The Impact of Gender and Race on Criminal Justice Outcomes Among Parents Convicted of Child Homicide in Oklahoma

• In Event: Domestic and Family Violence Related Deaths

Abstract

What happens when women engage in behaviors that are contrary to their gender role such as intentionally harming their own children or failing to protect them from lethal abuse? How do these gender roles and societal expectations play out within the criminal justice system? Oklahoma has the highest rate of female incarceration in the United States. As a result, there is concern that Oklahoma mothers are unfairly charged with crimes when they engage in behaviors that are contrary to their gender role, and that mothers of color experience social inequalities when their children die from child maltreatment. This study will examine criminal charges and sentencing outcomes among parents whose children died from abuse or neglect in Oklahoma. Data was collected between 2007-2021 from the Oklahoma Child Death Annual Reports and Oklahoma Jail Records to include 67 child victims and 109 offenders. Factors assessed included gender, race, relationship to child, the presence of intimate partner violence, child protective service intervention, and substance use. Findings will contribute to the literature on the reported gender and racial discrepancy among child maltreatment cases in Oklahoma by providing data that shows how gender influences culpability among child abuse homicides.

Author

• Lisa Nichols, University of Northern Colorado