Gender and sentencing outcomes: Does region matter

Previous research has acknowledged that a relationship exists between gender and sentencing outcomes. However, a gap exists in research regarding how regional differences affect this relationship. Some research suggests that gender ideologies differ by region within the United States. This predicted relationship can be explained using the paternalism theory, which states that women receive more leniency than men because they are perceived as needing more protection as a result of a patriarchal society. This study incorporates data from the 2008 Monitoring of Federal Criminal Sentences collected by the United States Sentencing Commission to analyze the relationship between region, gender, and sentence outcomes using the theoretical perspective of paternalism. This study found that women received leniency throughout the criminal justice system. The Deep South did exhibit more conservative values resulting in harsher sentencing for most of the stages. However, women from the Deep South did not appear to receive any more leniency than women not from the Deep South.