If women were 100% in charge of the justice system

[XemaSab]

Poll question: If women were 100% in charge of the justice system

do you think that sentencing for violent crimes would be harsher, or less harsh? :shrug:

Women tend to have a reputation for being more sympathetic in cases where there is some underlying reason why the defendant should be given leniency, but on the other hand, women seem more likely to really go after violent criminals in a way that the justice system does not currently allow.

(I know that the justice system is ostensibly equitable, but this is a what-if exercise.)

What do y'all think?

[qazplm]

1. I think your intent

is to place women above men but the reality is, you are being as sexist as if you said men would be better because they are more "rational" or "logical."

Women would be like men. Some would be too tough, some would be too soft, and some would be just right.

[elleng]

3. and you just like to call people 'sexist,' I guess.

[XemaSab]

4. That is not my assumption at all

My question is how would it be different from the way it is now, and I am interested in other perspectives about this.

[JackRiddler]

12. Nonsense!

There is no way to know for sure what human societies would be like if women had an overwhelming hegemony over the institutions of authority in the way that men have always had. (Please note: a few or one woman in charge of the institutions created over thousands of years of patriarchy - Margaret Thatcher, for example - is not evidence of what that would be like.) For one thing the process of getting to such a radically different world would produce its own history, with unknown contingencies coming to the fore. But it's ridiculous to think the world would be the same. In fact, I have to say to even think so requires a willful blindness to the observable differences in the way women and men act in the current world, and perhaps a stubborn allegiance to some abstract idea of equality (or that we're all equally subject to a single "human nature").

[NYC_SKP]

2. Can't say, but...

The average woman faced with these decisions would be, I believe, more likely to be less harsh and more compassionate.

However, those individuals, male and female, who go through the processes of becoming a judge and who self select that career represent a different segment of society than can be fairly compared to the populace at large.

Thus, I think actual female judges may be just as harsh as actual male judges, or even harsher.

I hope that makes sense.

I might say the same of female and male law-enforcement officers, for example.

:patriot:

[johnnie]

5. I don't really know but...

It always amazed me how many women want connect with men in prison. Some of those serial killers get so much fan mail from women it's unreal. Remember the "Night Stalker"? I think people are people and it wouldn't make much of a difference.

[Truthiness Inspector]

6. Good question

However, you say that female judges "seem more likely to really go after violent criminals in a way that the justice system does not currently allow."

In other words, you are saying that women judges act outside the justice system and the law.

I think you set up a difficult task for yourself in terms of establishing this, or maybe it was just a poor choice of words warranting clarification.

[XemaSab]

7. I'm not just saying female judges

I am saying that female jurors, female prosecutors, female reporters, and even women on DU seem to be apparently more likely to take a "hang 'em high" approach than many men do.

But maybe it's just a few examples that have distorted my perception. :shrug:

[Truthiness Inspector]

9. Yeah, your perception might be distorted

On the other hand, you might be on the other end of the equation: one who deserves no mercy but hopes to dupe us into showing mercy. LOL.

[1]

8. pretty sexist poll? no?

[comrade snarky]

10. Which women?

Sarah Palin, Phyllis Schlafly and Margret Thatcher or some culturally based stereotypical ideal of "Women" that is only expressed in a small number of actual women?

What do I think?

I think the question is silly.

[Oregone]

11. I think Anthony Sowell may not of recently killed 6 people

But beyond sex offenders, I don't know. Its really tough to say.

[anonymous171]

13. More lenient, except for rape. nt

[XemaSab]

18. I suspect that women would be harsher in cases of rape, murder, assault, and child abuse

but I don't know how much of that is my own opinions on the matter. :shrug:

[1]

14. so then every 28 days a defendant, for whatever crime, would get the death penalty...

ok. i see the logic in this...

[Better Today]

15. All I have to do is compare people like Ann Couter, Michele Bachmann, &

"Dr. Laura," to people like O'Riley, Limbaugh, and Hannity to know there would be no substantial difference.

Compassion, empathy, even-handedness are learned attributes, not gender related.

[Fumesucker]

16. I don't know that those attributes are completely learned..

But on the other hand I don't think they are gender related either.

Or at least not to any substantial extent.

Keep in mind that psychopaths are apparently born and not made.

[Better Today]

23. Apparently born??? WTF? I might agree that certain personality traits are inherited

but how one handles those inherited personality traits is all nuture, imo.

[Mimosa]

17. Strong punishment for violent crimes would happen after lenient period

My replies are usually completely objective but the question is an impossible hypothetical. I generally believe in punishment as a deteerence for violent crimes. I don't think women in charge would condone incarcerating people for drug offenses. A female run system might attempt to enforce restitution and rehabilitation.

[seabeyond]

19. i dont think it would be a lot of change. i see some pretty harsh females, and some compassionate

females. i think it would go both ways, just as i see more compassionate men, and less compassionate.

my father and husband are much nicer in handing our punishment to the kids than i am. or my mother was.

i think that will be more individual than gender oriented. more character and personality

[itsrobert]

20. Being in the military with women commanders

They were more likely to throw the book at the person coming in for an Article 15 (punishment/corrective tool) than the male commanders I had. Small sample size, but that's all I have to go by. That and Judge Judy.

[saltpoint]

21. Might it depend on the woman?

[TexasObserver]

22. They'd be harsher on men, and more lenient on women.

The juror who shares things in common with the defendant is most likely to vote favorably for such defendant. There's sort of a natural tendency to favor those similar to us.

[JonQ]

24. Wouldn't want to be accused of rape, child abuse

violence against a child, spousal abuse, etc in such a scenario.

Also I wonder if female murderers and sex offenders would receive the same degree of leniency they do now in that world? (compare the sentencing stats for statutory rapists by gender, and murders by gender and you'll see a wide gap).

[Posteritatis]

25. Stupid poll. (nt)

[LWolf]

26. Other.

"more likely to throw the book?" Maybe.

We're more likely to change the book before we throw it.