Lifetime Sentencing Statistics For Women

I knew that statistic dropped at the end of the Donna Yaklich movie sounded pretty off (“The average sentence for a man who kills his wife is 2-6 years. The average sentence for a wife who kills her husband is 15-20. Donna Yaklich’s 40-year sentence for conspiracy to murder is currently under review.”) My impression has always been that women tend to receive lighter sentences than men for all types of violent crime. And indeed, this particular Lifetime Fact For Women turns out to be approximately the exact opposite of true. From a 1994 Bureau of Justice Statistics study of spousal homicides (based on a 1988 data set):

Wife defendants had a lower conviction rate than husband defendants--

* Of the 222 wife defendants, 70% were convicted of killing their mate. By contrast, of the 318 husband defendants, 87% were convicted of spouse murder.

* Of the 100 wife defendants tried by either a judge or jury, 31% were acquitted. But of the 138 husband defendants tried, 6% were acquitted.

* Of the 59 wife defendants tried by a jury, 27% were acquitted. But of the estimated 91 husband defendants tried by a jury, none was acquitted ...

An estimated 156 wives and 275 husbands were convicted of killing their spouse. Convicted wives were less likely than convicted husbands to be sentenced to prison, and convicted wives received shorter prison sentences than their male counterparts--

* 81% of convicted wives but 94% of convicted husbands received a prison sentence.

* On average, convicted wives received prison sentences that were about 10 years shorter than what husbands received. Excluding life or death sentences, the average prison sentence for killing a spouse was 6 years for wives but 16.5 years for husbands.

* Among wives sentenced to prison, 15% received a sentence of 20 years or more (including life imprisonment and the death penalty); among husbands, it was 43% ...

According to information contained in prosecutor files, more wife defendants (44%) than husband defendants (10%) had been assaulted by their spouse (threatened with a weapon or physically assaulted) at or around the time of the murder ...

In certain circumstances, extreme victim provocation may justify taking a life in self-defense. Provocation was more often present in wife defendant cases, and wife defendants were less likely than husband defendants to be convicted, suggesting that the relatively high rate of victim provocation characteristic of wife defendant cases was one of the reasons wife defendants had a lower conviction rate than husband defendants. Consistent with that, of the provoked wife defendants, 56% were convicted, significantly lower than either the 86% conviction rate for unprovoked wife defendants or the 88% conviction rate for unprovoked husbands ...

Wives received shorter prison sentences than husbands (a 10-year difference, on average) even when the comparison is restricted to defendants who were alike in terms of whether or not they were provoked--

* The average prison sentence for unprovoked wife defendants was 7 years, or 10 years shorter than the average 17 years for unprovoked husband defendants.

I also found some tips for investigators in distinguishing between various motives for spousal murder in Domestic Homicide of Male Spouses by Females: A Review for Death Investigators, by Lt. Cynthia T. Ferguson, so that should totally come in handy for everybody.

Comments

[babydoll49]

I read the first and second post by this "totally" BS wanna be detective.Let me tell you something..Unless you've been there don't you are assumne it didn't happen.Any woman who has truly been brutalized"got it" ok? Your posts make me sick.
June

[beenthere]

I don't know...I did escape from a brutal and abusive first marriage (without killing him I might add) and I agree with this poster. The Lifetime movie did have some major brain farts about how abused women act. (We don't try to leave when he's home, that's for damn sure!) I moved out while my husband was at work!

The statistics and research are compelling and frankly, I'm glad someone went to the trouble to find some balancing facts.

[may]

The Lifetime Movie neglected some major facts about Donna. She cashed in a 200,000 dollar life insurance on the husband that she murdered and she cleaned out a 20,000 trust fund. They also arrested her after she returned from a Carribean cruise. Maybe she was abused but, she was also manipulative and criminal!