Focal concerns, race & sentencing of female drug offenders

Abstract

The increase of female incarceration in the United States over the past decade has be­come a cause for concern. This increase differs across racial groups, with black women disproportionately more likely to be incarcerated and to receive longer sentences. In the current study, we modify the ''focal concerns" perspective developed by Steffensmeier et al. (1998) to explain the high incarceration rate for black males. We hypothesize that the sentencing disparity between black women and white women is at least partially due to perceived violations of traditional gender norms, an "evil woman" explanation. To test this, we examined the effects of legal and extralegal variables on sentence lengths in a sample of incarcerated drug offenders in Oklahoma. Legal factors such as prior incar­ceration and related factors such as employment were predictors of sentence lengths for white women, but not for black women. Instead, self-reported use of crack cocaine was associated with longer sentences for the black offenders despite the fact that white of­fenders were almost as likely to report use of crack. For both groups, trial by jury was associated with longer sentences, but more so for black women, providing some support for the "evil woman" focal concern.