Exploring Gender Bias in Homicide Sentencing: An Empirical Study of Russian Court Decisions Using Text Mining

Abstract

This study explores the role of gender in sentencing in Russian homicide cases, particularly the “female discount” phenomenon. We use regression analysis on a dataset of 20531 court decisions acquired via text mining techniques. Our research indicates that female defendants in Russia tend to receive more lenient sentences than their male counterparts do. Crimes against intimate partners and family members result in more lenient sentences than those against nonrelatives and strangers. The gender of the judge does not significantly influence the sentencing of female offenders; however, male judges are generally tougher on male defendants. The findings show that the “social costs theory” functions differently for male and female offenders.

Keywords

sentencing homicide gender bias text mining court decisions

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Albonetti

C. A.

(1991). An integration of theories to explain judicial discretion. Social Problems, 38(2), 247–266. https://doi.org/10.2307/800532

Albonetti

C. A.

(1997). Sentencing under the federal sentencing guidelines: Effects of defendant characteristics, guilty pleas, and departures on sentence outcomes for drug offenses, 1991–1992. Law & Society Review, 31(4), 789–822. https://doi.org/10.2307/3053987

Al-Garadi

M. A.

Kim

Guo

Warren

Yang

Y.-C.

Lakamana

Sarker

(2022). Natural language model for automatic identification of Intimate Partner Violence reports from Twitter. Array, 15, 100217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.array.2022.100217

Armstrong

(1977). Females under the law—“protected” but unequal. Crime & Delinquency, 23(2), 109–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/001112877702300202

Belknap

(2014). The invisible woman: Gender, crime, and justice. Cengage Learning.

Black

D. J.

(1976). The behavior of law. Academic Press.

Bluhm

Brand

(2018). “Traditional values” unleashed: The ultraconservative influence on Russian family policy. In K. Bluhm & M. Varga (Eds.), New conservatives in Russia and East Central Europe (pp. 223–244). Routledge.

Boyd

C. L.

Epstein

Martin

A. D.

(2010). Untangling the causal effects of sex on judging. American Journal of Political Science, 54(2), 389–411.

Burgess-Proctor

(2006). Intersections of race, class, gender, and crime: Future directions for feminist criminology. Feminist Criminology, 1(1), 27–47. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085105282899

10.

Champion

D. J.

(1987). Elderly felons and sentencing severity: Interregional variations in leniency and sentencing trends. Criminal Justice Review, 12(2), 7–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/073401688701200203

11.

Chesney-Lind

(1977). Judicial paternalism and the female status offender: Training women to know their place. Crime & Delinquency, 23(2), 121–130. https://doi.org/10.1177/001112877702300203

12.

Cho

Tasca

(2019). Disparities in women’s prison sentences: Exploring the nexus between motherhood, drug offense, and sentence length. Feminist Criminology, 14(4), 420–440. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085118773434

13.

Crew

B. K.

(1991). Sex differences in criminal sentencing: Chivalry or patriarchy? Justice Quarterly, 8(1), 59–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418829100090911

14.

Curry

T. R.

Lee

Rodriguez

S. F.

(2004). Does victim gender increase sentence severity? Further explorations of gender dynamics and sentencing outcomes. Crime & Delinquency, 50(3), 319–343. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128703256265

15.

Daly

(1987). Discrimination in the criminal courts: Family, gender, and the problem of equal treatment. Social Forces, 66(1), 152. https://doi.org/10.2307/2578905

16.

Daly

(1995). Gender and sentencing: What we know and don’t know from empirical research. Federal Sentencing Reporter, 8(3), 163–168. https://doi.org/10.2307/20639882

17.

Dawson

Sutton

(2017). Similar sentences, similar crimes? Using deep sample analysis to examine the comparability of homicides and punishments by victim-offender relationship. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 49, 58–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2017.02.002

18.

Dinovitzer

Dawson

(2007). Family-based justice in the sentencing of domestic violence. The British Journal of Criminology, 47(4), 655–670. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azl078

19.

Doerner

J. K.

(2015). The joint effects of gender and race/ethnicity on sentencing outcomes in federal courts. Women & Criminal Justice, 25(5), 313–338. https://doi.org/10.1080/08974454.2014.989298

20.

Doerner

J. K.

Demuth

(2010). The independent and joint effects of race/ethnicity, gender, and age on sentencing outcomes in U.S. federal courts. Justice Quarterly, 27(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418820902926197

21.

Doerner

J. K.

Demuth

(2014). Gender and sentencing in the federal courts: Are women treated more leniently? Criminal Justice Policy Review, 25(2), 242–269. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403412466877

22.

Dwason

Gartner

(1998). Differences in the characteristics of intimate femicides: The role of relationship state and relationship status. Homicide Studies, 2(4), 378–399. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088767998002004003

23.

Dye

M. H.

(2011). The gender paradox in prison suicide rates. Women & Criminal Justice, 21(4), 290–307. https://doi.org/10.1080/08974454.2011.609400

24.

Elzinga

Poelmans

Viaene

Dedene

(2009). Detecting domestic violence. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (pp. 11–18). Milan, Italy: Springer.

25.

Etienne

(2010). Sentencing women: Reassessing the claims of disparity. Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, 14, 73.

26.

Feather

N. T.

(1996). Domestic violence, gender, and perceptions of justice. Sex Roles, 35(7), 507–519. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01544134

27.

Franklin

C. A.

Fearn

N. E.

(2008). Gender, race, and formal court decision-making outcomes: Chivalry/paternalism, conflict theory or gender conflict? Journal of Criminal Justice, 36(3), 279–290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2008.04.009

28.

Freiburger

T. L.

Hilinski

C. M.

(2009). An examination of the interactions of race and gender on sentencing decisions using a trichotomous dependent variable. Crime & Delinquency, 59(1), 59–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128708330178

29.

Gaber

Polishchuk

Sokolov

Stukal

(2019). Chronicles of a democracy postponed. Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, 27(1), 99–137. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecot.12207

30.

Glaeser

E. L.

Sacerdote

(2003). Sentencing in homicide cases and the role of vengeance. The Journal of Legal Studies, 32(2), 363–382. https://doi.org/10.1086/374707

31.

Goulette

Wooldredge

Frank

Travis

(2015). From initial appearance to sentencing: Do female defendants experience disparate treatment? Journal of Criminal Justice, 43(5), 406–417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2015.07.003

32.

Griffin

Wooldredge

(2006). Sex-based disparities in felony dispositions before versus after sentencing reform in Ohio. Criminology, 44(4), 893–923. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2006.00067.x

33.

Hendley

(2009). ‘Telephone Law’ and the ‘Rule of Law’: The Russian case. Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 1(2), 241–262. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1876404509002413

34.

Hendley

(2013). Puzzling non-consequences of societal distrust of courts: Explaining the use of Russian courts. Cornell International Law Journal, 45, 517.

35.

Hendley

(2017). Coping with auto accidents in Russia. In T. F. Burke & J. Barnes (Eds.), Varieties of legal order: The politics of adversarial and bureaucratic legalism (pp. 98–130). Routledge.

36.

Holmes

D’Amato

Holmes

S. T.

(2022). The offense-specific nature of gender and familial responsibility in United States federal sentencing, 2010–2016. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 33(4), 399–428. https://doi.org/10.1177/08874034211021899

37.

Johnson

B. D.

(2014). Judges on trial: A reexamination of judicial race and gender effects across modes of conviction. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 25(2), 159–184. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403412463933

38.

Johnson

J. E.

Novitskaya

Sperling

Sundstrom

L. M.

(2021). Mixed signals: What Putin says about gender equality. Post-Soviet Affairs, 37(6), 507–525. https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2021.1971927

39.

Jones

(2020). Double-use of LGBT youth in propaganda. Journal of LGBT Youth, 17(4), 408–431. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2019.1670121

40.

Kamalov

Sergeeva

(2023). Partnership in Russia: Results of a series of surveys. www.violencemonitor.org/report_2023

41.

Karystianis

Cabral

R. C.

Han

S. C.

Poon

Butler

(2021). Utilizing text mining, data linkage and deep learning in police and health records to predict future offenses in family and domestic violence. Frontiers in Digital Health, 3, 602683.

42.

Kashanin

Churakov

(2021). Issue on “Small” and indisputable cases in Russian courts. Global Jurist, 21(1), 273–303. https://doi.org/10.1515/gj-2020-0019

43.

Kazun

(2021). Institutional determinants for representation of indigent defendants: Evidence from Russia. Review of Central and East European Law, 46(2), 265–295. https://doi.org/10.1163/15730352-bja10035

44.

Khodzhaeva

E. A.

(2020). Jury trials in official statistics: An analytical review. St. Petersburg: Institute of law enforcement issues at the European University in St. Petersburg. Analytical Reviews on Law Enforcement, 3, 20.

45.

Khodzhaeva

E. A.

(2023). When juries come to Russian district courts: Lay participation expansion and court system noncompliance. Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, 31(2), 217–248.

46.

Kim

Gerber

Kim

(2018). Does the victim–offender relationship matter? Exploring the sentencing of female homicide offenders. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 62(4), 898–914. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X16667573

47.

Koons-Witt

B. A.

(2002). The effect of gender on the decision to incarcerate before and after the introduction of sentencing guidelines. Criminology, 40(2), 297–328. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2002.tb00958.x

48.

Kratcoski

(1974). Differential treatment of delinquent boys and girls in juvenile court. Child Welfare, 53(1), 16–22.

49.

Kruttschnitt

(1982). Women, crime, and dependency an application of the theory of law. Criminology, 19(4), 495–513. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1982.tb00435.x

50.

Ledeneva

(2008). Telephone justice in Russia. Post-Soviet Affairs, 24(4), 324–350. https://doi.org/10.2747/1060-586X.24.4.324

51.

Letzring

T. D.

(2010). The effects of judge-target gender and ethnicity similarity on the accuracy of personality judgments. Social Psychology, 41(1), 42–51. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000007

52.

McCall

(2008). Structuring gender’s impact: Judicial voting across criminal justice cases. American Politics Research, 36(2), 264–296. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X07307969

53.

Messing

J. T.

Heeren

J. W.

(2009). Gendered justice: Domestic homicide and the death penalty. Feminist Criminology, 4(2), 170–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085108327657

54.

Morris

Garibyan

(2021). Russian cultural conservatism critiqued: Translating the tropes of ‘Gayropa’ and ‘Juvenile Justice’ in everyday life. Europe-Asia Studies, 73(8), 1487–1507. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2021.1887088

55.

Nagel

I. H.

Hagan

(1983). Gender and crime: Offense patterns and criminal court sanctions. Crime and Justice, 4, 91–144.

56.

Nagel

I. H.

Johnson

B. L.

(1994). The role of gender in a structured sentencing system: Equal treatment, policy choices, and the sentencing of female offenders under the United States sentencing guidelines. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 85(1), 181–221. https://doi.org/10.2307/1144116

57.

Nowacki

J. S.

Windsong

E. A.

(2019). Structural gender equality and federal sentencing outcomes: A test of the ameliorative and backlash hypotheses. Feminist Criminology, 14(1), 45–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085117694083

58.

Paneyakh

(2016). The practical logic of judicial decision making. Russian Politics & Law, 54(2–3), 138–163. https://doi.org/10.1080/10611940.2016.1176843

59.

Petering

M. Y.

Fard

N. A.

Tavabi

Kumari.

Gilani

S. N.

(2018). Artificial intelligenceto predict intimate partner violence perpetration. In Tambe

Rice

(Eds.), Artificial intelligence and social work (pp. 195–210). Cambridge University Press.

60.

Pina-Sánchez

Grech

Brunton-Smith

Sferopoulos

(2019). Exploring the origin of sentencing disparities in the Crown Court: Using text mining techniques to differentiate between court and judge disparities. Social Science Research, 84, 102343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2019.102343

61.

Pina-Sánchez

Harris

(2020). Sentencing gender? Investigating the presence of gender disparities in Crown Court sentences. Criminal Law Review, 1, 3–28.

62.

Pina-Sánchez

Roberts

J. V.

Sferopoulos

(2019). Does the Crown Court discriminate against muslim-named offenders? A novel investigation based on text mining techniques. The British Journal of Criminology, 59(3), 718–736. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azy062

63.

Pozdnyakov

(2012). Organizational and structural restrictions on access to judicial acts of courts of general jurisdiction. The Institute for the Rule of Law (IRL) at the European University at Saint-Petersburg.

64.

Rodriguez

S. F.

Curry

T. R.

Lee

(2006). Gender differences in criminal sentencing: Do effects vary across violent, property, and drug offenses? Social Science Quarterly, 87(2), 318–339.

65.

Saunders

D. G.

Jiwatram-Negrón

Nanasi

Cardenas

(2023). Patriarchy’s link to intimate partner violence: Applications to survivors’ asylum claims. Violence Against Women, 29(11), 1998–2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012221132299.

66.

Savelsberg

J. J.

(1992). Law that does not fit society: Sentencing guidelines as a neoclassical reaction to the dilemmas of substantivized law. American Journal of Sociology, 97(5), 1346–1381.

67.

Semukhina

(2020). The decriminalization of domestic violence in Russia. Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, 28(1), 15–45.

68.

Solomon

P. H.

(2012). Plea bargaining Russian style. Demokratizatsiya, 20(3), 282–299.

69.

Solomon

P. H.

(2015). Understanding Russia’s low rate of acquittal: Pretrial screening and the problem of accusatorial bias. Review of Central and East European Law, 40(1), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1163/15730352-40012001

70.

Solomon

P. H.

(2022). Revisiting judicial reform in Russia. Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, 30(4), 453–461.

71.

Spohn

(1994). Crime and the social control of blacks: Offender/victim race and the sentencing of violent offenders. In Spohn

(Ed.), Inequality, crime, and social control (pp. 249-268). Routledge.

72.

Spohn

(1999). Gender and sentencing of drug offenders: Is chivalry dead? Criminal Justice Policy Review, 9(3–4), 365–399. https://doi.org/10.1177/088740349900900305

73.

Spohn

C. C.

(2008). How do judges decide?: The search for fairness and justice in punishment (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

74.

Steffensmeier

Hebert

(1999). Women and men policymakers: Does the judge’s gender affect the sentencing of criminal defendants? Social Forces, 77(3), 1163–1196. https://doi.org/10.2307/3005975

75.

Steffensmeier

Kramer

Streifel

(1993). Gender and imprisonment decisions. Criminology, 31(3), 411–446. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1993.tb01136.x

76.

Steffensmeier

Ulmer

Kramer

(1998). The interaction of race, gender, and age in criminal sentencing: The punishment cost of being young, black, and male. Criminology, 36(4), 763–798. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1998.tb01265.x

77.

Stoeckl

(2016). The Russian Orthodox Church as moral norm entrepreneur. Religion, State and Society, 44(2), 132–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/09637494.2016.1194010

78.

Suchland

(2018). The LGBT specter in Russia: Refusing queerness, claiming ‘Whiteness.’ Gender, Place & Culture, 25(7), 1073–1088. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2018.1456408

79.

Tasca

Cho

Spohn

Rodriguez

(2019). The role of parental status and involvement in sentence length decisions: A comparison of men and women sentenced to prison. Crime & Delinquency, 65(14), 1899–1924. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128718811929

80.

Visher

C. A.

(1983). Gender, police arrest decisions, and notions of chivalry. Criminology, 21(1), 5–28. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1983.tb00248.x

81.

Volkov

(2016). Legal and extralegal origins of sentencing disparities: Evidence from Russia’s criminal courts. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 13(4), 637–665. https://doi.org/10.1111/jels.12128

82.

Volkov

Dmitryieva

(2015). Recruitment patterns, gender, and professional subcultures of the judiciary in Russia. International Journal of the Legal Profession, 22(2), 166–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/09695958.2015.1086351

83.

Williams

M. R.

(1999) Gender and Sentencing: An Analysis of Indicators. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 10(4), 471–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/088740349901000401

84.

Wistrich

A. J.

Rachlinski

J. J.

Guthrie

(2014). Heart versus head: Do judges follow the law or follow their feelings? Texas Law Review, 93, 855.

85.

Xia

Cai

Zhong

(2019). Effect of judges’ gender on rape sentencing: A data mining approach to analyze judgment documents. China Review, 19(2), 125–150.

86.

Yan

Lao

(2022). Sex disparities in sentencing and judges’ beliefs: A vignette approach. Victims & Offenders, 17(4), 597–619. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2021.1947427