"Women just seem to get off easier than men in the criminal justice system...A five-year study by a Kansas State University professor, cited by men's and fathers' advocate Glenn Sacks in American Chronicle , revealed that male teachers receive 15 to 20 years in prison for improper relations with students, whereas female teachers receive, at the most, one to three years, and often get probation.

"A number of high-profile cases in recent years bear that out, including that of Debra Lafave, the former Florida teacher who faced a possible 30-year prison term for relations with a 14-year-old student but got three years of 'house arrest' instead...

"In another, much less publicized case, a 24-year-old woman in Pennsylvania received probation last year after having a child with a 14-year-old boy. What makes that case all the more telling is that the victim's older brother was serving prison time for having had sex with a 14-year-old girl."

The full Augusta Chronicle editorial is Not a black-and-white issue (4/14/08). It discusses the NAACP's assertion that the so-called "Barbie Bandits" (pictured) got off more lightly than their black accomplices because they're white. I believe in general that blacks are treated more harshly by the judicial system than whites, but that the disparity between the way males and females are treated is far, far wider.

The outrageous case involving the 24-year-old Pennsylvania woman is covered in my blog post Extreme Gender Bias: Woman Who Statutorily Raped Boy Avoids Jail, While Boy's Older Brother Goes to Prison for Same Crime.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 10:07 am and is filed under Crime/Criminal Justice System/Police, Sexism. You can trackback from your own site.