Thesis
Are sex crimes gender specific?: a comparison of female and male sex offender biographies, contexts of offending, and sentencing recommendations
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2008
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/103436
Abstract
The purpose of this research paper was to explore the role gender differences in the biographical characteristics and criminal contexts of male and female sex offenders had in influencing their sentencing recommendations. Female and male offenders' pre-sentence investigation (PSI) reports were obtained, and qualitative interviews were conducted to collect information on offender characteristics and sentencing recommendations. The sex offender online registry was used to draw a sample of female sex offender names and a matched sample of male sex offender name in a Northwestern state. This matched sample method was used to compare the offenders' characteristics and sentencing recommendations. The findings indicated there were more similarities than differences among the male and female sex offender biographies. While some similarities were apparent in the ways in which female and male offenders committed their crimes, male offenders appeared to be more homogenous in whom they chose to victimize, the durations of their criminal acts, and how their victims were impacted compared to the victims of female perpetrators. Gender differences arose within the sentencing recommendations, which provided female offenders with less severe sentences due to legalistic factors. The CCOs noted some "aggravating circumstances" amounted to harsher punishments for sex offenders. These items were more frequent among the male offenders' reports than those of the females. However, these CCOs stated there were no gender differences apparent in the sentencing recommendations due to the standardized system they used to calculate the punishments. These findings supported the focal concerns hypothesis, as legalistic factors influenced differential sentencing recommendations between male and female sex offenders
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Details
- Title
- Are sex crimes gender specific?
- Creators
- Kristen Katherine Moyle
- Contributors
- Jennifer Schwartz (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Sociology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525045501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis