Week 5 Unit 8 Ch 4 Three Sources of Discrimination Flashcards
Gender-specific law
The gender of the person is written directly into the law
Gender neutral law
No sex included in the law
Progressive Era
Assumptions guide response
- Women’s reformatories and gendered assumptions
Indeterminate Sentencing
- 1913 Muncy Act
- Daisy Douglas and Daniel Appeal
- Muncy Act Amendment
- Despite resistance to equal treatment, USSC eventually required min/max for both men and women, during Second Wave
The Equal Treatment Hypothesis
There is no discrimination
This is the best fit with notable exceptions
The Chivalry Hypothesis
Men are treated more harshly in the CJ processes
This doesn’t exist since if the offense is serious and the person has a prior record we don’t see this in the CJ process
The Evil Woman Hypothesis
Women are treated more harshly in the CJ processes
In domestic battery cases, you see a large number of cases but very rarely do they get convicted
Equal Treatment
On balance, the bulk of the data finds support for the Equal Treatment Hypothesis
Women do have shorter sentences than men but this is because they usually commit less serious offenses and usually have no prior record.
Chivlary
Does not benefit all women equally… (Intersectionality)
Processing Juveniles
- Gynecology in corrections
- Historically, girls were treated more harshly, but we have improved
- Still, girls’ sexual activity is monitored more closely and punished more harshly
- Consider running away
- Consider parent behavior
- Roots in “child saving”
- Girls are punished far worse, rigid, and impactful for status offenses (offenses only criminal for people under a certain age)
- Girls are more likely to be petitioned and institutionalized and taken out of their home environment over a status offense
- Girls are more likely to be sanctioned for adolescent behavior
Analysis of the three hypotheses
Some support for Evil Woman Hypothesis
Primarily in the early stages of decision-making and specific types of offenses
Support for the Equal Treatment Hypothesis
Appears in the middle stages
Support for Chivalry Hypothesis
MIGHT be support in the final stages
Analysis of the three hypotheses
Some support for Evil Woman Hypothesis
Primarily in the early stages of decision-making and specific types of offenses
Support for the Equal Treatment Hypothesis
Appears in the middle stages
Support for Chivalry Hypothesis
MIGHT be supporting in the final stages
Pretrial Decisions
- To detain or not detain?
- To prosecute or not prosecute?
- Or, to refer or not refer to j-court
- Women have some benefits best explained by the prior record and offense seriousness, with exceptions of girls in status offenses and prostitutes who get no leniency
- Men are twice as likely to plead guilty to a lesser offense
- Men are more likely to have access to a charge reduction through plea bargaining
-
Pretrial Decisions
- To detain or not detain?
- To prosecute or not prosecute?
- Or, to refer or not refer to j-court
- Women have some benefits best explained by the prior record and offense seriousness, with exceptions of girls in status offenses and prostitutes who get no leniency
- Men are twice as likely to plead guilty to a lesser offense
- Men are more likely to have access to a charge reduction through plea bargaining
Trial and Post-trial decisions
Conviction data generally support the Equal Treatment Hypothesis
- Incarceration data support Chivalry, sometimes, and Equal Treatment
- Death penalty data: Equa Treatment
