Once Again, the Female Criminal Justice Sentencing Discount
May 23rd, 2007 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & Families
Background: I've discussed the kid gloves treatment the criminal justice system gives women on numerous occasions. The most recent example is the Lisa Nowak case--to learn more, see my co-authored column Scott Peterson in a Space Suit (Philadelphia Daily News, 2/26/07) and also click here and here.
Both the man and the woman in the story Lovers' 30-year murder sentence (BBC, 5/18/07) deserve severe punishment, but I can't help but notice the gender bias in sentencing here.
The husband and his lover plotted to kill the man's wife. The husband urged his girlfriend to commit the crime, but physically played no role in the murder. The girlfriend stabbed the man's wife 16 times with a knife. Yet the husband got an 18 year sentence and the girlfriend--the one who actually committed the murder--got only 12 years, partially because she cooperated with prosecutors, but also because she's a woman, and women are treated with kid gloves by the criminal justice system.
Also, when a man and a woman commit a crime together, the state is more likely to offer a deal to the woman to testify against the man than vice versa.
Lovers' 30-year murder sentence
BBC, 5/18/07
Stephen Marsh, 36, was sentenced to 18 years for persuading Rebecca Harris, 30, to stab his wife Jaspal to death at the marital home in Gorseinon, Swansea.
Harris was given a 12-year sentence for carrying out the July 2006 murder.
Passing sentence at Swansea Crown Court, Judge Roderick Price said: "It was a well-planned killing - I'm tempted to say an execution."
He told Marsh: "You are manipulative and devious and persuaded Rebecca to kill Jaspal."
Turning to Harris, he said: "You were influenced by him. No doubt you knew full well what you were about.
"It is chilling to think of you - a young mother - driving to Gorseinon to carry out a murder in a manner that was so violent."
She ran crying from the dock as shouts and screams came from the public gallery as her sentence was announced.
Speaking outside the court Mrs Marsh's brother, Sukhdeep Rehal, 34, who lives with his family in the London area, said they were unhappy with the sentence.
"Whilst acknowledging that nothing will bring my sister back, the punishment handed out does not, in our opinion, fit the crime," he said.
"My sister was killed as a result of a planned and premeditated act.
"Whilst justice was done when the guilty verdict was reached, the sentence feels like a smack in the face to everyone involved with bringing the pair to justice, and we are all extremely disappointed."
Marsh had denied involvement in his wife's death, but his month-long trial heard evidence of text messages he sent to Harris on the night of the killing urging her to "do it".
Jaspal Marsh, 36, was stabbed 16 times with a knife her husband and Harris had used in sado-masochistic sex games.
Read the full article here.
Thanks to Malcolm James for sending me the article. As a side note, I'm opposed to the death penalty, even for this despicable pair.
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May 23rd, 2007 at 2:20 am
Another report which i read referred to the fact that she had always suffered from low self-esteem and that as a child she had had a facial disfigurement. I can understand how this could cause low self-esteem, but would a man ever be able to use it as an excuse? You bet not.
May 23rd, 2007 at 3:37 am
Women are allowed to use excuses, men are not. Women are seen as under a man's control, men cannot be under a woman's control. The difference is huge and very sexist.
May 23rd, 2007 at 7:08 am
Now, when a woman murders another woman by stabbing her 16 times, and this relates to the two womens' relationships with a man who is not in the room, is that considered female domestic violence of some type?
Oh right. The man is behind it all. He did her thinking for her.
So it is acceptable to show that a woman cannot think for herself and needs a man to do her thinking for her -- as long as she is doing something like a murder, that is. Any positive actions by this woman in her life were clearly self-guided, right? Now I get it:
When woman does wrong, it is man's fault, but when woman does right it's her doing.
Seems simple enough.
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:59 am
"As a side note, I'm opposed to the death penalty, even for this despicable pair."
I'm glad to read it.
May 24th, 2007 at 8:28 am
This is ridiculous!! My dad, who's worked in the police for years, informed me that conspiracy to commit a crime and the crime itself are supposed to receive the same time in prison. Had the genders been reversed, the woman would have got less time than the man for not commited the actual murder, which is wrong. Here, she gets LESS time than the male for actually commiting the murder, when they should have been given the same sentence.
Although, he should not have been given 12 years like she did, they should both be given the 18 year sentence that the man received, or possibly more.
Also, I do agree that neither should be executed for this, I've never believed in the death penalty.
May 27th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Glenn asked:
"Except for the fact that Nowak botched the job, is her alleged crime much different?"
In my opinion their crimes are different. Planning (and carrying out) a murder is despicable under any circumstances and I am not defending Lisa Nowak's actions. However, Scott Peterson was not just planning to eliminate a romantic rival. In his desire to get rid of his wife, he intentionally killed his own son...
May 30th, 2007 at 8:41 am
This is very similar to the Pamela Smart case in New Hampshire. Mrs. Smart plotted with her teenaged boyfriend and his buddies to murder her husband, Greg. The three boys pulled off the deed, shooting the victim in cold blood in the doorway of his own home, and were eventually caught. The boys (all under 18) got multi-year sentences (18-25 years), but she got life without the possibility of parole. Why? Because without her, these boys would never have done what they did. The same is true in this case -- chances are slim that, without the idea and planning by cowardly, horrible husband, this equally horrible woman would never have committed this crime. So, it's not gender inequality, it's a question of intent, and intent is always judged at least as harshly as the committment of a crime. Indeed, that is why first degree murder is judged as the worst crime -- the perpetrator intended to do it.
May 30th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Sorry Adopted Kid I must disagree. Your own post states that the kids (William Flynn, Patrick Randall, Vance Lattime) were all under 18. Although they were tried as adults, they were only 15 at the time Pam Smart manipulated them... that's a big difference from manipulating an adult. In addition, there was testimonial evidence of Pam Smart admitting that she knew about the plans to murder her husband in a telephone conversation with Cecelia Pierce; so it wasn't a "he said, she said."
May 31st, 2007 at 7:15 am
I firmly agree with the death penalty for Rebecca Harris. We give Stephen far too much credit for his remarkable powers of control over her. Truely is there any person who really believes a man could control a woman to the extent that she would stab her victim 35 times? I know of no such woman! If this is the case then Stephens powers should be used to their full adavantage just imagine what he could be capable of !!.
June 5th, 2007 at 11:41 am
[...] more point. We've discussed the female sentencing discount on numerous occasions. I don't know if that will happen here, but it's interesting that she's not [...]
May 19th, 2008 at 6:59 am
Stephen Marsh is innocent, see the website at www.stephenmarsh.co.uk for the real story behind the distorted headlines. His committed group of supporters grows every day and will never give up until the truth is told. We want justice for Stephen and Jaz, everyone who knew them as a couple knows that the truth has not been told.
Rebecca Harris's story of Stephen's so called involvement is not physically or geographically possible. The texts that Stephen allegedly sent were never recovered, only Rebecca Harris's testimony describes the content and she had everything to gain by incriminating him.
Anyone who does not believe that people are convicted on hearsay and false testimony should try reading John Grisham's The Innocent Man.
'Courage does not always roar like a lion...sometimes it is the tired voice at the end of a day that says I will try again tomorrow.'
May 19th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Sorry - website is www.stephenmarshisinnocent.co.uk, not as in above comment
May 19th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Sorry - website is www.stephenmarshisinnocent.co.uk not as in above comment