ABSTRACT
Crime and society’s responses to it, like virtually all social phenomena, are heavily influenced by issues of gender. Gender distinctions are made in deciding what activities are criminal. Gender significantly affects who commits crimes and what crimes they commit. Those involved in enforcing the criminal law-the police, other enforcement agencies, prosecutors, juries and judges-are influenced by gender in deciding who might have committed crimes, who ought to be prosecuted, whether they are, in fact, guilty and how they should be punished. Gender stereotypes underlie the application and even the formulation of core criminal law concepts, such as actus reus, mens rea and the various defences to liability.
