There are 84,731 people in prison in Britain and according to the latest figures, 80,915 of them are men. Less than five per cent of this country’s prison population is female, and the trend is similar elsewhere in the western world. In France, it’s about three per cent; in Germany, just under six. The global median is 4.3 per cent, according to figures from the International Centre for Prison Studies. You can find all sorts of trends by analysing the demographics of the prison population that might tell us something about the groups most likely to offend, at least at a level warranting incarceration, but perhaps the most striking and persistent is that serious crime is still overwhelmingly committed by men.
The discrepancy is not quite so stark when looking at lower-level crimes, because when women do participate in crime they tend to commit less serious offences. But the gap still exists at all levels: in 2011, men accounted for about three-quarters of all criminal court cases and out-of-court disposals (warnings, cautions and so on).
…Read the full article here on The Telegraph website.
Jessica Abrahams 