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"Lightowlers said the findings could be a result of the perception that alcohol consumption and violence go against traditional notions of womanhood, and that these are reinforced when sentences are handed down."

Alternatively, it could mean that only the most serious drunken assaults by women are prosecuted and that in fact men are being prosecuted in cases where a woman would not be. Unless there is a true comparison of the facts of particular cases the figures are apt to mislead.

As James Bowers says Lies, damned lies and statistics