Nearly three quarters of women who served short jail terms reoffended, compared with only 63 per cent of men

Women offenders are being given disproportionately harsher sentences than men, a report published yesterday has said.

Research published by the crime and justice specialists, Crest Advisory, shows that only 15 per cent of women sentenced to prison have committed serious offences, compared with 27 per cent for men. For non-violent crime, the pattern in gender disparity sentencing is repeated.

In 2017 more than one in three of all prison sentences handed down to women was for shoplifting compared with only one in ten for men. Short sentences of six months or less correspond with the highest reoffending rate of all sentences. The report said that 73 per cent of women serving these short custodial sentences went on to reoffend, compared with 63 per cent of