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Effects of offender gender on prosecutorial decision-making

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Abstract

This article addresses the extent to which an offender’s sex and the type of offense influences decisions made by prosecuting attorneys in criminal cases. Prosecutors in one south-eastern state were asked to decide initial charging, plea negotiations, and sentence recommendations in two hypothetical crime scenarios. The first scenario depicted a gender-neutral crime; the second described a traditionally masculine crime. The sex of the offenders was varied in two different versions of the scenarios. The findings reveal that prosecutors treated the male and female offenders differently. In particular, prosecutors recommended harsher sentences for the female offender, regardless of the type of offense.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alabama at Birmingham, UK

    Gregory P. Orvis

  2. Illinois State University, USA

    Linda L. Zupan

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  1. Gregory P. Orvis
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  2. Linda L. Zupan
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Orvis, G.P., Zupan, L.L. Effects of offender gender on prosecutorial decision-making. AJCJ 15, 122–136 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02887460

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02887460

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