As mentioned previously here and here, female sex offenders have become more visible within the past few years. Mike Pechar at Interested-Participant has a series of posts highlighting the disparate sentences that female sex offenders are receiving these days. One case involves teacher Jeri Deanne Perez who plead guilty to three felonies involving a sexual relationship she had with a 14 year old boy. Perez received a 10 year sentence. In contrast, teacher Rebecca Withrow pleaded no contest to having sex with an 11 year old boy and received a 120 day sentence. In a similar story, Krystal Gehret was convicted of having sex with two 14 year old boys. It was also alleged that Gehret intimidated one of the victims in order to dissuade him from testifying. Gerhret was just sentenced to an 11-23 month prison term plus 1 year probation.

There may be details in these cases that explain the vastly different sentences that these women have received. Indeed, many opponents of mandatory minimum sentences argue that judges should have wide discretion so that fair and appropriate justice is delivered. But one wonders what those facts could be in these cases that would justify a 10 year sentence in one case and 120 days in another. Additionally, as many of the comments on Pechar's blog suggest, sentences for female and male sex offenders seem quite disparate despite the criminal acts being almost identical.