Judicial Scrutiny of Sex Discrimination in the Employment Practices of Criminal Justice Agencies

Case Analysis of American Federal Court Decisions

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2008 in the subject Law - Public Law / Constitutional Law / Basic Rights, grade: A, Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice (Institute of Legal Studies), course: Special Topics in Criminal Justice, 31 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Social science research is replete with studies examining the impact of gender in the workplace. Some analysts focus on the extent to which capital resources and other extraneous factors influence gender-based hiring and promotion practices (Petersen, Saporta & Seidel, 2000; Kay & Hagan, 1998; Kalleberg & Reskin, 1995). Others focus on the organizational structures that perpetuate and reinforce stereotypes in job allocation (Gorman, 2005; Ridgeway, 1997). On the other hand, other studies refute the notion that sex has any significant impact in the hiring process and hiring decisions of management, particularly, in call centers and retail banks (Petersen, Saporta, & Siedel, 2005; Fernandez, Castillo, & Moore, 2000; Fernandez & Weinberg, 1997). There is lack of research, however, on the legal interpretation accorded by courts to the term sex discrimination and the circumstances under which sex discrimination in the workplace may be deemed to exist. Also, there is scant analysis of the legal procedures needed to establish the existence or non-existence of sex discrimination in the criminal justice system. The focus of most social science research has been on the development of theories of why sex discrimination exists.