A Review of Sex Disparities in the “Key Players” of the Capital Punishment Process: From Defendants to Jurors

• Published in: American journal of criminal justice Vol. 39; no. 4; pp. 732 - 752
• Main Authors: Tomsich, Elizabeth A., Richards, Tara N., Gover, Angela R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.12.2014; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Capital punishment; Criminal sentences; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Gender differences; Law and Criminology; Death penalty; Capital punishment; Sex disparities
• ISSN: 1066-2316; 1936-1351
• DOI: 10.1007/s12103-014-9266-2

Extralegal disparities between defendants sentenced to the death penalty and those who receive life without parole disturb even the most resolute advocates of capital punishment. Extensive bodies of research document extralegal factors influencing death penalty outcomes. Although studies largely focus on race and ethnicity, a growing body of research considers the impact of sex on the capital sentencing process. This paper reviews the extant research on the impact of the sex of the victim, defendant, attorney, juror, and judge on capital case outcomes. Women’s scarcity on death row and a previously documented “female victim effect” condemning male defendants who kill female victims, particularly for those committing crimes of sexual degradation, suggests that death row policies and their implementation chivalrously protect female defendants and victims. Conversely, a limited amount of research documents a “domestic discount,” or greater leniency for death-eligible crimes commonly victimizing women than for those victimizing acquaintances or strangers. Although opinion polls document greater support for the death penalty among men than women, juror sex inconsistently predicts sentencing outcomes in the literature. Minimal research on judge and attorney sex finds female judges more liberal in death penalty sentencing than male judges and inconclusive relationships between attorney sex and adjudication. Findings in the research on sex and death penalty outcomes support the existence of a “sex effect” and inform recommendations for future research to expand the body of literature.