Analyzing Gender Gaps in the Criminal Justice System: A Cross-National Comparison

Numerous studies have sought to explain the factors relating to the increased reliance on incarceration in general, but the incarceration of women has received comparatively little attention. Past research has indicated that rates of female involvement in crime increased from the 1970s to the 1980s, yet female incarceration rates remained fairly stable within that same time period (Harvey, Burnham, Kendall, Pease, 1992). It is largely unknown whether the substantial filtering out of female offenders during earlier stages of the criminal justice process is still taking place, or whether the incarceration of females has kept pace with the male imprisonment rate. Given the need for an updated examination of the punishment of women, the goal of the current study is to examine the rate at which women are processed through the criminal justice systems of different nations.