The chapter also discusses women's and men's treatment by the criminal justice system. Research in this area focuses on whether the system treats women and men equally or whether one sex receives preferential treatment. As with many topics that sociologists research, there is no single, definitive answer to this question. However, other studies point out that women are more likely than men to be charged with status offenses. Another portion of the research in this area focuses on women and men as victims of crime.
Men are more likely than women to be crime victims, especially young, Black or Hispanic men.
Women, on the other hand, are much more likely than men to be the victims of certain crimes such as rape and spousal abuse. Child sexual abuse and spousal abuse represent two additional forms of criminal victimization discussed in the chapter that disproportionately affect women. I was watching Dateline awhile ago and saw a special on self-defense classes. These classes were for children as young as 4 or 5 years old and were coed. The instructor had a compelling rationale for making the course coed.