Female Sex Offenders: An Analysis of Disparate Treatment within the United States Criminal Justice System

• In Event: Understanding Women's Offending and Victimization: Feminist Criminology and Advocacy

Abstract

The criminal justice process is designed to provide defendants with equal treatment, disposing of cases in a fair manner regardless gender (Curran, 1983). Disparity in sentencing, however, between the sexes has been well documented (Curry et al., 2004; Daly & Tonry, 1997; Romain & Freiburger, 2015; Spivak et al., 2014; Spohn and & Beichner, 2000; Tillyer, 2015; Visher, 1983) and assessed via different theoretical paradigms. more specifically, gender disparity among sex crimes has been explained by relying on the chivalry and evil woman hypothesis(Romain, et al., 2015). This research explores the chivalry and evil woman hypothesis by examining arrest discrepancies between male and female sex offenders, using National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data. The implications of this research will be discussed, as this study will provide relatively new information regarding law enforcement treatment of female sex offenders.

Authors

• Callie Dara Shaw, Texas State University

• Tyler Vaughan, Texas State University

• Donna M Vandiver, Texas State University