very set on race. For example in the book Criminal Justice a brief introduction by Frank Schmalleger, it says that race is so marginalized that even though in the united states population there are only about 13 percent of African Americans, African Americans that are incarcerated account for somewhere around 50 percent. This shows that African American women are more likely to encounter incarceration has opposed to white women. This is also why women’s prisons are study less than men’s prisons. Because there are less violent crimes committed in a women’s prison and there are significantly less women inmates than men. .However, this could soon change in the years coming if the crime rate in women keeps rising like it
There have been different outcomes for different racial and gender groups in sentencing and convicting criminals in the United States criminal justice system. Experts have debated the relative importance of different factors that have led to many of these inequalities. Minority defendants are charged with ...
The criminal justice system is full of inequality and disparities among race, gender, and class. From policing neighborhoods, and the ongoing war on drugs, to sentencing, there are underlying biases and discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system that impacts minority communities and groups. Fueled by stereotypes and generalizations, it is important to identify and discuss what crimes take place and who actually makes it up.
Hessick, C. (2010). Race and Gender as Explicit Sentencing Factors. Journal Of Gender, Race &
Statistically, the male population in jail/prisons are much higher than the female population. This is not necessarily because females are less inclined to criminal tendencies than males, but more because society views them more as victims and/or innocent. (Men Sentenced To Long…2012 p.2) From the time women are small until they grow up, they are told that they are fragile, kind, they should not curse, or fight, etc. There are countless sexist roles and behaviors that are pushed on women, and so society views women along side the typical view. In a statistical graph by the of Bureau of Justice Statistics states that the number of people incarcerated per 100,000 people of that sex is as follows: 126 women and 1,352 males. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010. p.1) That is an incredible difference in the number of incarcerated individuals per jail/prison. Societal view with women is becoming more level headed today, and sentencing disparity on the gender platform is coming to a more equal level; however, it is still a long way away from being equal. According to an article in the Huffington
Embry, R., & Lyons, P. M. (2012). Sex-based sentencing: Sentencing discrepancies between male and female sex offenders. Feminist Criminology, 7(2), 146-162.
Many have argued that there is obvious disparate treatment among particular demographic groups of criminal defendants by the courts. While the federal sentencing guidelines were created in order to maintain uniform treatment of defendants based on legally relevant factors, we still see extralegal factors causing disparity. A significant amount of attention, however, has been focused on racial disparities in sentencing. While racial disparity is an important concern, there is another disparity with which attention is needed: sex-based disparity. Sex-based disparity, or, gender disparity, while it does receive significantly less media attention, is just as great if not greater than racial disparity. Similar to race, gender is considered an extralegal
Although the years since Smart’s study have seen much more interest in the study of female crime and deviance, many general theories in this area continue to neglect gender as a factor influencing criminality. This is despite the fact that official figures suggest that gender is perhaps the most significant single factor in whether an individual is convicted of crime. Any theories which fail to explain this relationship could therefore be seen as inadequate. OFFICIAL STATISTICS, CRIMINALITY AND GENDER Pollak – the ‘masked’ female offender – ‘chivalry’ thesis Writing in 1950, Otto pollak argued that official statistics on gender and crime were highly misleading.
Between 1991 and 2000, arrest rates for girls increased more than arrests for boys, and by 2004 girls accounted for 30 percent of all juveniles taken into custody. Researchers have yet to establish if this trend is representative of a quantifiable increase in female juvenile crime, or if social attitudes and law enforcement response to girl’s delinquency have influenced the increase (Zahn, “Causes” 1-3). Juvenile crime overall has been declining since reaching its peak in the late 1990’s, yet the rates of girls have not experienced the same rate of decline when compared to boys.
American Bar Association. National Bar Association (2001). Justice by gender: The lack of appropriate prevention, diversion and treatment alternatives for girls in the justice system: a report. Retrieved from The Associations website: http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publishing/criminal_justice_section_newsletter/crimjust_juvjus_justicebygenderweb.authcheckdam.pdf
Historically, criminology was significantly ‘gender-blind’ with men constituting the majority of criminal offenders, criminal justice practitioners and criminologists to understand ‘male crimes’ (Carraine, Cox, South, Fussey, Turton, Theil & Hobbs, 2012). Consequently, women’s criminality was a greatly neglected area and women were typically seen as non-criminal. Although when women did commit crimes they were medicalised and pathologised, and sent to mental institutions not prisons (Carraine et al., 2012). Although women today are treated differently to how they were in the past, women still do get treated differently in the criminal justice system. Drawing upon social control theory, this essay argues that nature and extent of discrimination
Crew, B. Keith. “Sex differences in criminal sentencing: Chivalry or patriarchy?” Justice Quarterly (Mar. 1991): n. pag. Print.
Classical and contemporary theory helps to explain gendered crime patterns. The feminist school of criminology argue criminology and criminal theory is very masculine, all studies into criminal behaviour, have been developed from male statistics and tested on males. Very little research is conducted into female criminality, this may be because women who commit crime are more likely to be seen as evil or mentally ill rather than criminal, this is because women are labe...
Erin G., 2010, A Woman Doing Life: Notes from a Prison for Women: The Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Pp. vi, 202, Vol. 8(2)175.