Sentencing female drug offenders: Reexamining racial and ethnic disparities

Women and Criminal Justice

Volumn 19, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 191-216

  Crow, Matthew S ^a   Kunselman, Julie C ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA   (United States)

^b NORTHERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Drug offenders; Female offenders; Focal concerns; Sentencing; Sentencing disparity; Sentencing policy

Indexed keywords

EID: 70649115465     PISSN: 08974454     EISSN: 15410323     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/08974450903001511     Document Type: Article

References (76)

1. Alozie, Nicholas and Wayne Johnston. 2000. Probing the Limits of the Female Advantage in Criminal Processing: Pretrial Diversion of Drug Offenders in an Urban County. Justice System Journal 21:239-259.
2. Beckett, Katherine and Theodore Sasson. 2000. The Politics of Injustice: Crime and Punishment in America. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
3. Belknap, Joanne. 2001. The Invisible Woman: Gender, Crime and Justice. 2nd ed. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.
4. Bickle, Gayle S. and Ruth D. Peterson. 1991. The Impact of Gender-Based Family Roles on Criminal Sentencing. Criminology 38:372-392.
5. Bontrager, Stephanie, William Bales, and Theodore Chiricos. 2005. Race, Ethnicity, Threat and the Labeling of Convicting Felons. Criminology 43:589-622.
6. Britt, Chester L. 2000. Social Context and Racial Disparities in Punishment Decisions. Justice Quarterly 17:707-732.
7. Bushway, Shawn and Anne Phiel. 2001. Judging Judicial Discretion: Legal Factors and Racial Discrimination in Sentencing. Law and Society Review 35:733-767.
8. Chesney-Lind, Meda. 1997. The Female Offender. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
9. Chiricos, Theodore and Charles Crawford. 1995. Race and Imprisonment: A Contextual Assessment of the Evidence. Pp. 281-309 in Ethnicity, Race and Crime, edited by D. Hawkins. Albany: SUNY Press.
10. Chiricos, Theodore, Kelly Welch, and Marc Gertz. 2004. Racial Typification of Crime and Support for Punitive Measures. Criminology 42:359-389.
11. Crawford, Charles. 2000. Gender, Race, and Habitual Offender Sentencing in Florida. Criminology 38:263-280.
12. Crow, Matthew S. 2008. Examining the Complexities of Prior Record, Race and Ethnicity, and Offense: Interactive Effects in Sentencing. Criminal Justice Review 33(4):502-523.
13. Crow, Matthew S. and William Bales. 2006. Sentencing Guidelines and Focal Concerns: The Effect of Sentencing Policy as a Practical Constraint on Sentencing Decisions. American Journal of Criminal Justice 30:285-304.
14. Curran, Debra. A. 1983. Judicial Discretion and Defendant's Sex. Criminology 21:41-58.
15. Daly, Kathleen. 1987a. Discrimination in the Criminal Courts: Family, Gender and the Problem of Equal Treatment. Social Forces 66:152-175.
16. Daly, Kathleen. 1987b. Structure and Practice of Familial-Based Justice in a Criminal Court. Law and Society Review 21:267-290.
17. Daly, Kathleen. 1989a. Neither Conflict nor Labeling nor Paternalism Will Suffice: Intersections of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Family in Criminal Court Decisions. Crime and Delinquency 35:136-168.
18. Daly, Kathleen. 1989b. Rethinking Judicial Paternalism: Gender, Work-Family Relations, and Sentencing. Gender and Society 3:9-36.
19. Daly, Kathleen, 1994. Gender, Crime, and Punishment. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
20. Daly, Kathleen, and Rebecca L. Bordt. 1995. Sex Effects and Sentencing: An Analysis of the Statistical Literature. Justice Quarterly 12:141-175.
21. Demuth, Stephen. 2003. Racial and Ethnic Differences in Pretrial Release Decisions and Outcomes: A Comparison of Hispanic, Black and White Felony Arrestees. Criminology 41:873-908.
22. Fearn, Noelle E. 2005. A Multilevel Analysis of Community Effects on Criminal Sentencing. Justice Quarterly 22:452-487.
23. Florida Department of Corrections. 1996. Sentencing Guidelines 1995-1996 Annual Report. Available: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/sg_annual/9596/i_intro.html. Accessed 5/15/05
24. Florida Department of Corrections. 1999. Florida's Criminal Punishment Code: A Descriptive Assessment (FY 1998-1999). Available: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/sg_annual/9899/intro.html. Accessed 5/15/05
25. Florida Department of Corrections. 2006. 2005-2006 Annual Report. Available: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/annual/0506/stats/im_admis.html. Accessed 1/20/08
26. Florida State Courts. 2008. Summary Reporting System. Available: http://trialstats.flcourts.org/TrialCourtStats.aspx. Accessed 1/29/08
27. Frazier, Charles E., E. Wilbur Bock, and John C. Henretta. 1983. The Role of Probation Officers in Determining Gender Differences in Sentencing Severity. Sociological Quarterly 24:305-318.
28. Gertz, Marc G. and Susette M. Talarico. 1977. Problems of Reliability and Validity in Criminal Justice Research. Journal of Criminal Justice 5:217-224.
29. Ghali, Moheb and Meda Chesney-Lind. 1986. Gender Bias and the Criminal Justice System: An Empirical Investigation. Sociology and Social Research 70:164-171.
30. Griffin, Timothy and John Wooldredge. 2006. Sex-Based Disparities in Felony Dispositions Before Versus After Sentencing Reform in Ohio. Criminology 44:893-923.
31. Griset, Pamela L. 2002. New Sentencing Laws Follow Old Patterns: A Florida Case Study. Journal of Criminal Justice 30:287-301.
32. Hagan, John and Kristin Bumiller. 1983. Making Sense of Sentencing: A Review and Critique of Sentencing Research. Pp. 1-54 in Research on Sentencing: The Search for Reform II, edited by A. Blumstein, J. Cohen, S. Martin, and M. Tonry. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
33. Humphries, Drew. 2000. Crack Mothers at 6: Prime-Time News, Crack/Cocaine, and Women. Pp. 117-128 in It's a Crime: Women and Justice, edited by R. Muraskin. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
34. Johnson, Brian D. 2003. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Sentencing Departures across Modes of Conviction. Criminology 41:449-490.
35. Johnson, Brian D. 2005. Contextual Disparities in Guidelines Departures: Courtroom Social Contexts, Guidelines Compliance, and Extralegal Disparities in Criminal Sentencing. Criminology 43:761-796.
36. Johnson, Brian D. 2006. The Multilevel Context of Criminal Sentencing: Integrating Judge- and County-Level Influences. Criminology 44:259-298.
37. Kautt, Paula M. 2002. Location, Location, Location: Interdistrict and Intercircuit Variation in Sentencing Outcomes for Federal Drug Trafficking Offenses. Justice Quarterly 19:633-671.
38. Kempinen, Cynthia. 1983. Changes in the Sentencing Patterns of Male and Female Criminal Defendants. Prison Journal 63:3-11.
39. Kleck, Gary. 1981. Racial Discrimination in Criminal Sentencing. American Sociological Review 46:783-805.
40. Koons-Witt, Barbara. 2002. The Effect of Gender on the Decision to Incarcerate Before and After the Introduction of Sentencing Guidelines. Criminology 40:297-328.
41. Kreft, Ita and Jan De Leeuw. 1998. Introducing Multilevel Modeling. London: Sage.
42. Kruttschnitt, Candace. 1982a. Respectable Women and the Law. Sociological Quarterly 23:221-234.
43. Kruttschnitt, Candace. 1982b. Women, Crime, and Dependency. Criminology 19:495-513.
44. Kruttschnitt, Candace. 1984. Sex and Criminal Court Dispositions: The Unresolved Controversy. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 21:213-232.
45. Kruttschnitt, Candace. 1985. Legal Outcomes and Legal Agents: Adding Another dimension to the Sex-Sentencing Controversy. Law and Human Behavior 9:287-303.
46. Kruttschnitt, Candace and Donald E. Green. 1984. The Sex-Sanctioning Issue: Is It History? American Sociological Review 49:541-551.
47. Kruttschnitt, Candace and Daniel McCarthy. 1985. Familial Social Control and Pretrial Sanctions: Does Sex Really Matter? Criminal Law and Criminology 76:151-175.
48. Maher, Lisa. 1992. Punishment and Welfare: Crack Cocaine and the Regulation of Mothering. Women & Criminal Justice 3:35-70.
49. Mauer, Marc. 1999. Race to Incarcerate. New York: New York Press.
50. Myers, Martha A. 1995. Gender and Southern Punishment After the Civil War. Criminology 33:17-46.
51. Miethe, Terance D. and Charles A. Moore. 1985. Socioeconomic Disparities under Determinate Sentencing Systems: A Comparison of Preguideline and Postguideline Practices in Minnesota. Criminology 23:337-363.
52. Mitchell, Ojmarrh. 2005. A Meta-Analysis of Race and Sentencing Research: Explaining the Inconsistencies. Journal of Quantitative Criminology 21:439-466.
53. Pollock, Jocelyn M. 1999. Criminal Women. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson.
54. Raudenbush, Stephen W. and Anthony S. Bryk. 2002. Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods. 2nd ed. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
55. Russell, Katheryn K. 1998. The Color of Crime. New York: New York University Press.
56. Sampson, Robert and Janet Lauritsen. 1997. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Crime and Criminal Justice in the United States. Pp. 311-374 in Ethnicity, Crime, and Immigration: Comparative and Cross-National Perspectives, Vol. 21, edited by M. Tonry. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
57. Spohn, Cassia. 2000. Thirty Years of Sentencing Reform: The Quest for a Racially Neutral Sentencing Process. Pp. 427-501 in Policies, Processes, and Decisions of the Criminal Justice System. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
58. Spohn, Cassia and Dawn Beichner. 2000. Is Preferential Treatment of Felony Offenders a Thing of the Past? A Multisite Study of Gender, Race, and Imprisonment. Criminal Justice Policy Review 11:149-184.
59. Spohn, Cassia and Jerry Cederblom. 1991. Race and Disparities in Sentencing: A Test of the Liberation Hypothesis. Justice Quarterly 3:305-327.
60. Spohn, Cassia and David Holleran. 2000. The Imprisonment Penalty Paid by Young, Unemployed Black and Hispanic Male Offenders. Criminology 38:281-306.
61. Spohn, Cassia, Susan Welch, John Gruhl, J. 1985. Women Defendants in Court: The Interaction Between Sex and Race in Convicting and Sentencing. Social Science Quarterly 66:178-185.
62. Steffensmeier, Darrell and Stephen Demuth. 2000. Ethnicity and Sentencing Outcomes in U.S. Federal Courts: Who Is Punished More Harshly? American Sociological Review 65:705-729.
63. Steffensmeier, Darrell and Stephen Demuth. 2001. Ethnicity and Judges' Sentencing Decisions: Hispanic-Black-White Comparisons. Criminology 39:145-178.
64. Steffensmeier, Darrell and Stephen Demuth. 2006. Does Gender Modify the Effects of Race-Ethnicity on Criminal Sanctioning? Sentences for Male and Female White, Black, and Hispanic Defendants. Journal of Quantitative Criminology 22:241-261.
65. Steffensmeier, Darrell and John Kramer. 1982. Sex-Based Differences in the Sentencing of Adult Criminal Defendants. Sociology and Social Research 66:289-304.
66. Steffensmeier, Darrell, John Kramer, and Cathy Streifel. 1993. Gender and Imprisonment Decisions. Criminology 31:411-446.
67. Steffensmeier, Darrell, John Kramer, and Jeffrey Ulmer. 1995. Age Differences in Sentencing. Justice Quarterly 12:583-602.
68. Steffensmeier, Darrell, Jeffrey Ulmer, and John Kramer. 1998. The Interaction of Race, Gender, and Age in Criminal Sentencing: The Punishment Cost of Being Young, Black, and Male. Criminology 36:763-797.
69. Szykowny, Ric. 1994. No Justice, No Peace: An Interview with Jerome Miller. The Humanist, January/February:9-19.
70. Tonry, Michael. 1996. Sentencing Matters. New York: Oxford University Press.
71. Ulmer, Jeffrey and Brian Johnson. 2004. Sentencing in Context: A Multilevel Analysis. Criminology 42:137-177.
72. Vigorita, Michael S. 2001. Prior Offense Type and the Probability of Incarceration: The Importance of Current Offense Type and Sentencing Jurisdiction. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 17:167-193.
73. Welch, Susan, John Gruhl, and Cassia Spohn. 1984. Sentencing: The Influence of Alternative Measures of Prior Record. Criminology 22:215-227.
74. Wooldredge, John, Timothy Griffin, and Fritz Rauschenberg. 2005. (Un)anticipated Effects of Sentencing Reform on the Disparate Treatment of Defendants. Law & Society Review 39:835-873.
75. Young, Vernetta D. 1986. Gender Expectations and Their Impact on Black Female Offenders and Victims. Justice Quarterly 3:305-326.
76. Zatz, Marjorie S. 2000. The Convergence of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class of Court Decisionmaking: Looking toward the 21st Century. Criminal Justice 3:503-552.