'All My Thoughts On Colleen Stan' (Why Men Get Prison and Women Get Probation)

Essay here. Excerpt:

'On May 19, 1977, 20-year-old Colleen Stan was hitchhiking in California and accepted a ride from a young couple with a baby; Janice and Cameron Hooker had come to an agreement that if Janice could have a child, Cameron could find a woman to whip and torture, as long as he promised never to have intercourse with her.

Back at the Hooker’s home, Cameron put Colleen in a three-foot square, cubed box and for the next seven years the Hookers and Colleen lived in a single-wide house trailer in Red Bluff, California. Eventually Cameron Hooker moved the box under the bed he shared with Janice, and later, after signing a slave contract, Colleen was allowed to roam about, go into town and shop, and visit her family, unescorted, in another state.
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Stockholm Syndrome is a response sometimes seen in cases of abduction in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, in spite of the apparent danger in which they have been placed. The Compliant Victim theory was introduced into law enforcement lingo through a FBI study of the female partners of practicing sexual sadists. The authors of this study, FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz, concluded that these women acted criminally in concert with violent men because they were psychologically predisposed to submission.
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Gender is far more likely to determine the penalty one pays for breaking the law than age or race: Cameron Hooker was sentenced to a total of 100 years in prison for sexual assault, kidnapping and various weapons charges; having been declared a “Dangerous Offender” Paul Bernardo will in all likelihood remain in solitary isolation for the term of his natural life. Janice Hooker and Karla Homolka lessened their culpability by testifying against their respective spouses, and the following narrative is my humble attempt to explain precisely why this dynamic of gender disparity is at best, illogical.
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So, thanks just the same, Agent Hazelwood and Dr. Dietz, but coming up with a theory that makes women less accountable for their actions than men is about as helpful as placing us on a pedestal by putting your hand up our skirt. I'm not just so hopped about the idea of going to prison for something, but as an adult woman, it's insulting to be thought as a child, or an idiot, or worse, as an idiot child. Colleen Stan had many chances to free herself from the Hooker's clutches, and toward the end had apparently become quite smitten with Cameron Hooker; Karla Homolka and Janice Hooker swore in court their spouses had beaten them into submission, yet both found the strength to abandon their husbands when it was suspiciously and legally convenient.'