Female Parole Preference?

A Mississauga, Ontario woman has been given early release from her 10-year sentence for murdering her mother.  The announced reason is so that she can attend college online.  She will be released to a half-way house after serving a little over four years in prison.  Read about it here (CBC, 6/22/09).

The woman and her sister were convicted, when they were 16 and 15 years old, of drowning their alcoholic mother in the bathtub.  The story of how they planned their mother's murder for months has been told in a book written by Bob Mitchell of the Toronto Star.  According to this article, the sisters planned every detail of the crime, and included school friends in the scheme (The Mississauga News, 3/27/08).  Apparently the friends contributed suggestions of their own such as remembering to wear gloves.  So helpful were the sisters' friends that Mitchell's book is entitled "The Class Project: How to Kill a Mother."

The police believed the mother's death was accidental until a tip from a family friend blew the cover off the conspiracy.  The pair were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to the maximum penalty for juvenile offenders.  The older sister has been a "model" prisoner and has completed rehabilitation and counselling.  The younger sister is still required to attend counselling sessions before she can be released.

Would a 22-year-old man who had, with malice and premeditation, murdered his mother and then lied about it to authorities be given such kid-glove treatment?  Any answer would be speculation, but the suspicion persists that it's not only 'no' but 'hell no.'

The female sentencing discount has been established by at least two studies of which I'm aware.  What about parole and early release programs?  I don't know of any social science on that, but if anyone out in the b'spere does, it would be of interest.

Also, do Canadian crime statistics reflect this as a domestic violence incident?

One last question: she's being released to a half-way house to take courses online.  Couldn't she do that in prison?  She completed high school there, couldn't she start college as well?

Thanks to an anonymous reader for the heads-up. 

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