Are female felons treated more leniently by the criminal justice system?

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Abstract
This study examines a representative sample of all felonies by persons processed by California criminal courts in 1980 (N=181,197). The analysis attempts to determine the effect of sex on outcome at each point from arrest to type of sentence. The data indicate that females were treated less favorably at the front end of the system but more favorably at conviction and sentencing. However, this conclusion applies to males and females without controls (e.g., without “other things being equal”) since the data base utilized, OBTS, does not provide data needed for controls. The male/female gap increased 165 percent from arrest to incarceration, with the sentencing stage largely accounting for this increase. However, it was found that the male/female gap across the system actually decreased (indicating less favorable treatment for women) for some offenses. There was no consistent pattern by offense to indicate that leniency for females was reserved for less serious or more “feminine” offenses. Leniency was not consistently shown to female felons at every point across the criminal justice system and varied sharply by type of offense. The great increase in the male/female gap from arrest (7:1) to imprisonment (19:1) was largely due to leniency to females at sentencing.