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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think men shouldn’t serve on juries in sex trafficking and violence against women cases?

68 replies

ForBluntBronzeWren · 02/07/2025 16:30

I’ve been following the Diddy verdict and one detail sticks in my throat: the jury was 8 men and 4 women. Given the charges - sex trafficking, violence, coercion, it’s hard not to think the gender balance shaped the outcome.

Yes, some charges stuck. But major ones didn’t and I can’t help but feel we wouldn’t have seen the same result with a jury that better reflected the gravity of gender-based violence.

AIBU to think there’s something fundamentally flawed when those most likely to downplay or rationalise male violence are the ones deciding the verdict? Or is that unfair?

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user1473878824 · 04/07/2025 18:27

Don’t assume women are all on the same team. There’s so much shit like this around.

To think men shouldn’t serve on juries in sex trafficking and violence against women cases?
Sayshesheshe · 04/07/2025 13:53

Absolutely mad idea.

Just look at the number of women on here who describe their abusive / work shy / cheating / addict partners as good fathers and tell me you think they’re good judges of character?

Pinkyporky · 04/07/2025 13:50

I served on a jury on a (multiple) sexual assault case.
Two things stood out in the male jurors reactions, the shock and horror that a sexual assault can stay with a woman for a long time afterwards, and the protectiveness they felt for the victims.
None of the men doubted the accused was guilty. The only juror who did was a woman.

SemiRetiredLoveGoddeess · 04/07/2025 13:43

May be Six of One and Half a dozen of the other. Fair gender percentage?

MrsSkylerWhite · 04/07/2025 09:02

Sparkiest · 02/07/2025 16:41

That’s a terrible idea, I think. The whole point of a jury is that they are chosen at random, not picked especially because they’re more likely to have a particular view. Sounds like a way to guarantee a mistrial.

This

SuburbanSprawl · 04/07/2025 09:01

To take this to its conclusion...

Do you think that when the victim is of a racial minority, the jury should be all of that same minority because people who aren't of that minority don't have the experience of being part of that minority? How about if the defendant is of a racial minority?

If the victim is gay.... Or the defendant?

If the victim is neuro-divergent....?

If the victim is homeless....?

The whole idea of the jury system is that the shared characteristic of the jurors is only that they are part of the society whose laws apply. That's it. They may individually have preconceived ideas that could advantage or disadvantage the prosecution or the defence - but that's why there's twelve of them. It's intended to even out so that the trial is fair - where 'fair' means 'pretty reasonable, given that we're talking about random people here'.

It's not perfect. But it's better than setting it up so that the process is more likely to produce the outcome that you or I decided - before the trial began - is the desired one

Donotpanicoknowpanic · 04/07/2025 07:27

ForBluntBronzeWren · 02/07/2025 16:30

I’ve been following the Diddy verdict and one detail sticks in my throat: the jury was 8 men and 4 women. Given the charges - sex trafficking, violence, coercion, it’s hard not to think the gender balance shaped the outcome.

Yes, some charges stuck. But major ones didn’t and I can’t help but feel we wouldn’t have seen the same result with a jury that better reflected the gravity of gender-based violence.

AIBU to think there’s something fundamentally flawed when those most likely to downplay or rationalise male violence are the ones deciding the verdict? Or is that unfair?

Listen to the p diddy trial podcast in BBC sounds

It was a weekly podcast and they went through everything that happened week by week (and often more often)

There was a lot more to it than the male to female jury selection

Annoyeddd · 04/07/2025 07:14

Wasn't the person who stood up in court and shouted how wonderful p diddy was actually a woman

Dontlletmedownbruce · 03/07/2025 23:46

As a woman I have no idea what it feels like to be trafficked or raped or sexually abused. Why would I be better qualified than a man to be on a jury relating to sex offences?

eastegg · 03/07/2025 23:25

ilovesooty · 02/07/2025 17:17

Well put.

Yes, spot on. And why the assumption that we need more people on a jury to understand the victim specifically? Why not worry about whether there are enough jurors who will identify with the defendant? Don’t get me wrong, P Diddy is clearly a violent mysogynistic arsehole, but I know that because of certain pieces of evidence that have come out. Jurors have to have an open mind and decide cases on the evidence. The OP’s very idea is based on the assumption that the accused is guilty.

changeme4this · 03/07/2025 21:48

Do you not think that men experience and are victims of sexual abuse too ?

MNdrama · 03/07/2025 20:36

ForBluntBronzeWren · 02/07/2025 16:30

I’ve been following the Diddy verdict and one detail sticks in my throat: the jury was 8 men and 4 women. Given the charges - sex trafficking, violence, coercion, it’s hard not to think the gender balance shaped the outcome.

Yes, some charges stuck. But major ones didn’t and I can’t help but feel we wouldn’t have seen the same result with a jury that better reflected the gravity of gender-based violence.

AIBU to think there’s something fundamentally flawed when those most likely to downplay or rationalise male violence are the ones deciding the verdict? Or is that unfair?

I feel sorry for your other half

failedatlifee · 03/07/2025 19:18

Hmm i’m not convinced women would be any better, I think that’s quite naive. I got sexually assaulted on holiday and when I told my own sister the only thing she said was “dress like a slut, get treated like one”

Jabberwok · 03/07/2025 19:06

The trouble is that women judge other women all the time. Watch the faces of women as another woman walks past.

I've heard "she was asking for it" "dressed like that what did she expect" and other such phrases from numerous women but never a man. I've just read Mike Tyson autobiography (it was free on kindle) and I googled his rape case and came across some of the interviews with the victims fellow beauty contestants. They destroy her.

edited as posted too early

InterIgnis · 03/07/2025 18:49

The major one that didn’t stick was the RICO charge, and there’s been a big question mark over whether the prosecution were wise to pursue that one from beginning. The evidence for it was not strong.

He wasn’t on trial for domestic violence.

IMO the issue wasn’t with the jury, but with the prosecution.

lilkitten · 03/07/2025 18:28

Couldn't a problem be that if, for instance, you had an all-female jury on a sex trafficking case, there could be a bias towards guilty even if there may be a chance they're innocent? I would imagine a jury of all one gender would be bad in a lot of cases, and you could argue the alleged perpetrator could get an unfair trial. As others have said, I don't think all women would be agree as some women seem to blame rape victims for putting themselves in that position. There's as many bad men as there are bad women.

BeeryZ · 02/07/2025 21:59

Yabu not all men are bad people.

YouWillFindMeInTheGarden · 02/07/2025 21:59

Maddy70 · 02/07/2025 20:58

Every jury should be selected to give the defendant a fair trail without bias that's the cornerstone of justice

Absolutely!

YouWillFindMeInTheGarden · 02/07/2025 21:58

Words · 02/07/2025 18:32

Said on another thread but repeated here. Let us not call this inadéquate abomination of a man by his stupid stage name. His name is Sean Coombs.

We can call him what we like?

Isxmasoveryet · 02/07/2025 21:40

Toxic feminity at its best. Why not just ban men from society bar handing over a pay packet and procreation other then that they should not be seen or heard

User37482 · 02/07/2025 21:13

I’ve heard “well they would have got raped anyway” from a woman in her 30’s (I actually couldn’t respond because I was so shocked). Fairly sure DH would be trying to encourage hanging for sexual crimes against women.

I’m not sure that women are any better tbh, how many people on mumsnet have found out that some woman in their family has knowingly shacked up with a paedo (that one crops up time to time). Some women seem to allow violent crimes against their own children as well.

Women are still less likely to commit crime but women sometimes prop up violent offenders in their own families. I remember the wives of some of the grooming gang members blaming the children.

Maddy70 · 02/07/2025 20:58

Every jury should be selected to give the defendant a fair trail without bias that's the cornerstone of justice

TowerRavenSeven · 02/07/2025 20:19

Well I would want my husband or son on a jury so yabu.

Babygirlmamahere · 02/07/2025 19:55

I have served on a jury of a rape case in the UK (male accused of raping a female) and the male jury members' opinions on the case were as valid and important as the females' opinions. The males on the jury were just as concerned about the victim as the females. There are so many good guys out there who don't want to see women come to any harm and are just as shocked at the crimes that take place as us women are.

Tidekiln · 02/07/2025 18:40

ForBluntBronzeWren · 02/07/2025 16:47

Fair point, internalised bias isn’t exclusive to men. But I do think we underestimate how differently men and women tend to perceive coercion, power and threat in cases like this. When it comes to sex trafficking or systemic abuse of women, male jurors often just don’t carry the same instincts or lived understanding. That doesn’t make all women ‘better’ jurors but gender balance (or female-majority panels) can deeply shape the lens through which evidence is interpreted.

A lot of women thankfully don't have lived experience of abuse or trafficking.

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