Rapists fare better in front of female jurors...

Wertz

Okay I know there's a thread on rape and the Irish Examiner poll/survey thing on the forum already, but I thought this deserved a new thread, since the other was long and had veered a bit OT.
Anyway, piece in the IE today detailing their findings on a 6 yrs study into the conviction rates for rapists and their relation to the predominant gender of the 12 jurors.

Full article here:
http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=58929-qqqx=1.asp


...the surprising findings say that men accused of rape trialed by a mainly female jury were found innocent more often than men accused of rape tried in front of a male dominated jury.
Thoughts on this? Are women harsher on other women in the case of sex crimes? Or perhaps men believe female victims quicker than a woman would?
This goes against what I thought would have been the outcome...while maybe not an all-encompassing survey, it's still an indication of attiudes out there in modern Ireland.

Tar.Aldarion

Men know what other men are capable of moreso than women do. Most women will listen and be swayed to a heartfelt story from a defendent more than a man would.

;-)

stovelid

It may not be purely related to sex-crimes. I wonder how women jurors adjudicate in general?

My gut feeling is that they would be more capable of mercy than men.

Vegeta

Obviously the defendant sends them rape threats.....telapathically

mike65

Female jurors think "well will you look at the cut of her".

Men think "that could be my daughter - the bastard"

Mike.

stovelid

stovelid wrote: »

It may not be purely related to sex-crimes. I wonder how women jurors adjudicate in general?

My gut feeling is that they would be more capable of mercy than men.

I agree. Throw in a sob story about babies and puppies and love and other some-such and you'd get away with murder when it comes to women. Men aren't as easily swayed.

Can anyone else see this thread becoming Men vs Women?

kaimera

Women are more bitchy and prolly think the chic was maybe somehow asking for it.

Not that I agree of course.

Kipperhell

mike65 wrote: »

Female jurors think "well will you look at the cut of her".

Men think "that could be my daughter - the bastard"

Mike.

That is it as far as I am concerned.

Generally men also know their worst thoughts and are very harsh on anything they see as weak willed. The black and white mentality is also very well documented.

Men will take a hard knock before they realise what a united force of woman will do to them for not be united. Woman's compassion will be men's saviour

humbert

mike65 wrote: »

Female jurors think "well will you look at the cut of her".

Men think "that could be my daughter - the bastard"

Mike.

This would be my thinking too

MizzLolly

Wow - very interesting. I suppose maybe women are harsher on women than they are on men. Maybe I'm totally wrong but I think that women are very competitive and hostile towards eachother in general anyway (I'm only speaking from experience from dealing with customers everyday, so I could be wrong) but I think that a woman will look at the female victim and allow her own insecurites to blur her judgement. For example, if she sees something about herself that she doesn't like in the victim of course she won't empathise with her. As far as the attacker goes, a female would be more likely to feel sorry for him and believe he has been decieved because being a female herself, she is well capable of understanding just how deceptive some women can be.


(I'm not saying all women are sneaky and all men are simple, but as far as stereotypes go, women usually are the more devious of the two)

It's sad really..

Overheal

Or do they just think "I'd ride him....surely he doesnt need rape to get a lay?"

Sherifu

Overheal wrote: »

Or do they just think "I'd ride him....surely he doesnt need rape to get a lay?"

I doubt it.

Dudess

mike65 wrote: »

Female jurors think "well will you look at the cut of her".

Men think "that could be my daughter - the bastard"

kaimera wrote: »

Women are more bitchy and prolly think the chic was maybe somehow asking for it.

Yep, ok so this is anecdotal, but women are more likely to be bitter and bitchy towards other women. You're far more likely to hear "slut, slapper, slag" etc coming from females than from males.

Earthhorse

Dudess wrote: »

Yep, ok so this is anecdotal, but women are more likely to be bitter and bitchy towards other women. You're far more likely to hear "slut, slapper, slag" etc coming from females than from males.

To the extent that they would let a rapist go free though?

allabouteve

Earthhorse wrote: »

To the extent that they would let a rapist go free though?

Perhaps where men see their daughters or sisters in the victims, women see their brothers or sons in the accused instead? I think it's also strange but true that women are more judgemental towards other women, and may consider clothing/drunkeness a factor.....maybe.

Spaceman Spiff

allabouteve wrote: »

Perhaps where men see their daughters or sisters in the victims, women see their brothers or sons in the accused instead?

This is how I'd see it as well.

I think it's also strange but true that women are more judgemental towards other women, and may consider clothing/drunkeness a factor.....maybe.

Knowing some of the girls I know, tis could very well be true as well.

bug

Gas; some of the opinions in this thread.

Personally I think that women are more socially aware than men, and do not have the protective attitude that some men innately and subconsciously have towards women.
Therefore perhaps they are less likely to send someone "down" in a consentual/non consentual case, which is apparently what most rape cases boil down to.

Rape cases more often than not tend to concentrate on the consentual aspect of sex rather than the traditional idea of jumped out of a bush and attacked me type rape.

Women see grey, more often than black or white, which is a skill in some cases and a hinderance in others.

I would choose a woman for a rape case if I thought my client were innocent.

Spaceman Spiff

bug wrote: »

I would choose a woman for a rape case if I thought my client were innocent.

I think the idea here is that you should choose women if your client is guilty as well.

cuckoo

I think it goes beyond women being bitchy to each other.

If a woman is to listen to the evidence and not lend credence to any attempts by the defence to lay any 'blame' on the victim then she has to really, really accept the reality that there are men who will rape and that the victim did nothing to deserve it.

I'm not talking about the general sense of being pro-women's rights, etc. To be on a jury and vote 'guilty' means assigning guilt to the male rapist - and means accepting a world view in which they themselves could be the next 'victim who did nothing to deserve it'.

Maybe it's easier to just believe that all victims somehow 'asked for it' and that they themselves (of course) would never be so stupid and therefore will never be raped?

Carrigart Exile

Wertz wrote: »

Okay I know there's a thread on rape and the Irish Examiner poll/survey thing on the forum already, but I thought this deserved a new thread, since the other was long and had veered a bit OT.
Anyway, piece in the IE today detailing their findings on a 6 yrs study into the conviction rates for rapists and their relation to the predominant gender of the 12 jurors.

Full article here:
http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=58929-qqqx=1.asp


...the surprising findings say that men accused of rape trialed by a mainly female jury were found innocent more often than men accused of rape tried in front of a male dominated jury.
Thoughts on this? Are women harsher on other women in the case of sex crimes? Or perhaps men believe female victims quicker than a woman would?
This goes against what I thought would have been the outcome...while maybe not an all-encompassing survey, it's still an indication of attiudes out there in modern Ireland.

Just for the pedantic record but they are not rapists until found guilty. Perhaps the guys found not guilty by the mainly female juries were indeed, not guilty.

Jesus Wept

If you want to be pedantic, they are rapists when they first commit rape and they are not rapists until/or if they don't.
The bearing of a court and the outcome of its findings do not alter whether or not they are or are not rapists. I guess that is why they call it a verdict.
[/pedantic.]

The Mighty Ken

I think if you're a juror in a rape case and you've had time to think about it a lot, you'll have concluded that a woman who falsely accuses a man of rape is, in fact, more reprehensible than a male rapist and therefore will try and weight up the evidence as fairly as possible.

How many men are in jail for rape? How many women are in jail for falsely accusing men of rape? I'm sure that would make an interesting statistic. And remember, even being accused and found innocent can destroy a man's life.