ABSTRACT
The women suggested several reasons other than race to explain perceived unfairness in sentencing. One of the inveterate marks of sexism is the general invisibility of women as subjects of research in important institutional settings. The statistical analysis of the sentences imposed on Native American and White women during 1980-1988 indicates that the sentences for both groups are comparable for similar offenses. One woman suggested there should be a difference in treatment, saying "judges are harder on the women in South Dakota than they are on men. Base line data were collected during the spring and summer of 1988 from records at the Springfield Correctional Facility, which houses all female inmates and some male inmates of the South Dakota State Penitentiary. In South Dakota, criminal offenses are classified into one of eight felony classes, each with a different maximum penalty.
