Get the inside track on the big stories from Manchester courts with our weekly newsletter Women have made up a quarter of offenders in England and Wales over the last five years.
A number of these female offenders have passed through Greater Manchester's courts, which are among the busiest in the country.
The sentences these women receive frequently spark debate between M.E.N readers. In comments sections below court cases, it's often claimed that women get off lightly, simply because of their gender, and that this is unfair to male defendants.
Earlier this year, Natalie Schmitz was narrowly spared jail after dealing cocaine and ketamine as she had turned her life around.
Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk