assess sociological explanations of gender differences in the patterns of crime

Official statistics show that men are the likely suspect to a crime rather than women, as the figures show that 4 out of 5 offenders are men. Also by the age of 40 about 32% of men commit supposed to only 9% of women. Not only do the figures differ between men and women the crimes they commit are also different, as men commit more serious crimes (i.e. assault, murder and rape) whereas women commit minor crimes (i.e. shoplifting, pick pocketing ). This shows that there is a difference in gender crime as men are mostly suspects of crime and commit more serious ones.
However some sociologists argue that official statistics are wrong and do not show the real difference in gender crimes. As they argue that as women commit more minor crimes they are usually let go without any further actions taken to them. Therefore this shows that official statistics does not show the real gender rates of crime as most women crime go absence and this means that only men crime get put down.
The reason for this is the ‘ Chivalry thesis’, sociologists state that the whole criminal justice system is a patriarchal institution and therefore as they are mostly men they act in a chivalrous manner towards women. As Pollak stated men have this sense of need to protect women and thus resulting in them being more lenient to them. For example in cautions given 49% of women were given supposed to only 30% of men. This shows that the criminal justice system is more lenient with women as they treat men more harshly than women.
However feminist would disagree with the ‘Chivalry thesis’, they state as the system is patriarchal it is actually harsher on women who commit a crime. As they see it as the woman is breaking from her norm (i.e. women are socialised to be expressive actors in society, for example to be housewives). Therefore this shows women are not given more leniencies and are actually punished (i.e. given custodial sentencing) if they break from their social norms that is expected from...