Gender Disparity in Criminal Sentencing: Examining Inequalities - Research Paper

Purpose of the Study and Research Questions

The primary aim of the study was to examine the statistics related to criminal sentencing as captured in the available literature to establish whether there are gender disparities in the way the various groups of offenders are sentenced in the criminal justice system. In this light, the research purposefully focused on shedding light on the potential inequalities in the criminal justice system and how these inequalities unfairly impact particular members of society. Thus, one main research question emerged that asked what does the literature say about gender disparities in sentencing for different groups sentenced in the judicial system? Answering this research question required other sub-research questions such as:

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• Are there gender disparities in the judicial system?
• If at all the gender disparities exist, what are their effects on the judicial system?
• What could be the reasons contributing to the existence of gender disparity in the criminal sentencing system?

Justification for the Research

Different states have federal guidelines that judges follow to execute judgment regarding a case. The issue of gender disparity is essential in any criminal sentencing system because it has a possibility of jeopardizing the sentencing system by making it shift from an impartial system to a partial one. This implies that the guidelines should help the judge to pass sentence based on the magnitude of the offense rather than focusing on individual attributes. Personal characteristics, such as gender, race, and marital status, have the potential to taint the efficiency of judgment. However, perhaps there could be other reasons as to the disparities just have to exist. As a result, sentencing discrimination deserves a special kind of focus from scholars in order to establish the existence of inequalities, their patterns of occurrence, which can lead to a sound inference regarding the reasons for existence and helping to denote how it may affect the society. From such a basis of thinking, the research formed the recommendations for future research.

Contribution of the Research to Criminal Justice Studies

Early studies (such as Mustard, 2001) have shown that extralegal factors, for example, race, gender, ethnicity, and age, have the potential to impact the sentencing process. Also, there have been perceptions that there are numerous methodological and conceptual issues in the research affiliated with the criminal sentencing system, thereby making it hard to assume the validity of any finding. Moreover, there is need to note that earlier research by Steffensmeier et al. (1998) explained the notion of the sentencing decision by positing that the decisions consider various parameters such as offender's blameworthiness, the need to protect the community where the offense emanated and the typical effect of the sentence. These three factors are quite essential for judges to consider when passing out the verdict. However, there are other variables likely to influence the process of sentencing. From a critical perception, such var...