NCJ Number
101832
Date Published
1984
Length
251 pages
Annotation
This British study, based on 2 years of interviews with criminal justice personnel and female defendants and offenders, examines the extent to which laws are enacted, enforced, and administered out of differing perspectives of male and female social roles and criminal tendencies.
Abstract
Regarding sex differences reflected in the criminal law, the study focuses on prostitution laws, which are intended for and enforced against women. The law views females who sell sexual favors as deviating from an acceptable female role; whereas, males who pay for female sexual favors are deemed to be acting normally. The book notes that women's radical deviation from stereotypical feminine personality traits is viewed as a product of physiologically rooted compulsions (e.g., premenstrual tension and puerperal psychosis). An examination of gender considerations in the administration of justice addresses the influence of gender sterotypes in the indicators of suspicion used by police in detecting prostitution and shoplifting. The study also considers the impact of gender sterotypes on plea negotiations, the prosecution of female crimes that radically depart from the sterotype of female behavior, and patterns of individualized sentencing of women. Chapter notes and references, 300-item bibliography, name and subject indexes.