YouTube as a documentary platform and media source

In a documentary, the American Enterprise Institute shows how female offenders receive sentences that are more compassionate and lenient than their male counterparts. Females receive shorter and less harsh sentences versus men. Gender is therefore the most important extralegal factor in determining sentencing outcomes. Perceptions and biases towards men leads to the mass incarceration of men in the United States, particularly men of color. The documentary is a trustworthy source of information that relies on factual data to bolster the central arguments.

Moreover, the evidence presented in the documentary corresponds with emerging research on gender differences in sentencing. For example, Doerner & Demuth (2012) use data from the United States Sentencing Commission to describe the gender gap in sentencing. Both the American Enterprise Institute and the peer-reviewed research article by Doerner & Demuth (2012) show that while legal factors do account for a large number of the discrepancies, “even after controlling for legal characteristics a substantial gap in sentencing outcomes remains,” (p. 242). Extralegal factors including extenuating circumstances, history of psychological or physical abuse, socioeconomic class status, and parenthood, as well as legal factors like prior offenses, are all considered differently depending on whether the offender is male or female.