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Public Perceptions Of Gender Bias In The Decisions Of Female State Court Judges, Michael P. Fix, Gbemende E. Johnson
Public Perceptions Of Gender Bias In The Decisions Of Female State Court Judges, Michael P. Fix, Gbemende E. Johnson
Vanderbilt Law Review
How are women on the bench, and their decisions, perceived by the public? Many scholars find that gender influences the voting behavior of judges and the assessment of judges by state judicial systems and the American Bar Association. However, few scholars have examined how judge gender affects the way in which the public responds to judicial outcomes. Does the public perceive the decisions of female state court judges as being "biased" by their gender identity, particularly in cases involving reproductive rights/family law? Also, does the public view female judges on state courts as more likely to rely on ideology when …
The Effects Of Trial Judge Gender And Public Opinion On Criminal Sentencing Decisions, Christina L. Boyd, Michael J. Nelson
The Effects Of Trial Judge Gender And Public Opinion On Criminal Sentencing Decisions, Christina L. Boyd, Michael J. Nelson
Vanderbilt Law Review
We explore the effects of a trial judge's gender in criminal sentencing decisions by addressing two unsettled questions. First, do female and male trial judges sentence criminal offenders differently from one another? While numerous qualitative and quantitative scholars have examined this question, the results lack consistency. Second, are female trial judges' sentencing practices differentially affected by public opinion compared to male judges' behavior? Little research exists on this second question, but existing theory on how females and males make decisions and operate as judges is informative. To provide new empirical insight into these questions, we rely on two sources of …