NCJ Number
214775
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 70 Issue: 1 Dated: June 2006 Pages: 56-62
Date Published
June 2006
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This study examined gender differences in the dollar amount of bail set by judges in a District Court in Lincoln County, NE.
Abstract
Results indicated that when controlling for the interactions of gender with the two legal variables of felony seriousness and prior arrests and with the two extralegal variables of race and age, there were no significant differences between men and women in the amount of bail set for their cases. Limited support was found for the hypothesis that White female defendants would receive lower bail amounts; the findings did indicate White females received the lowest bail amounts, but the findings were not statistically significant. The findings question the paternalism explanation for sex differences within criminal justice decisionmaking, which holds that women may fare worse in criminal justice outcomes due to the attitude that women should be kept in their traditional sex role positions in society. Data were drawn from the district court files of 869 felony cases eligible for bail in Lancaster County, NE in 1996. Data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate regression analyses. Tables, footnotes, references