Gender Differences In Crime Sociology

It is no secret that gender differences in crime exist; however even with all the theories there is no set reason as to why this is. Kevin Beaver said “In virtually every study ever conducted, males are much more likely than females to engage in violence, aggression, and serious crimes”. There has always been a gap in the amount of crime that men commit compared to women. All crime, aside shoplifting and prostitution, males commit significantly more. With population between the genders being almost exactly 50/50, with females making up 51%, why is there such a clear difference? These are a few theories criminologists came up with to try and explain this phenomenon. Although there are several theories trying to explain why this difference
For example both studies done by the following groups: Darrell Steffensmeier, Jeffery Ulmer, and John Kramer(1998). And Spohn and Holleran (2000) concluded that compared to other factors such as the offender's age/ethnicity, the gender of the offender is the most powerful and influential factor. The mass majority of studies show that female offenders receive much milder sentences than male offenders. Professor Starr, A professor of law, came to the same conclusion in 2012. She says “If you’re a criminal defendant, it may help-a lot-to be a woman”. Her studies concluded that men receive 63% longer sentences than women. Although she says the way to fix this problem is not by sending more women to prison but to lessen the sentences of men. However I disagree with this because I don’t think sentences of men should lessen but that they should all be equal. Don’t lessen the sentence of a crime because of gender, set the sentence on the crime itself, everything other than the crime itself and the evidence shown, there should be little to no other factors in court/sentencing. One reason why the sentencing may be different is because there are significantly more men committing crime, so it may be to deter other men from crime by forcing harsher sentences. However wouldn’t that do the exact opposite to women? Wouldn’t doing that encourage women to commit more crime because
However it is on the decline, either for societal reasons or whatever it may be. The reasons for this difference between the two genders is still unknown but these are some of the many theories that people have come up with as an attempt to explain this difference. As times change so does crime, along with what type of crime is more prevalent in what years. Gender differences in crime along with crime as a whole is a constant moving cycle; it will always change, however little as it may be, year by