Assessing Gender Differences in Prison Rule Enforcement: A Focus on Defiance

Abstract

This study focuses on gender disparities in defiance prison ­infractions—an understudied and highly discretionary type of rule violation—which have important implications for individuals’ prison experiences and outcomes. Using administrative data on a release population in a large western state (N = 23,818), we employed multilevel modeling techniques to test whether (1) women were more likely than men to receive defiance infractions; (2) whether women received a greater number of defiance infractions than men, and (3) whether the gender differences observed for defiance were unique from other types of infractions (e.g. any infraction, nonviolent, violent) net of individual- and prison unit-level controls. Results confirmed that defiance infractions are uniquely gendered, which subjects incarcerated women to harsh consequences for far less serious behavior than their male counterparts. Our work fills key gaps in the literature and contributes to recent policy reform efforts aimed at prison disciplinary reform.