welcome to this tutor to you sociology topic video looking at gender and crime focusing on the chivalry thesis writing in the post World War II era otop Pollock examined the imbalance between male and female rates of offending and attempted to explain the reasons behind greater male than female criminality in society Pollock's belief was that the crime rate for women was misrepresented and that there was more female criminality however the paternalistic attitudes of men meant that female crime was actually underrepresented in crime statistics Pollock referred to this as the chivalry thesis Pollock suggested that the police were less likely to record crimes committed by females than they were crimes committed by males he also suggested that the Judiciary magistrates and judges were less likely to pass harsh sentences on females because they were socialized into protecting women these acts of chivalry as Pollock suggested meant that often women would have charges dropped or received cautions or community- based punishments rather than being charged with offenses or face imprisonment this was due to assumptions that women's criminality was less harmful to society than acts committed by men often crimes committed by women were seen as being due to errors of judgment rather than a deliberate offense Pollock argued that this was due to the social expectations of women to be seen as good and moral as opposed to views of male criminals as being violent and immoral women needed to be protected from the influence of crime and for women to offend it was seen as a failing of society in its duty of care to women this was backed up by crimes that were usually committed by women such as petty theft shoplifting and prostitution being seen as victimless and therefore less likely to be recorded as crimes with women often being cautioned for these activities contemporary application of the chivalry thesis was seen in 2017 when Oxford University student levinia Woodward was spared jail as judges saw as having a bright future and a promising career in medicine Woodward who had a history of alcohol and drug abuse stabbed her then boyfriend in the leg whilst under the influence of alcohol as he tried to alert her family that she had been drinking however when the case came to court National headlines were made when she was praised for her determination in overcoming addiction and her resilience in trying to forge a career for herself in medicine her actions were seen as an error of judgment this was due to the paternalistic attitudes of the male judge suggesting that Miss woodwood was not a threat to society despite having caused injury with a sharp instrument many argued that had the T table's been turned the judicial system would not have looked as favorably upon her partner in evaluation of the chivalry thesis it's important to examine other methods of measuring crime for example self-report studies suggest that there is little difference in the rates of criminality between males and females yet males are charged with four out of every five crimes in the UK males are also more likely to be imprisoned and have higher rates of reoffending than females with only n % of women having a criminal conviction at the age of 30 compared to almost one in3 men male criminality is seen as deliberate female criminality is often dismissed as an error of judgment however critics have suggested that the judicial system often discriminates against female criminals Henson suggested that particularly in cases of women committing criminal acts that were part of the male domain such as violence or drug dealing that women were subjected to double deviant being judged as deviant for committing the act and deviant for not adhering to social expectations of women as being good Carlin found that the sentencing of women was often based upon their gender roles that is their ability to be a good wife and mother rather than the crime that they had just committed whilst warer suggested that the justice system doesn't just discriminate against female criminals but also against female victims rape and sexual assault victims itims are effectively on trial according to war club being forced to prove that they did not give their attacker consent rather than forcing the attacker to prove that they had that concludes this CH to you sociology topic video looking at gender and crime focusing on the chivalry thesis thanks for watching