Females under the Law— "Protected" but Unequal

Abstract

The sex of the offender is a significant determinant of the length and type of the sentence imposed. Many sentencing statutes and judges make sex distinctions that are transmitted into different sentences for male and female offenders found guilty of the same offense. Sometimes this discrimination on the basis of sex works in favor of females before the law; most of the time it works against them; all of the time, whether the sentence is more lenient or more severe than the one imposed on a. male, the misbegotten motive is chivalry or special protectiveness. Our statutes and sentencing practices incorporate a double standard of morality. Males and females are not equal under the law.