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| Criminal justice is still more lenient with women |
| By .newsday - Cathy Young |
| Published: 05/08/2013 |
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Two sensational murder cases involving young female defendants have been grabbing headlines. Jurors are deliberating in the case of Jodi Arias, a 32-year-old Arizona woman who claims self-defense in the killing of her on-and-off lover Travis Alexander. Meanwhile, Amanda Knox, the 25-year-old American facing retrial in Italy in the 2009 slaying of her British roommate Meredith Kercher, has published a memoir and told her story on television. Both stories feature salacious details of the women's sex lives, leading to charges of sexist double standards. But the inconvenient truth is that when it comes to criminal justice, the double standards often favor women. According to New York Times columnist Frank Bruni, Knox and Arias have been treated as "minxes" with "scarlet letters emblazoned on their chests." In fact, Knox, whose initial conviction was overturned on appeal, was often depicted not only by the tabloid media but by the Italian prosecutors as a sex-crazed she-devil -- though suggestions that she was targeted simply for her sexually liberated ways are vastly exaggerated. She first drew police scrutiny because of her flippant demeanor after her roommate was found dead; detained for questioning, she falsely named her ex-employer as the killer and admitted (falsely and under pressure, she later said) to being on the scene. Read More. |
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