Women lifers are different

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A survey has found that no women serving a life sentence in a British jail has ever been to jail before, compared to a third of male lifers. Does this support the idea that violent women rarely have a history of violence and generally commit "acts of passion." Or is that JUST an excuse? Is the pattern the same in other countries? Are women in jail treated fairly?

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-- Lesley RiddochWomen lifers are different Lesley Riddoch (lesley.riddoch@bbc.co.uk), February 29, 2000

Answers

I sometimes wonder, if women in jail are there because they 'fell for the wrong man', they only need to do it once. There is something naive about women that we feel inclinded to trust men, who invariably take advantage. Part of the problem seems also to be that because women are depicted as caring and kind, when we don't conform to this ideology we must be punished. With men there is something expected of them to be aggressive, and so they are treated more leniently when it comes to trial.

-- Louise Derby (s9452297@huds.ac.uk), April 03, 2000.

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