ABSTRACT
Using data on 5 million defendants prosecuted in Russian criminal courts in 2009–2013, I examine how sex, marital and parental statuses are related to sentencing decisions. The findings indicate that women face significantly lower likelihood of being incarcerated and a shorter length of incarceration than men. However, positive discrimination of women is not observed for drug-related crimes, where sex effect is not significant. Married offenders are less likely incarcerated than single persons. The effect of having children is inconsistent and varies depending on the type of offense and whether in/out or sentence length decisions are considered. When defendants face prison term, childcare responsibilities are associated with longer sentences, especially for females, which can be the “reverse side” of the child-caring role placed on women with children, but not on men. The paper demonstrates how gender order, as well as cultural and legal contexts of a particular society moderate the gender disparity in sentencing.
