ABSTRACT

The current study examines the influence of defendant sex, mode of disposition, and sex-by-mode of disposition grouping on incarceration and sentence length decisions. In addition, this study examines contextual effects on the trial penalty for males and females. Generally, findings suggest that females receive more lenient sentences, those convicted via plea receive more lenient sentences, and males convicted via trial receive harsher sentences than all other sex-by-mode of disposition grouping. Analysis of cross-level interactions signify that districts which sentenced higher average offense levels had smaller trial penalties at the incarceration decision and larger trial penalties at the sentence length decision for both males and females. Meanwhile, no detectable influence of caseload size on the effect of sex, mode of disposition, and their intersections at either sentencing point was found. Implications for the study findings are discussed and future avenues of research are recommended.

摘要

当前的研究检验了被告性别，性格方式和性格分组方式对监禁和刑期决定的影响。此外，本研究还考察了情境对男性和女性审判罚金的影响。通常，研究结果表明，与所有其他按性别分组的处理方式相比，通过认罪定罪的女性将获得更宽大的刑罚，而通过认罪而定罪的男性将获得更宽容的刑罚。对跨层次互动的分析表明，对男性和女性而言，平均犯罪水平较高的地区在监禁决定中的审判处罚较小，而在刑期判决中的审判处罚较大。同时，案件数量对性别，性格方式，并找到他们在两个量刑点的交集。对研究结果的意义进行了讨论，并建议了未来的研究途径。