Gender inequality has plagued the workforce, educational institutions, sports arena, military and even the criminal justice system. The Report of the LEAA Task Force on Women stated that women working in the criminal justice system were excluded from many jobs, denied opportunities for advancement, and paid less for the performing the same work as their counterparts. The Report of the LEAA Task Force on Women also noted that not only the women who work in the criminal justice system were being exposed to gender inequality but also so were the female offenders (Government Guide 1998).
Judicial Gender Inequality of Female Offenders .
Within the last two decades an increasing concern in the field of criminal justice is the treatment of female offenders. The criminal justice process has generally reinforced the gender polarization stereotypes. These stereotypes have placed female offenders into two categories. The first being that female offenders are regarded as either being more deviant or less deviant than male offenders. On one hand, female offenders may at times actually receive a more lenient treatment than would male offenders. Conflict theorists attribute this to the paternalistic nature of the criminal justice system. This occurs when male judges treat females with more leniency's because society has reinforced the stereotype that females should be managed with a fatherly or protective manner because of the assumption that females have an inherently submissive domestic nature (Parisi, 1982). Paternalism is based on power and this emphasizes judicial gender inequality because of the belief that the "Superior " male criminal justice players have power over the "inferior"" female offenders. .
In contrast the social control theorists refute that position and argue that some female offenders are treated more severely than males. Social control theorists contend that different treatment is mainly based upon the fact that female offenders not only are violating the law but also at the same time are violating the social stereotyped gender roles.
