What about when MOM is the abuser?

I have read and been part of numerous discussions about if there is a gender bias when it comes to sentencing men and women for sex offenses.

My opinion is yes. Yes there is bias BUT it hits men and women. You can find cases of men and women where they were sentenced very lightly and other cases where they were treated to harshly. The problem is trying to get officials educated, with valid truthful information, about sexual abuse. For example here is a case from June 2008 that shows exactly that. Notice the victim was at least only 13 at the start of the abuse:

Sentence disparity in case of female sex offender in Louisville?

Monday’s sentencing of a Louisville woman to 20 years of intensive supervised probation — but no prison time — for having sex with an underage boy once again raises the question of whether female and male sex offenders get equal treatment under the law.

Irene Gomez, 39, was sentenced in Boulder District Court more than a year after being arrested for having sex with the boy, which whom she had two children. One of their children was conceived when he was 13 and she was 32 and the other when he was 16 and she was 35, police said.

While Gomez will have to register as a sex offender and won’t be able to see her children — she has five altogether — until she successfully completes a treatment regimen, some think she is getting away with a lesser punishment than men would in a similar position.

That includes prosecutor Amy Okubo, who lost her bid Monday to get Judge James Klein to include two years of work-release as part of Gomez’s sentence.

“I don’t think there’s any question that (if the gender roles were reversed) we’d be talking about a prison sentence here,” Okubo said. “Frankly, her behavior is outrageous.”


I agree with prosecutor. If a man had done that he probably would have got prison time. However I wonder how much the prosecutor has looked at her own bias? Two years of work release for sexually abusing a 13 year old? That in and of itself is pretty light.

I think this next part from the article gets closer to the truth about the bias:

Karen Steinhauser, a former Denver prosecutor, said it’s clear there is a disparity between sentences for men and women convicted of sexual abuse because there is a different attitude about the crime in society.

“It’s not just a bias in the legal system, it’s a societal bias,” Steinhauser said. “It’s seen as the male is lucky, not as a victim.”

She said female-on-male sex abuse generates jokes and snickers on late-night talk shows in ways that would never happen in the reverse. The situation reminds her of the way incest and domestic abuse cases used to be minimized and swept under the rug.

“When there’s a female perpetrator, there’s a different attitude,” Steinhauser said. “And I think it’s unfortunate because boys are victims. It can be just as devastating.”

I also agree with part of what this part of the article said. The part I disagree with is the part about "small number". Small number of convicted female offenders would be more accurate:

Janine D’Anniballe, executive director of Boulder-based Moving to End Sexual Assault, agreed that there are “definite gender roles” and “myths and stereotypes” that play a role in sex assaults, but she’s not willing to concede that there is an obvious double standard in sentencing women and men offenders.

“I don’t think we can make those kinds of comparisons with such a small number of female perpetrators,” she said.

D’Anniballe said much depends on the circumstances of the case — whether force was involved, whether someone was in a position of trust, whether it represented a pattern of behavior, whether the victim is seeking a harsh sentence — before an apples-to-apples comparison can be made.

FYI - This same woman is now facing charges she violated her probation conditions of staying away from the victim when she allegedly told her probation officer she has had sexual encounters with him at least 5 times since her June release.

We can look at the case of Denise Harvery where she was sentenced to 30 years for her sexual abuse of a 16 year old student (story here) . Or the case of Matthew Prichard where he received 10 years of probation for his sexually abusing a 16 year old student (story here).

In fact you can find cases and sentences that vary widely. But there can be many reasons why the sentences may be different other than just Gender Bias. If I believe there is a gender bias towards (insert gender here) it is very easy for me to find examples that appear, on the surface, to validate that claim. But there are so many variables that go into sentencing that it is difficult to honestly make a claim like that.

I think where the Gender Bias really hits home is in the reporting aspect. Sexual abuse by a female is the most under reported crime I can think of. One treatment center had 1,000 men (out of about 3,000 total) who had sought help and disclosed being sexually abused by a female. Out of those 1,000 men only 4...yes I said 4 it is not a typo...reported it to the proper authorities. And that 1,000 is those brave enough to actually come forward and seek help. Many sexual abuse victims take it with them to the grave without ever reporting or disclosing.