Criminal Justice

Racial and socioeconomic biases frequently cause the weakening (and, at times, near elimination) of Constitutionally-guaranteed rights. All citizens are in jeopardy when these basic, inalienable human rights are discarded, but significant data reveals higher conviction rates and tougher sentencing befalling men – especially men of color and low-income men. In 2017, the United States Sentencing Commission found:

  • Black male offenders received sentences on average 19.1 percent longer than similarly situated White male offenders;
  • Black male offenders were 21.2 percent less likely than White male offenders to receive a non-government sponsored downward departure or variance. Furthermore, when Black male offenders did receive a non-government sponsored departure or variance, they received sentences 16.8 percent longer than White male offenders who received a non-government sponsored departure or variance;
  • Black male offenders received sentences on average 20.4 percent longer than similarly situated White male offenders, when accounting for violence in an offender’s past. This figure is almost the same as the 20.7 percent difference without accounting for past violence.

However, the same 2017 federal report also revealed striking disparities when data was disaggregated by sex:

  • Female offenders of all races received shorter sentences than White male offenders during the Post-Report period, as they had for the prior four periods.

 

Gender and sex bias in criminal justice is not a new concern

The existence and extent of gender and sex bias in criminal justice is not a new concern – legal scholars have been studying it for decades:

  • “Visher (1983) found some evidence that the gender of the suspect influences arrest decisions, although this depends on the perceived (masculine or feminine) type of criminal behavior of the woman…. Women defendants who conform to traditional gender role stereotypes are likely to be treated more leniently than men who are suspected of the same offenses,” (Federal Probation, Vol. 70, No. 1).
  • “Chesney-Lind (1987) found that women who commit traditionally ‘masculine’ crimes are expected to be treated more harshly than men. Yet, other research suggests that as women progress further into the criminal justice system, they are more likely to receive preferential treatment from a judge at sentencing than they are from the police officer making an arrest or the prosecutor seeking an indictment (Kempinen, 1983; Kruttschnitt 1984; Spohn & Welch 1987; Willison 1984; Spohn 1999).”
  • “When the researchers focused on comparing females to males, overall ‘the evidence suggested a tendency toward less severe sanctioning of females, particularly in the decision to incarcerate; and white females appeared to be treated with particular deference’ (Farnworth et al. 1991:68).”
  • “Spohn (1990), using data on defendants charged with violent felonies in Detroit, found males are more likely to be sentenced to prison, and their expected minimum sentence (EMS) is 292 days longer than the EMS for females.”

    Recent studies have found similar sex and gender-based inequities. In 2012, a University of Michigan Law School publication found “large gender gaps favoring women throughout the sentence length distribution (averaging over 60%), conditional on arrest offense, criminal history, and other pre-charge observables. Female arrestees are also significantly likelier to avoid charges and convictions entirely, and twice as likely to avoid incarceration if convicted. Prior studies have reported much smaller sentence gaps because they have ignored the role of charging, plea-bargaining, and sentencing fact-finding in producing sentences (Starr, Law & Economics Working Papers).”

    As recently as 2022, an article in the academic Inquiries Journal (Geppert, Vol. 14, No. 2) showed that “Explanations for women’s lenient treatment are often oversimplified as ‘sex differences‘ in criminal behavior… The family, as a site of inquiry, produces lenient court outcomes for women, specifically at the detention and sentencing stages. This study hereby considers the role of the ‘caretaker’ in the American nuclear family ideal, as well as the gendered norms, rules, and expectations for women’s performance of this role. …Female defendants are treated leniently not because of their gender alone, but rather due to the responsibilities they are expected to uphold in the family.”

    Sources

    U.S. Courts.gov
    U.S. Department of Justice
    U.S. Sentencing Commission
    Inquiries Journal
    International Association of Chiefs of Police