Gender and the Social Costs of Sentencing: An Analysis of Sentences Imposed on Male And Female Offenders in Three U.S. District Courts
![handle is hein.journals/bjcl11 and id is 57 raw text is: Gender and the Social Costs of
Sentencing:
An Analysis of Sentences Imposed on Male
and Female Offenders in Three U.S. District
Courts
Ann Martin Stacey & Cassia Spohn'
Disparity in the treatment of offenders involved in the criminal justice
system has been the topic of a substantial amount of research over the past thirty
years. Perhaps the most compelling evidence of disparity is found in the
demographics of the inmate population in state and federal prisons throughout
the United States. Most of those incarcerated in our nation's prisons are men,
and the incarceration rates for blacks and Hispanics are substantially higher than
the rate for whites.2 These disparities in rates of imprisonment, which have
persisted for more than three decades, have led researchers to focus on the
sentencing stage of the criminal justice process.3 They also have led
1Department of Criminal Justice, University ofNebraska at Omaha. This report is based on work
supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant SESB0136236. Points of view are
those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Science
Foundation.
2 Cassia Spohn et al., Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Sentence Severity in Dade County, Florida:
An Examination of the Decision to WithholdAdjudication, 21 J. OF CRIME & JUST. 111, 111-38
(1998). For example, regarding racial disparities, in 1999, African-Americans comprised only
13% ofthe population yet accounted for 46% ofthe state and federal prison population. CASSIA
SPOt-N, HOW DO JUDGES DECIDE? THE SEARCH FOR FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE 1N PUNISHMENT 172
(2002) [hereinafter SPOHN 2002]. Regarding gender disparities, in 1997, there were 1,123,478
men and only 74,112 women incarcerated in the United States. Id. at 145.
3 MARC MAUER, RACE To INCARCERATE 118-40 (1999).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/bjcl11&div=9&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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