NCJ Number
227504
Journal
European Journal of Criminology Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2009 Pages: 225-247
Date Published
May 2009
Length
23 pages
Annotation
Using data from Finland, a society generally characterized by more gender equality than is found in the United States, this study determined whether an offender's sex had a significant impact on the decision to imprison after his/her conviction.
Abstract
The study found that in Finland, gender had no effect on the decision to incarcerate a convicted offender, after controlling for a range of social and legal case characteristics. In order to determine the impact of the distinctive effects of the different social positions of men and women and the implications these may or may not have on sentencing, the study considered whether gender might be linked to the parental and employment statuses that might influence the sentencing of male and female offenders. There was no evidence of the influence of gender roles on other factors considered by the court in sentencing. There are alternative explanations for these findings, however, other than Finland's achievement in gender equality. Finland's criminal justice system is very different from that of the United States. It is a more "rational" legal system that is not influenced by the various biases, including gender biases, that may enter criminal justice decisionmaking through juries and judicial elections. Although this could promote more impartial sentencing practices, another related explanation is the constituency of the two countries' judiciary. Whereas in 2005, 40 percent of the judges in the Finnish court system were women, in the United States only 25 percent of the judiciary were women. Suggestions are offered for additional research in this area. The dataset for this study was a random sample of sentencing outcomes from 1996 and 2000. The dependent variable pertained to sentencing outcomes: imprisonment, community service, and probation. Independent variables included gender and socioeconomic and legal variables pertinent to each case. 3 tables and 57 references