Women as Criminal Defendants: a Test for Paternalism

SOCIAL SCIENTISTS recently have given attention to the effect of gender on the treatment of defendants in the criminal justice process (see Nagel and Hagan 1983 for a review). While some researchers have found few differences (cf. Green 1961; Simon 1975; Katzenelson 1976), most have found that adult female defendants are treated more leniently than male defendants. They are more likely to be released prior to trial (Nagel and Weitzman 1972; Swigert and Farrell 1977), and less likely to be sentenced severely (Engle 1971; Pope 1976; Bernstein et al. 1979) and incarcerated (Babb and Furgeson 1967; Nagel and Weitzman 1972; Simon 1975; Sutton 1978; Bernstein et al. 1979; Spohn et al. 1982; Steffensmeier and Kramer 1982).1 The reasons for this more lenient treatment of female felony defendants are still obscure. Three explanations have been offered: 1. There are real differences in the treatment of male and female