91 research outputs found
Gender norms in Portuguese college sudents' judgments in familial homicides: bad men and mad women
The gender of the offender has been proved to be an important factor in
judicial sentencing. In this study, we analyze the judgments of College students
regarding perpetrators of familial homicides to evaluate the presence of
these gender norms and biases in the larger society. The sample included
303 college students (54.8% female) enrolled in several social sciences and
engineering courses. Participants were asked to read 12 vignettes based
on real crimes taken from Portuguese newspapers. Half were related to
infanticide, and half were related to intimate partner homicide. The sex of
the offender was orthogonally manipulated to the type of crime. The results
show that gender had an important impact on sentences, with males being
more harshly penalized by reasons of perversity and women less penalized
by reason of mental disorders. In addition, filicide was more heavily penalized
than was intimate partner homicide. The results also revealed a tendency
toward a retributive conception of punishment. We discuss how gender
norms in justice seem to be embedded in society as well as the need for
intervention against the punitive tendency of this population
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