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

[ForBluntBronzeWren]

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?

Absolutely!

Yabu not all men are bad people.

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.

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.

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

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”

I feel sorry for your other half

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

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.

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?

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

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

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

This

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

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.

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?

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