Abstract
After more than thirty years of feminism and dramatic changes in the number of women entering the legal profession, legal scholars and researchers continue to debate the impact of women's presence on the administration of justice. Central to this debate is the question of whether gender affects legal outcome. Using data collected from state trial judges (N=195) in Pennsylvania, this study examines whether the gender of the litigant and/or judge affects case outcome. Findings show that while litigant characteristics do not affect judicial decisions, the gender of the judge does.
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Phyllis Coontz is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. She also holds joint appointments in Women's Studies and Sociology. She is currently doing research on drug treatment needs among newly arrested offenders, focusing on women's drug use patterns and treatment needs. She has done extensive research on a wide range of gender related issues and has published articles on gender and the legal profession, gender and involuntary commitment, gender and crime, gender and international law, family violence, and the impact of large scale unemployment on fathers' involvement with their small children. She has also published articles on gambling policy and sports bookmaking and has a forthcoming book that focuses on the social organization of sports bookmaking.
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Coontz, P. Gender and judicial decisions: Do female judges decide cases differently than male judges?. Gend. Issues 18, 59–73 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-001-0024-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-001-0024-7