NCJ Number
84970
Journal
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Volume: 15 Issue: 2 Dated: special edition (June 1982) Pages: 69-89
Date Published
1982
Length
21 pages
Annotation
A survey of American literature and some studies done in New Zealand and Australia on the treatment of women by the criminal justice system underscore women's unequal treatment.
Abstract
Although Australia and New Zealand have done little research on sexism in the laws. The little that exists, along with American studies, indicates, the preoccupation with sexuality in the laws affecting women. Kline and Dress (1976) go so far as to argue that many apparent legal privileges and special protective measures for women and girls actually reduce their opportunities and rights to a level well below that of males and impose on them extra social restrictions and moral injunctions which serve the interests of males. The criminal justice system has treated women according to chivalry, paternalism, protectionism, or the 'pedestal factor.' This is not to say that women are treated more leniently than men: recent evidence suggests that female status offenders have higher detention rates and are arrested more often than men. Because women are seen as childlike, irrational, and often wicked, laws and patterns of law enforcement remain discriminatory. A total of 46 notes and about 100 references are supplied.