---
title: ""If you're a criminal defendant, it may help—a lot—to be a woman. At…"
date: 2016-08-20
source: facebook
type: Archer T. Ships shared a link.
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# "If you're a criminal defendant, it may help—a lot—to be a woman. At…

*August 20, 2016 · Facebook*

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[https://www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/starr_gender_disparities.aspx](https://www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/starr_gender_disparities.aspx){target="_blank"}
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\"If you\'re a criminal defendant, it may help---a lot---to be a woman. At least, that\'s what Prof. Sonja Starr\'s research on federal criminal cases suggests. Prof. Starr\'s recent paper, \"Estimating Gender Disparities in Federal Criminal Cases,\" looks closely at a large dataset of federal cases, and reveals some significant findings. After controlling for the arrest offense, criminal history, and other prior characteristics, \"men receive 63% longer sentences on average than women do,\" and \"\[w\]omen are...twice as likely to avoid incarceration if convicted.\" This gender gap is about six times as large as the racial disparity that Prof. Starr found in another recent paper.\"\
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[https://www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/starr_gender_disparities.aspx](https://www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/starr_gender_disparities.aspx){target="_blank"}
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