While I'm all for Men's Rights, can we get a little perspective? Are there many court cases that have occurred where women receive a worse punishment?

2012-05-29T16:42:46+00:00

There is a distinct and well documented disparity in the sentencing between the genders. Most research indicates it is the result of individual biases on the part of judges, but this varies largely by state and criminal jurisdiction. People treat men and women differently, and this does not preclude individuals in the criminal justice system.

thrway_1000 · 2012-05-29T17:37:20+00:00

http://www.terry.uga.edu/~mustard/sentencing.pdf

This paper examines 77,236 federal offenders sentenced under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 and concludes the following. First, after controlling for extensive criminological, demographic, and socioeconomic variables, I found that blacks, males, and offenders with low levels of education and income receive substantially longer sentences. Second, disparities are primarily generated by departures from the guidelines, rather than differential sentencing within the guidelines. Departures produce about 55 percent of the black-white difference and 70 percent of the male-female difference. Third, although black-white disparities occur across offenses, the largest differences are for drug trafficking. The Hispanic-white disparity is generated primarily by those convicted of drug trafficking and firearm possession/trafficking. Last, blacks and males are also less likely to get no prison term when that option is available; less likely to receive downward departures; and more likely to receive upward adjustments and, conditioned on having a downward departure, receive smaller reductions than whites and females.

rightsbot · 2012-05-29T16:30:21+00:00

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thrway_1000 · 2012-05-29T17:33:57+00:00

http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2004/11/race_and_gender.html

Unlike race and ethnic discrimination, the evidence is more consistent that similar offenders are sometimes treated differently based on their gender. Gender effects are found in both drug and non-drug offenses and greatly exceed the race and ethnic effects discussed above. The typical male drug offender has twice the odds of going to prison as a similar female offender. Sentence lengths for men are typically 25 to 30 percent longer for all types of cases.

thrway_1000 · 2012-05-29T17:46:33+00:00

http://fcx.sagepub.com/content/7/2/146.refs

The current research examines the utility of the evil woman hypothesis by examining sentencing discrepancies between male and female sex offenders. National Corrections Reporting Program data are used to identify sex offenders for the years 1994 to 2004 and the sentences they received for specific sex offenses. Statistical analyses reveal a significant difference in sentence length between men and women, but not in the expected direction. The evil woman hypothesis would assume women are sentenced more harshly, but data show men receive longer sentences for sex offenses than women. Support is provided for the chivalry hypothesis to explain immediate sentencing disparity.

TracyMorganFreeman · 2012-05-29T20:26:01+00:00

The disparity in sentencing is rather large with men getting harsher ones, but last week or perhaps 2 weeks ago someone posted a news story of a woman convicted of statutory rape who was given 40 years, which is absurd for anyone.

thrway_1000 · 2012-05-29T17:58:40+00:00

DOUBLE STANDARDS – The Female Sentencing Discount

Embogenous · 2012-05-29T16:52:37+00:00

There certainly are exceptions. Men doing horrific things and getting a slap on the wrist, women getting long sentences. The former isn't that uncommon (though there's a certain demographic that it tends to affect... yep, wealthy white dudes) but the latter is very uncommon.

The main issue is those are exceptions to a trend where men are on average treated much worse. When people say after a woman gets a slap on the wrist "fuck, a guy would have been in jail for years" - often that wouldn't be true, because isolated cases can go either way, but based on typical prosecution and sentencing we assume he would have (like saying a man will die sooner than a woman... on an individual basis, many women die young and many men live long lives, but when you look at the bigger picture there's a gap of five years).

theozoph · 2012-05-29T23:50:42+00:00

Nod to Demonspawn.

Generalities exist.

A bigot thinks that there are no exceptions.

An idiot thinks that everyone is an exception.

Celda · 2012-05-29T16:59:53+00:00

Yes, perspective is necessary.

The perspective that, when comparing all known data (rather than anecdotes), women are statistically given much lighter punishments than men are for the same crime, after controlling for prior criminal record etc.

That's the perspective we need.

fondueguy · 2012-05-29T20:21:53+00:00

Defendant's Gender Affects Length of Sentence

A study of 300 simulated court cases shows that experienced judges, lay assessors, prosecutors, police officers, and lawyers make decisions and convict defendants differently depending on whether they are men or women

This is why we point to cases of men getting worse punishments, because the problem is systematic.

NiceIce · 2012-05-29T17:16:10+00:00

You don't belong here.

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