Gender Issues in Criminal Justice

Running Head: UNIT 9 FINAL PROJECT

Gender Issues in Criminal Justice

Gender Issues in Criminal Justice

Are men and women treated equally under the criminal justice system? Is the criminal justice system more lenient towards female offenders? If so, why? The justice system in the United States, as in many other countries, is not perfect. Among its deficiencies is the evident gender bias in regards to sentencing. There are numerous instances where men and women have been tried for the same crimes, but when it comes to the verdict and punishment phase, females have been treated differently than their male counterparts. According to Schmalleger (2007), "the goals of criminal sentencing are many and varied, and they include retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, rehabilitation, and restoration" (pp 441). If females are been treated in our court system with deferment, then justice is not been served since these female offenders do not have to make any kind of retribution and do not receive rehabilitation at the same level that a male offender.

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report (UCR) Table 33, statistics shows that in the last ten years (1998-2007), the rate of female arrests increased by 6.6 %, while arrests of male offenders declined by 6.1 % . In 2006-2007 alone, the rate for violent crimes committed by females, which includes murder, rape and sexual assault, robbery, and assault rose 2.2 % while the number of male offenders arrested for the same type of crime declined by 2.2 % (UCR 2007 Table 66). In 1996 the averages sentence and time served for women were shorter than for males with equivalent offenses (USDOJ). This trend of preferential treatment is also visible in offenders sentenced to death. As of yearend 2007, the number of inmates on death row was 3, 220 and only 56 of them were women. In 2008 37 inmates were executed in the U.S., all 37 of them were male (USDOJ).

This obvious gender bias in sentencing was even recognized in an opinion by Justice Marshall in a death penalty case, "There is also overwhelming evidence that the death penalty is employed against men and not women. ... It is difficult to understand why women have received such favored treatment since the purposes allegedly served by capital punishment seemingly are equally applicable to both sexes." Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 365 (1972) (Marshall, J.,concurring). Female offenders are arrested at an approximately 1 in 10 murders, of those arrested for murder only 1 in 50 is sentenced to death, only 1 in 71 makes it all the way to death row, and only 1 in 92 executions is a female (Streib, 2004).

In analyzing the statistics for sentencing of female offenders it is noted that gender plays a significant role in sentencing. There are few differences between gender and sex. Sex is the biological differences between a man and a woman. Gender differences are those roles ascribed to women by society. Society view women as nurturers and caretakers, not as murderers and sex offenders.

Female offenders are been judged and sentenced mainly as a group and not as individuals. In an article by Judge Patricia M. Wald for the Criminal Justice Magazine (Spring 2001) states that "As a group, women are far less apt to be convicted of violent crimes, or, in the case of drug-related offenses, to be major dealers or kingpins of drug enterprises." According to Cook (1995) as cited by Wald, "women are far more likely to have been the principal caretaker of young children at the time of arrest, likely to have been the subordinate member in a coercive relationship with a male criminal whom they assisted in committing the crime", and are considered "less aggressive and relegated to a lower status and a lesser role in criminal enterprises." Furthermore, she states that "Women offenders have distinct health needs-physical and mental-stemming from their special biological makeup; they are demonstrably more vulnerable than men to physical and sexual abuse from guards and other personnel." But male inmates, just like their female counterparts