ABSTRACT
When the role of gender in the determination of legal outcomes is examined, oen studies conclude that female defendants receive more lenient sentencing than male defendants. For example, for charges resulting from death, a woman is more likely than a man to be incarcerated for manslaughter rather than murder (Carson and Sabol 2012). Less studied, however, is whether gender bias is present across all types of oenses, or whether the bias is more substantial for certain criminal behaviors. Rates of incarceration of women in the United States are on the rise. Incarcerated women are more likely to be mentally ill. e two most common Axis I diagnoses among incarcerated women are posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (Friedman et al. 2013; Friedman et al. 2016). Bipolar disorder may also increase criminality in women (Friedman et al. 2005).
