Sentencing disparities by race of offender and victim: Women homicide offenders in Alabama, 1929–1985

Abstract

This study explores the issue of sentencing variations due to race among female offenders. Prison records of the population of women (N = 685) committed to Julia Tutwiler Prison in Alabama for homicide between 1929 and 1985 were examined. Despite the fact that few cases were interracial, sentencing patterns suggested that the race of both offender and victim did indeed matter. Bivariate results indicated that whites who killed interracially were most likely to have received generally light sentences, of 1–5 years, while whites who killed intraracially were most likely to have received moderate to heavy sentences (i.e., 6–10 or 11–20 years). By contrast, 50% of cases involving African Americans with white victims received life, and African American‐African American homicides predominantly received light sentences. Full regression models, however, indicated that the effect of interracial victim‐offender relationship was modified when final offense charge were considered from cases committed in pre‐Civil Rights Act (1929–1964) versus post‐Civil Rights Act (1965–1985) years. It became evident that equity in homicide sentencing for female homicide offenders in Alabama was clearly absent in the pre‐Civil Rights Act years; final offense charge, as well as the interracial character of the homicide (i.e., African American offenders who murdered whites) heavily influenced sentencing. In the post‐Civil Rights Act years, although the impact of offense charge in sentencing remained strong, the influence of any interracial nature of the homicide declined; in part, this finding is explained by the fact that it was in these years that greater proportions of white women were sentenced to Tutwiler Prison for murder. Clearly, race must be accounted for when considering sentencing outcomes, and further research must be directed toward female offenders in themselves, as well as in conjunction with male offenders.