TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender in the Courtroom Workgroup
T2 - Understanding the Relationship Between the Composition of Workgroups and the Gender Gap in Punishment
AU - Bowman, Rachel
AU - Oramas Mora, Daniela
AU - Mitchell, Ojmarrh
AU - Spohn, Cassia
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was supported by Award No. 2018-R2-CX-0021, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology.
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - For decades, research has revealed a gender disparity in criminal case outcomes. This phenomenon was traditionally explained as a product of male court actors’ protectiveness of women and the minimization of female threat. In the current study, we capitalize on the increasing gender diversity of courts to examine if the gender gap in punishment is explained by the gender composition of the decision-making body in criminal courts: the courtroom workgroup. Using a sample of felony cases from Florida’s circuit courts in 2017 (N = 10,605), we measure workgroups as judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys assigned to the same division. We find that the gender diversity of the workgroup does not explain variations in court outcomes, nor does it explain the presence of gender disparities we observed in all but one of our case outcomes. As such, male protectionism is insufficient to explain the more lenient treatment of women in Florida’s criminal courts.
AB - For decades, research has revealed a gender disparity in criminal case outcomes. This phenomenon was traditionally explained as a product of male court actors’ protectiveness of women and the minimization of female threat. In the current study, we capitalize on the increasing gender diversity of courts to examine if the gender gap in punishment is explained by the gender composition of the decision-making body in criminal courts: the courtroom workgroup. Using a sample of felony cases from Florida’s circuit courts in 2017 (N = 10,605), we measure workgroups as judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys assigned to the same division. We find that the gender diversity of the workgroup does not explain variations in court outcomes, nor does it explain the presence of gender disparities we observed in all but one of our case outcomes. As such, male protectionism is insufficient to explain the more lenient treatment of women in Florida’s criminal courts.
KW - criminal justice
KW - decision-making
KW - female offenders
KW - gender
KW - sentencing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85144288612&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1177/00938548221140362
DO - 10.1177/00938548221140362
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85144288612
SN - 0093-8548
VL - 50
SP - 410
EP - 428
JO - Criminal Justice and Behavior
JF - Criminal Justice and Behavior
IS - 3
ER -