Bias in Sentencing Men for Sexual Offenses Against Minors: Male Victims Bring More Punitive Sentences Than Female Victims

Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com 5/24/25

ABSTRACT
Prior theoretical and empirical research examining the influence of sex on sentencing has been primarily concerned with the sex of the offender, as opposed to the victim. The present study drew on a convenience sample of males (n = 1190) in state and federal correctional facilities across the country, examining minimum sentences in relation to crime type. The analysis focused on individuals convicted of contact or enticement sexual offenses against minors (n = 380), finding that adult male offenders were sentenced to longer sentences when involved with male versus female victims. When victims were aged 14–17, male victims yielded a median minimum sentence of 30 years, twice that for female victims (15 years). For younger age groups, the difference narrowed. These findings suggest that prejudicial sentencing is not limited to race/ethnicity but also includes sexual orientation. Future research should continue to examine victim sex in sex offense punishment. Policy implications are discussed.

Download the full article (PDF)

 

Download the PDF file .

 

Related posts

Subscribe
Notify of

We welcome a lively discussion with all view points - keeping in mind...

 

  1. Submissions must be in English
  2. Your submission will be reviewed by one of our volunteer moderators. Moderating decisions may be subjective.
  3. Please keep the tone of your comment civil and courteous. This is a public forum.
  4. Swear words should be starred out such as f*k and s*t and a**
  5. Please avoid the use of derogatory labels.  Always use person-first language.
  6. Please stay on topic - both in terms of the organization in general and this post in particular.
  7. Please refrain from general political statements in (dis)favor of one of the major parties or their representatives.
  8. Please take personal conversations off this forum.
  9. We will not publish any comments advocating for violent or any illegal action.
  10. We cannot connect participants privately - feel free to leave your contact info here. You may want to create a new / free, readily available email address that are not personally identifiable.
  11. Please refrain from copying and pasting repetitive and lengthy amounts of text.
  12. Please do not post in all Caps.
  13. If you wish to link to a serious and relevant media article, legitimate advocacy group or other pertinent web site / document, please provide the full link. No abbreviated / obfuscated links. Posts that include a URL may take considerably longer to be approved.
  14. We suggest to compose lengthy comments in a desktop text editor and copy and paste them into the comment form
  15. We will not publish any posts containing any names not mentioned in the original article.
  16. Please choose a short user name that does not contain links to other web sites or identify real people.  Do not use your real name.
  17. Please do not solicit funds
  18. No discussions about weapons
  19. If you use any abbreviation such as Failure To Register (FTR), Person Forced to Register (PFR) or any others, the first time you use it in a thread, please expand it for new people to better understand.
  20. All commenters are required to provide a real email address where we can contact them.  It will not be displayed on the site.
  21. Please send any input regarding moderation or other website issues via email to moderator [at] all4consolaws [dot] org
  22. We no longer post articles about arrests or accusations, only selected convictions. If your comment contains a link to an arrest or accusation article we will not approve your comment.
  23. If addressing another commenter, please address them by exactly their full display name, do not modify or abbreviate their name. 
ACSOL, including but not limited to its board members and agents, does not provide legal advice on this website.  In addition, ACSOL warns that those who provide comments on this website may or may not be legal professionals on whose advice one can reasonably rely.  
 

1 Comment
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Im not surprised. When I read people get extra points on the static99-r for a male victim, I knew immediately it had more to do with homophobia for than just the victim. There is zero reason to give the homosexual situation more points that the heterosexual one, after all both have a victim……