Modeling the Main, Interactive, and Cumulative Effects of Gender (and Ethnicity--White, Black, Black, Hispanic) on the Case Processing of Criminal Defendants in Large Urban Courts

Pennsylvania State Univ University Park, University Park PA

Investigators

Abstract

This research develops a more fully verified, account of the relationship between gender and case-process decisionmaking, conceptualizing gender disparities in judicial decisionmaking as a process that takes place across four stages: pretrial release, adjudication, incarceration, and sentence length. The research tests main, interactive, and cumulative effects of gender on decisionmaking across case-processing stages, contexts, and offense categories. Data are disaggregated to include comparisons involving White, Black, and Hispanic defendants. The main data source is the State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) program, which collects individual-level information on the processing of a sample of felony defendants in the State courts of the Nation's 75 most populous counties.