Deborah's Voice: The Role of Women in Sexual Assault Cases at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Objectives. To assess the impact of the gender of judges, prosecution attorneys, and defense lawyers on sentencing decisions at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Methods. We use regression modeling of all sentences handed down by the ICTY and test for the impact of gender with direct measures of the numbers and percentages of female actors and through interactive terms to assess whether there is a gender impact on sexual violence cases. Results. The results demonstrate that higher levels of female representation in both the prosecution and defense teams are statistically significant predictors of ICTY sentencing. Conclusions. Gender exercises an important impact on ICTY sentencing, and our results show that concern for female representation in international organizations is appropriate and worthy of further study.