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Show Jury Box Verdict Altered When Sex Enters Problem By KITH MILLETT They are not merely Jurors, the 12 people who decide whether or not a murderer shall live or die. They are men and they are women. Is it their sex that listens to evidencetheir evi-dencetheir sex that passes judgment? judg-ment? Or is It merely a coincidence that Anna Hahn, on whose jury were 11 We, the Women women and one man. whs found guilty of murder while Margaret Drennan, confessed slayer of her married lover, who was tried by 11 men and one woman, went free? Can't Fool Women The woman who kills and goes before a jury of women to be tried t. l . , , I -mnn in th onlH liirhr nf psychological truth to hope for mercy. She might fool a jury of men with tears and helplessness, but if she knows a thing about her own sex she knows that women won't be fooled by her. And she knows that they will show her no mercy. But it Is another story for the pretty woman who faces a jury dominated by men. Her mirror tells her that she has a chance. So does her knowledge of men's sentimentality sentimen-tality and the protective instinct that makes them want to help any woman in distress. More Lenient If honor is involved, the woman has almost a fool-proof defense. What man or jury of men would say that a pretty girl whoee trust had been violated by one of their own sex should die? Doom must be in the heart of every woman who finds her life dependent on the mercy of her own sex. And hope that amounts almost to confidence must reassure the pretty woman who faces a group of men to beg for her life. If the conflicting viewpoints of the sexes does influence judgment in the jury box, might it not be a fair solution to divide jurors equally half men and half women? Or would six persons moved by beauty tnd helplessness toward leniency, and six ready to judge pitilessly, i find themselves in a hopeless muddle mud-dle when it came time to hand down a unanimous decision? |