Plea Discount Deviations: a Mechanism for Gender Disparities in Hong Kong

Abstract

Consistent sentencing is an ideal pursued by fair and just legal systems. Part of the sentencing procedure entails the provision of a consistent guilty plea discount by following sentencing guidelines. This study aims to identify the level of judicial adherence to plea discount guidelines, and to determine the factors that influence the awarding of the plea discounts in Hong Kong. We analyzed linear regression models of 1,030 cases in Hong Kong’s District Court. Our findings indicate that women were generally afforded higher plea discounts than men, but the discounts were not awarded monolithically. Women with physical illnesses and those with a presiding male judge were afforded higher plea discounts, while female defendants convicted of driving offenses or diagnosed with mental illnesses were given lower plea discounts. Conditional support for the chivalry/paternalism hypothesis and evil women theory in an Asian context was found.