... women offenders, more favourably compared with how they look at men. If a woman offender is a good mother then that woman is less likely to go to prison but if a woman's children are in care and the woman does not have good circumstances then that woman will most likely go to prison for her crime. This is a theory from Carlen (1983). When a male has committed a crime then the courts tend to look at the type of crime rather than the circumstances that the male is in such as do they have any children. Another theory of women being treated chivalrous by the courts is again based upon their circumstances. In a case where the women would have been imprisoned the man would have only received a fine for the same offence. This is because women are "normally financially dependent on their husbands and often could ...

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