The impact of prison crowding on male and female imprisonment rates in Minnesota: A research note*

Abstract

The relationship between gender and criminal sentencing is examined by using longitudinal data from the State of Minnesota. Employing regression time-series analysis, we test whether gender-specific levels of prison crowding interact with mitigated departures from Minnesota's sentencing guidelines in mediating the relationship between gender and rate of imprisonment. Results suggest that legally mandated sentencing factors are important in determining severity of sanction for both males and females, but that male offenders are more likely than females to receive mitigated departures when crowding levels are high in male prisons. This relationship exists even though the women's prison in Minnesota is actually more overcrowded than the male prisons. Such findings, which contradict previous research on determinate sentencing, highlight the complexity and difficulty of isolating the effect of gender on criminal sentencing.