Official disciplinary data from the Philadelphia Police Department for the 1991-1998 period were used to study the extent to which gender parity existed in the formal disciplinary system.
Three questions were investigated: (1) whether there would be an observable gender gap in police discipline punishment rates; (2) whether any observed gender gap would be attributed to sex discrimination in the police disciplinary process or some earlier decision stage; and (3) if any observed gender gap could not be attributed to the police disciplinary process, whether aggregate results would suggest minimal observed gender gap. Results demonstrated a minimal observed gender gap. With nearly 100 percent of it attributable to differential involvement in charging, the observed disparity could not be attached to the police disciplinary process. Aggregate analysis masked offense-specific variations in the percentage gap that could not be explained by differential involvement in charging. Implications of the results for police disciplinary practices and directions for future research are addressed. 34 references, 4 notes, and 6 tables
Downloads
Related Datasets
Similar Publications
- Measuring “What Matters” in 21st-century Policing: Partnering with Civilian Oversight to Assess Procedurally Just Policing in Philadelphia
- National Law Enforcement Accountability Database, 2018–2023
- Analyzing and interpreting deoxyribonucleic acid from multiple donors using a forensically relevant single-cell strategy