TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender Disparity in Pennsylvania Child Abuse and Neglect Sentencing Outcomes
AU - Hanrath, Lily
AU - Font, Sarah
N1 - Funding Information:
We acknowledge assistance provided from the Capstone Center Translational Center for Child Maltreatment Studies (P50HD089922) and the Population Research Institute at Penn State University (P2CHD041025). Some data used within this analysis were derived from National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) restricted data. These data were accessible through contractual arrangements with NDACAN. Neither the collector of the original data, funding agency, nor the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect bears any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here. The authors would like to thank Jeffery Ulmer for his advice and feedback. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2020/11/1
Y1 - 2020/11/1
N2 - Sentencing studies consistently show that male offenders receive more severe sentences than females. However, theory-based explanations for gender disparities in sentencing, which posit lenience is partially based on caregiver status, may be less relevant for crimes against children. This study leverages Pennsylvania Sentencing Commission data to assess sentence type and length among adults convicted of child neglect or physical abuse between 2006 and 2016. Employing bivariate and multivariate statistics, we found that, although female perpetrators make up the majority of child neglect and physical abuse perpetrators in the Child Protective Services system, they are a minority of those convicted. If convicted, women received less harsh sentences than men, consistent with the disparate gender patterns found in general criminal sentencing research.
AB - Sentencing studies consistently show that male offenders receive more severe sentences than females. However, theory-based explanations for gender disparities in sentencing, which posit lenience is partially based on caregiver status, may be less relevant for crimes against children. This study leverages Pennsylvania Sentencing Commission data to assess sentence type and length among adults convicted of child neglect or physical abuse between 2006 and 2016. Employing bivariate and multivariate statistics, we found that, although female perpetrators make up the majority of child neglect and physical abuse perpetrators in the Child Protective Services system, they are a minority of those convicted. If convicted, women received less harsh sentences than men, consistent with the disparate gender patterns found in general criminal sentencing research.
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U2 - 10.1177/0011128720930670
DO - 10.1177/0011128720930670
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85086046313
SN - 0011-1287
VL - 66
SP - 1703
EP - 1728
JO - Crime and Delinquency
JF - Crime and Delinquency
IS - 12
ER -