Sex, Sentencing and Reconvigtion

Surprisingly little is known about whether judges and magistrates in England and Wales sentence men and women differendy. Nagel and Hagan (1983) have reviewed the American literature on this topic, contrast ing the chivalry theory (that women receive lenient disposals because of chivalrous or paternalistic behaviour by judges, prosecutors or magistrates) with the evil woman theory (that women are more harshly sentenced because they have violated not only the criminal law but also assumptions about what is appropriate and tolerable female behaviour). Nagel and Hagan found that, in general, women were sentenced more leniently than men. After controlling for other factors in multivariate analyses, the effects of sex on sentencing were small in comparison with those of other factors such as offence seriousness and prior record, but were demonstrably present . Existing English research on magistrates' sentencing provides little information about the influence of the sex of the defendant. Investigations of sentencing disparities between different courts (Hood, 1962; Tarling, I979) have studied only male offenders. In Hood's (1972) later research, sex was not nominated by magistrates in response to a question about which information was most useful to them in sentencing motoring offenders. In Softley's (1978, 1980) national study of offenders dealt with in magistrates' courts, there is no mention of how sex was related to sentencing, although it is clear that the sample contained males and females. The annual Criminal Statistics seem to suggest that men receive relatively more severe sentences than women in magistrates' courts in England and Wales. For example, for persons aged 17 or over found guilty of indictable or triable-either-way offences in 1979 (Home Office, 1980), 6-6 per cent, of men received immediate imprisonment (compared with 2-0 per cent, of women), 4-5 per cent, of men were committed to the Crown Court for sentence (compared with 1 -2 per cent, of women), and 7*3 per cent, of men were given suspended sentences of imprisonment (compared with 4 • 3 per cent, of women). Conversely, 18-5 per cent, of women received a discharge (compared with 7-9 per cent, of men), and 14-4 per cent, of women were given probation orders (compared with 6-o per cent, of men). The 1979 statistics are quoted here because the analyses in this paper are based on court appearances in 1979. The problem in interpreting these figures, of course, is that there may be many factors confounded with the sex of the defendant which explain the