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Death Penalty and Gender Discrimination

NCJ Number
134284
Journal
Law and Society Review Volume: 25 Issue: 2 Dated: (1991) Pages: 367-383
Author(s)
E Rapaport
Date Published
1991
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This analysis of sex discrimination, capital punishment, and State laws regarding the death penalty presents data refuting the common view that females are less likely than males to receive death sentences and argues that State laws authorizing capital punishment are discriminatory in that they attach greater seriousness to economic and other predatory murder than to domestic homicide.
Abstract
The small number of female murderers sentenced to death has resulted in the belief that chivalrous attitudes spare females from capital punishment. However, the proportion of death row inmates who are female matches the infrequency with which females commit crimes for which society authorizes capital punishment. In addition, preliminary analysis suggests that female death row inmates are more likely than male death row inmates to have killed spouses or other intimates, although this disparity has not yet been explained. Nevertheless, a content analysis of State laws regarding capital punishment reveals a form of gender bias that is harmful to the interests of women in that domestic homicide is viewed as less serious than other forms of homicide. Tables, footnotes, lists of cases and laws cited, and 29 references (Author abstract modified)

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