U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Gender and the Criminal Justice System, 1992

NCJ Number
139825
Date Published
1992
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This report presents compares males and females in England and Wales with respect to population numbers, employment, offending, case processing in the criminal justice system, sentencing, victimization, and employment in the criminal justice system in 1990 and other years.
Abstract
In 1990, males slightly outnumbered females in the age groups under 45, whereas females made up 54.5 percent of the population aged 45 and over. However, only 17 percent of the 509,000 found guilty or cautioned for indictable offenses in 1990 were females. The peak age for offending was 15 for females and 18 for males. Cautioning was the main disposition for female offenders for all age groups and for most offenses except drug law offenses. Across all age groups, females sentenced for indictable offenses in 1990 were more likely to have received a discharge than males (34 percent versus 15 percent) and more likely to be put on supervision of probation (19 percent compared with 10 percent). Eight percent of males and 4 percent of females received community service orders, and 41 percent of males and 31 percent of females were fined. Although the number of women employed in each criminal justice agency is increasing, they are still very much in the minority in senior positions. Figures and 26 references