Effect of Gender and Family Status on Downward Departures in Federal Criminal Sentences:Thesis

摘要

Although, the Federal Sentencing Guidelines were designed to reduce disparities in sentencing between male and female offenders, important questions about the effectiveness of the Guidelines in reducing disparities remain unanswered. By conducting a statistical analysis of sentencing data from the United States Sentencing Commission (1996-1997), I have uncovered differences in the application of the Guidelines that result in continued sentencing disparities between men and women. Women are more likely than men to receive departures from the Guidelines, and these departures disproportionately decrease sentence lengths for women. Additionally, my analysis has shown that race affects both male and female defendants ability to receive particular types of departures. White women and men are more likely to receive downward departures for providing substantial assistance to prosecutors than are non-white defendants, but non-white men and women are more likely to receive departures from the Guidelines based on traditional mitigating factors, such as family responsibilities. I have also used qualitative case analysis to examine how traditional gender norms influence departure decisions in cases involving extraordinary family circumstances (EFC). By conducting narrative analysis on 193 federal sentencing opinions involving EFC departures between 1989 and 1999, I have identified several themes illustrating how socially constructed norms about gender roles in the family shape judicial interpretations of ordinary and extraordinary family circumstances as they affect sentencing departures. This analysis draws attention to contradictions between the stated goals of gender-neutral sentencing and the application of such sentences for individuals whose lives are shaped by gender.