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Sentencing disparities between male and female teacher sexual offenders: do male offenders receive harsher penalties in Arizona?

Description
The purpose of this preliminary study is to determine if sentencing disparities exist between male and female teachers who have been convicted of sexual misconduct with a student in Maricopa County, Arizona over a ten-year period. The hypothesis is that male teachers convicted of sexual misconduct with a student will…

The purpose of this preliminary study is to determine if sentencing disparities exist between male and female teachers who have been convicted of sexual misconduct with a student in Maricopa County, Arizona over a ten-year period. The hypothesis is that male teachers convicted of sexual misconduct with a student will receive harsher punishment than their female counterparts. In addition, this research will analyze the sentencing decisions of Arizona judges and prosecutors through plea-bargaining when compared with the presumptive sentence set by the Arizona Legislature. Issues that will be addressed include: a brief review of gender disparities in sentencing, sex offender sentencing, Arizona's rules of criminal procedure, and a review of the Arizona Revised Statutes pertaining to sexual crimes as well as the Arizona Supreme Court sentencing guidelines. The data set consists of fifteen different Maricopa County teachers who committed a sexual offense against a student and were convicted of that offense from February 2000 through September 2009. According to the results of this study, male teachers do receive harsher penalties than their female counterparts within Maricopa County.
ContributorsSimmon, Christopher (Author) / Holtfreter, Kristy (Thesis advisor) / Wright, Kevin (Committee member) / Spohn, Cassia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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Assessing the Effect of Victim Characteristics on Case Outcomes: Race, Gender, Past Criminal Conduct, and Victim Type

Description
Prior research on sentencing and case processing has primarily focused on post-conviction outcomes and the relationship between sentencing outcomes and defendant- related characteristics such as race and gender. The research on pre-conviction outcomes not only is much smaller than the sentencing literature, but also largely neglects victim characteristics, especially in…

Prior research on sentencing and case processing has primarily focused on post-conviction outcomes and the relationship between sentencing outcomes and defendant- related characteristics such as race and gender. The research on pre-conviction outcomes not only is much smaller than the sentencing literature, but also largely neglects victim characteristics, especially in samples that include non-violent offenses. Drawing on the blameworthiness attribution theoretical perspective, the current study examines how certain victim characteristics, including race, gender, and criminal history, may influence certain stages of the judicial process. Additionally, the current study tests whether cases with person victims as opposed to business as victims are handled differently. Four court decisions were examined in this study: the filing decision, the decision to transfer the case to a lower court, the decision to find a defendant guilty, and the decision to sentence a defendant to prison. While legal characteristics were the most prominent predictors in these analyses, the study found that when victims were Black or Hispanic, cases were less likely to be filed and end in a guilty adjudication.
ContributorsErskine, Kymani Mailynn (Author) / Mitchell, Ojmarrh (Thesis advisor) / Yan, Shi (Committee member) / Pizarro, Jesenia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
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Assessing Cumulative Disadvantage against Minority Female Defendants in State Courts

Description
Prior sentencing research, especially research on cumulative disadvantage, has mainly focused on the treatment of male defendants, and little attention has been paid to female defendants, especially minority female defendants. Drawing on the intersectional vulnerability and focal concerns perspectives, the current study emphasizes the need to examine disparity in sentencing…

Prior sentencing research, especially research on cumulative disadvantage, has mainly focused on the treatment of male defendants, and little attention has been paid to female defendants, especially minority female defendants. Drawing on the intersectional vulnerability and focal concerns perspectives, the current study emphasizes the need to examine disparity in sentencing through an intersectional lens and across multiple decision-making points. Using the State Court Processing Statistics dataset (SCPS) from 1990-2009, this paper investigates the impact that race/ethnicity has for female defendants across individual and successive stages in the sentencing process. The results suggest that race operates through direct and indirect pathways to cause lengthier sentences for Black female defendants compared to White female defendants, thus providing evidence of cumulative disadvantage against Black female defendants. Theoretical, research, and policy implications will be discussed.
ContributorsKramer, Kelsey Layne (Author) / Wang, Xia (Thesis advisor) / Spohn, Cassia (Committee member) / Telep, Cody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018