Women as Criminal Defendants: a Test for Paternalism

Abstract

SOCIAL SCIENTISTS recently have given attention to the effect of gender on the treatment of defendants in the criminal justice process (see Nagel and Hagan 1983 for a review). While some researchers have found few differences (cf. Green 1961; Simon 1975; Katzenelson 1976), most have found that adult female defendants are treated more leniently than male defendants. They are more likely to be released prior to trial (Nagel and Weitzman 1972; Swigert and Farrell 1977), and less likely to be sentenced severely (Engle 1971; Pope 1976; Bernstein et al. 1979) and incarcerated (Babb and Furgeson 1967; Nagel and Weitzman 1972; Simon 1975; Sutton 1978; Bernstein et al. 1979; Spohn et al. 1982; Steffensmeier and Kramer 1982).1 The reasons for this more lenient treatment of female felony defendants are still obscure. Three explanations have been offered: 1. There are real differences in the treatment of male and female