Is Preferential Treatment of Female Offenders a Thing of the Past? A Multisite Study of Gender, Race, and Imprisonment

TLDR

Dramatic increases in women’s incarceration have led some researchers to claim that differential sentencing of female offenders is a thing of the past. The study investigates whether differential sentencing of female offenders persists by examining felony convictions in Chicago, Miami, and Kansas City. It analyzes data from these three jurisdictions to assess gender and race effects on incarceration odds. The analysis finds no support for gender neutrality; women face significantly lower odds of incarceration, and while racial disparities affect men, women receive more lenient treatment across racial groups, with only one exception.

Abstract

Dramatic increases in the number of women incarcerated in state and federal prisons have led some researchers to conclude that differential sentencing of female offenders is a thing of the past. This study uses data on offenders convicted of felonies in Chicago, Miami, and Kansas City to address this issue. The authors find no evidence to support this “gender neutrality” hypothesis. In all three jurisdictions, women face significantly lower odds of incarceration than do men. The results also reveal that the effect of race is conditioned by gender but the effect of gender, with only one exception, is not conditioned by race; harsher treatment of racial minorities is confined to men but more lenient treatment of women is found for both racial minorities and Whites.