Female Sex Offenders Drawing Increased Scrutiny

Prosecutors had wanted De Barraicua to register as a sex offender in order to prevent her from becoming a teacher again. But the judge declined to impose the penalty, providing that De Barraicua abides by the terms of her five-year probation.

Finkelhof, the university researcher, said punishment is often more lenient for female child sex offenders because women are generally less likely to have a prior history of such offenses; they typically do not use violence or weapons as part of their offense; and it is less common for women to have serial sexual offending tendencies.

The public perception is that women pose less of a threat than men, Finkelhof said.

And, said Mattiuzzi, lawyers, when defending a female against sex offense charges, often argue that their clients used romantic bad judgment.

Paul Logli, an Illinois prosecutor and president of the National District Attorneys Assn., sees a double standard in sentencing as well.

"There is no question it's more likely that as a case winds its way through the court, in more cases the woman is going to get probation, whereas the man, under the same circumstances, is going to get prison," he said.