When the criminal justice system was established, one of the goals was to create gender neutrality and equity. However, in those days, women were not known to behave in such ways. If a woman had actually taken part in criminal activities, such crimes would have been attributed to an individual who could not fight for himself. While people may believe that there are no “stereotypes” in the criminal justice system, it is quite obvious that women are constantly looked down upon because of their gender. In general, women tend to be treated like fragile objects that could break at any moment; the truth is that women can behave like men. Society stereotypes women; and the criminal justice system is no different. When it comes to stereotyping women in the criminal justice system, society presents as victims women who are actually capable of committing such crimes because by doing so they can get a lesser sentence or, if necessary, a longer sentence that will protect them from any harm . Throughout history, some crimes have been divided into different categories based on their prevalence. For each crime, the offense and charges are different. Furthermore, some crimes tend to be committed more often by women than men and vice versa. Crimes such as theft, fraud, forgery, and prostitution (Chesney-Lind, 1986) tend to be committed more often by women; while assaults, murders, trafficking, etc. they tend to be committed by men. Statistical evidence has shown that women, in fact, receive increasingly longer sentences when convicted of crimes similar to those of men, such as drug crimes (Coughenour, 1995 ). Criminologists provide several theories that explain the ... middle of paper ......d "protect" women when in reality they oppress them and portray them as weak (mentally, emotionally and physically), as well as weak. as dependent on men to "save" them. Works Cited Anderson, E. A. (1976). The “chivalric” treatment of female offenders in the arms of the criminal justice system: A review of the literature. Social Problems, 23(3), 350-357Coughenour, J. Separate and Unequal: Women in the Federal Criminal Justice System. JSTOR. Np, nd Web. March 15, 2014Chesney-Lind, M. (1986). Women and crime: the delinquent woman. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 12(1), 78.Moulds, E. F. (1978). Chivalry and paternalism: unequal treatment in the criminal justice system. Political Research Quarterly, 31(3), 416-430. The sentencing project: research and support for reform. (2007) Women in the criminal justice system: fact sheets.