The Joint Conditioning Effect of Defendant's Gender and Ethnicity on Length of Imprisonment under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Drug Trafficking/Manufacturing Offenders
![handle is hein.journals/jgrj6 and id is 45 raw text is: The Joint Conditioning Effect of Defendant's
Gender and Ethnicity on Length of
Imprisonment Under the Federal Sentencing
Guidelines for Drug
Trafficking/Manufacturing Offenders
Celesta A. Albonetti*
I. INTRODUCTION
During the last three decades, numerous studies have focused on the
effects of extralegal defendant characteristics on sentence outcomes. Much
of this research has examined the effect of the defendant's gender' and/or
* Ph.D. 1984, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, M.A. (1975),
B.A. (1973) University of Missouri-St. Louis, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for
Criminology & Sociolegal Studies, University of Iowa.
1. For examples of this research, see Celesta A. Albonetti, The Role of Gender and
Departures in the Sentencing of Defendants Convicted of a White-Collar Offense Under the Federal
Sentencing Guidelines, in SOCIOLOGY OF CRIME, LAW AND DEVIANCE 3 (Jeffrey Ulmer ed., 1998)
(finding that defendant's gender altered the effect of guidelines departures on length of
imprisonment) [hereinafter Albonetti, The Role of Gender]; KATHLEEN DALY, GENDER, CRIME,
AND PUNISHMENT (1994) (challenging gender leniency found in some statistical studies) [hereinafter
DALY, GENDER, CRIME]; Elizabeth F. Moulds, Chivalry and Paternalism: Disparities of Treatment
in the Criminal Justice System, in WOMEN, CRIME AND JUSTICE 277 (Susan Datesman & Frank
Scarpitti eds., 1980); NICOLE HAHN RAFTER, PARTIAL JUSTICE: WOMEN IN STATE PRISON, 1800-
1935 (1985); C. SMART, WOMEN, CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY: FEMINIST CRITIQUE (1977)
(presenting the evil women thesis); JEFFREY T. ULMER, THE SOCIAL WORLDS OF SENTENCING:
COURT COMMUNITIES UNDER SENTENCING GUIDELINES (1997) (finding that defendant's gender and
race affected length of imprisonment in Pennsylvania) [hereinafter ULMER, SOCIAL WORLDS];
Celesta A. Albonetti, The Avoidance of Punishment: A Legal-Bureaucratic Model of Suspended
Sentences in Federal White-Collar Cases Prior to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, 78 SOC.
FORCES 303 (1999) (finding that defendant's gender and ethnicity directly and indirectly affected the
probability of receiving a suspended sentence) [hereinafter Albonetti, Avoidance]; Celesta A.
Albonetti, Direct and Indirect Effects of Case Complexity, Guilty Pleas and Offender Characteristics
on Length of Imprisonment for Offenders Convicted of a White-Collar Offense Prior to Sentencing
Guidelines, 14 J. QUANTITATIVE CRIMINOLOGY 353 (1998) (finding that defendant's gender and
ethnicity exerted direct and indirect effects on length of imprisonment) [hereinafter Albonetti, Direct
and Indirect]; Celesta A. Albonetti, An Integration of Theories to Explain Judicial Discretion, 38
SOC. PROBS. 247 (1991) (finding that defendant's gender is not related to sentence severity)
[hereinafter Albonetti, Integration]; Celesta A. Albonetti, Sentencing Under the Federal Sentencing
Guidelines: Effects of Defendant Characteristics, Guilty Pleas, and Departures on Sentence
Outcomes for Drug Offenses, 1991-1992, 31 LAW & SOC'Y REV. 789 (1997) (finding that
defendant's ethnicity conditioned the effect of guidelines departures and criminal history on length
of imprisonment) [hereinafter Albonetti, Sentencing]; Michael L. Benson & Esteban Walker,](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jgrj6&div=7&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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