NCJ Number
101205
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 76 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1985) Pages: 151-175
Date Published
1985
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This article explores whether and how familial social control, perhaps the most salient gender-related status, affects the apparent leniency accorded women in the pretrial release decision.
Abstract
Explanations most commonly given for the relationship between gender and both criminal involvement and sanctioning are reviewed. A unifying element of these explanations is based on the difference in the quantity of social control to which the two sexes are subject. On the basis of Black's proposition that formal and informal social controls are inversely related, it is hypothesized that holding constant the quantity of familial social control in the lives of male and female offenders would reduce evidence of gender-based leniency in pretrial release decisions. Given assumed changes in female sex-roles, the effect over time of familial social control also is examined. Data from a stratified random sample of 1,558 female and 1,365 male offenders who were processed through the Department of Court Services in Hennepin County, Minn., and who were convicted between 1965 and 1980, provides partial support for the hypothesis. The addition of familial social control to equations eliminates the apparent preferential treatment of women in only 5 of the 12 years in which gender was a significant predictor of pretrial release. Further, irrespective of the period, there is little evidence that familial control was a sex-specific determinant of sanctioning. Given the sporadic effects of gender on pretrial release over time, results suggest that bench bias may be a factor in sanction decisionmaking. 60 footnotes.