It is, indeed, true that juries
are apt to be more lenient with women than with men, but this
leniency shows itself not in acquitting them of the crimes
charged against them, but of finding them guilty in lower
degrees.
Of course flagrant miscarriages of justice frequently occur,
which, by reason of their widespread publicity in the press,
would seem to justify the almost universal opinion that women
are immune from the penalities for homicide. It is also true
that such miscarriages of justice are more likely when the
defendant is a woman than if he be a man.
One of these hysterical acquittals which give color to popular
impression, but which the writer believes to be an exception,
was the case of a young mother tried and acquitted for murder
in the first degree, December 22, 1904. This young woman,
whose history was pathetic in the extreme, was shown clearly
by the evidence to have deliberately taken the life of her
child by giving it carbolic acid. The story was a shocking
one, yet the jury apparently never considered at all the
possibility of convicting her, but on retiring to the j
ury-room spent their time in discussing how much money they
should present her on her acquittal.
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