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Gender Disparities in Criminal Sentencing: Assessing Three Decades of Change and the Impact of Women on the Bench

Fraga, Alexandria
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1591967868311532

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Sociology.
The central questions of this dissertation are threefold: First, are female criminal defendants punished more leniently than male defendants? Second, have gender-based disparities in criminal sentencing changed over time? Last, do male and female judges vary in their sentencing practices? Using a data set of all adult felony cases in the state of Minnesota from 1982 to 2017 (N=416,753) I first test for defendant gender-based disparities in criminal sentencing. With the exception of sentence length decisions for drug defendants, women are punished more leniently than men. However, legally relevant variables (e.g., criminal history) account for the majority of gender variation in sentencing. Second, in an analysis of longitudinal patterns in gender-based sentencing disparities, I find the gap in gender disparities in sentencing has narrowed over time. Specifically, from 1982-2017, men are sentenced more leniently over time while women are sentenced more punitively. With regard to judge-gender-based disparities in sentencing, I find that male and female judges do not differ in their sentencing practices.
King Ryan, Dr. (Advisor)
Dwyer Rachel, Dr. (Committee Member)
Brehm Hollie, Dr. (Committee Member)
143 p.
Sociology
Gender, sentencing, criminal sentencing, judges, law and society, gender disparities in sentencing

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Fraga, A. (2020). Gender Disparities in Criminal Sentencing: Assessing Three Decades of Change and the Impact of Women on the Bench [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1591967868311532

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Fraga, Alexandria. Gender Disparities in Criminal Sentencing: Assessing Three Decades of Change and the Impact of Women on the Bench . 2020. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1591967868311532.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Fraga, Alexandria. "Gender Disparities in Criminal Sentencing: Assessing Three Decades of Change and the Impact of Women on the Bench ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1591967868311532

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.