ABSTRACT
The publication each year of the official crime statistics invariably leads to much public debate, as concern is voiced over the ‘rising crime rate’ and the ‘spiralling level of lawlessness’ in contemporary society. Rarely mentioned in the debates is the fact that such statistics, in measuring crime and the legal processing of those who commit it, are primarily concerned with the activities of men. For example, in 1996 in England and Wales, 80 per cent of known offenders were men (Home Office 1997a). Those individuals whose job it is to detect, prosecute, defend, judge or imprison offenders are also predominantly men. The police force is 86 per cent male, whilst over 70 per cent of solicitors and barristers and over 90 per cent of the judiciary are men (EOC 1997f). Similarly the prison service is over 80 per cent male, with 91 per cent of those in the Prison Governor grade being men (Home Office 1992). Whether the focus is on offenders and their punishment or on professionals employed within the criminal justice system, crime has a very masculine profile. This chapter begins with a detailed examination of what statistical data show about men and women as criminal offenders. I also consider a number of explanations as to why gender differences are so marked, including the argument that the official crime statistics reflect the more lenient treatment of women within the criminal justice system. The second section of the chapter considers an area where women have featured extensively in public debates on crime; that is, as victims of men’s violence. Here, my main focus is on the criminal justice system’s response to women as victims of domestic violence and of rape.
