The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between criminal behavior and perceived sex of the perpetrator. Participants (26 men and 44 women) reviewed scenarios depicting an armed robbery and a child's murder. 98% of the respondents attributed the armed robbery to a man, whereas an equal number attributed the child's murder to both a man and a woman. The respondents also ascribed the man's behavior to internal characteristics, whereas the woman's criminal behavior was attributed to external situations or to mental illness. These findings are in accord with current sex stereotypes.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AckermanA. M.McMahonP. M.FehrL. A. (1984) Defendant characteristics and judgment behaviors of adolescent mock jurors. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 13, 123–130.
2.
DecomoR. H. (1998) Estimating the prevalence of juvenile custody by race and gender. Crime and Delinquency, 44, 489–507.
3.
DesantisA.KaysonW. A. (1997) Defendants' characteristics of attractiveness, race, and sex and sentencing decisions. Psychological Reports, 81, 679–683.
4.
EaglyA. H.MladinicA.OttoS. (1991) Are women evaluated more favorably than men?Psychology of Women Quarterly, 15, 203–216.
5.
FiebertM. S.MeyerM. W. (1997) Gender stereotypes: A bias against men. Journal of Psychology, 131, 407–410.
6.
FrazierC. E.BockE. W.HenrettaJ. C. (1983) The role of probation officers in determining gender differences in sentencing severity. Sociological Quarterly, 42, 305–318.
7.
HansenM. (1996) Dead woman walking. American Bar Association Journal, 82, 24.
8.
HorowitzR.PottiegerA. E. (1991) Gender bias in juvenile justice handling of seriously crime-involved youths. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 28, 75–100.
9.
KatzC. M.SpohnC. C. (1995) The effect of race and gender on bail outcomes: A test of an interactive model. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 19, 161–184.
10.
MaccobyE. E.JackiinC. N. (1974) The psychology of sex differences. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univer. Press.
11.
MadrizE. I. (1997) Images of criminals and victims: A study of women's fear and social control. Gender and Society, 11, 342–356.
12.
MazzellaR.FeingoldA. (1994) The effects of physical attractiveness, race, socioeconomic status, and gender of defendants and victims on judgements of mock jurors: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 1315–1344.
13.
McFaddenA. C.MarshG. E. (1992) A study of race and gender bias in the punishment of school children. Education and Treatment of Children, 15, 140–146.
14.
ShawS. R.BradenJ. B. (1990) Race and gender bias in the administration of corporal punishment. School Psychology Review, 19, 378–383.
15.
StrausM. A.DonnelyD. A. (1993) Corporal punishment of adolescents by American parents. Youth and Society, 24, 419–442.
