I tell women what to wear, how to dress, how to make up their hair. They must have a great deal of sex appeal to the men on the jury — and to the judge, too. But at the same time she can’t antagonize the women on the jury by being too flashy-looking. If she cries softly while the case is going on, that’s wonderful.
Attorney Frank P. Lucianna40
“It’s difficult for a prosecutor to harshly cross-examine a woman, or he’ll alienate the jury. He has to walk on eggshells,’’ New Jersey lawyer Michael Brest in explains.41 He finds the protective instinct operates for everyone but is especially prevalent among older jurors. So if he is defending a woman, he tries to select older jurors. A criminal attorney specializing in civil rights put it bluntly: "1 always prefer to represent a female client; the system is clearly biased in her favor.’*42
Judge, jury, lawyer, female clients, and police, then, all contribute to chivalry’s integrated circuit. Lawyers in many cities report that a jury is so unlikely to con via a woman of drunk driving that police do not even bother to arrest her43 It’s true that it’s a male system with male chauvinist judges — and it’s unfair. The men who receive longer sentences find it quite unfair.
This protea-the-woman instina penetrates not only criminal law but family law. It is fairly obvious in the area of fathers versus mothers: we tell women they have the right to children but tell men they have to fight for children. It is less obvious in the double standard of community property