Title: Why Do Female Criminals Get Lighter Sentences | LY Lawyers
Headings: Why do Female Criminals Get Lighter Sentences Than Men?
Why do Female Criminals Get Lighter Sentences Than Men?
Why do female criminals get lighter sentences than men?
Do female offenders generally receive shorter sentences than men?
Should we treat female offenders different from male offenders?
Being a mother will lead to a shorter term of imprisonment

Content: Even though there has been a steady increase in female offending over the past few years, murder and other violent crimes are still generally under the domain of men and the offending pattern of women is different than that of men. Females tend to commit offences that are of less danger to others such as shoplifting, drug offences or fraud related offences in comparison to their male counterparts. Liddell and Martinovic point out that historically, “women unlike men infrequently resort to violence.” Another factor that is considered when sentencing an offender is whether or not the offender has a prior record. Females (53.9%) are less likely to have a prior record than men (38.2%). For this reason as well as others, more women than men are released on good behaviour or dismissals. Both of which do not require a conviction to be recorded. Should we treat female offenders different from male offenders? Female criminals are very often seen in a different light than that of male criminals…their history of victimisation/abuse highlighted and taken into account and given more weight more often than that of male offenders who commit similar offences. According to Freudenberg, Willets & Green, “incarcerated women typically have a history of unmet social, educational, health, and economic needs, in addition to a history of victimisation,” which may be why women more than men tend to commit substance abuse and drug related offences .