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23 Hastings L.J. 171 (1971-1972)
Women as Litigants

handle is hein.journals/hastlj23 and id is 221 raw text is: Women as Litigants* By STUART S. NAGEL** and LENORE I WEITZMAN*** THE purpose of this article is to describe how women are treated rela- tive to men in criminal, personal injury, and divorce cases-three fields which constitute most of the trial court litigation in American courts. The findings presented will generally be based on quantitative nation- wide data. The article will particularly examine the extent to which women are disfavored, favored, or treated neutrally as criminal de- fendants, personal injury plaintiffs, and divorce litigants. It will also discuss some of the effects of having more women as jurors and judges on the relative treatment of male and female litigants. Women as Crumnal Defendants In the literature dealing with women's rights, researchers have in- dicated that in several states higher penalties are imposed on a woman who commits a crime than on a man who commits the same crime.' These statements, however, have been based on those few state statutes and appellate test cases which describe the law on the books rather than the law in action. Empirical data has been needed to show how much time the average woman spends in prison as compared to the time spent by the average man, or at least showing the length of sen- * This research is one of a series of policy science studies on measuring and achieving effects of alternative legal policies partly financed by the National Science Foundation grant GS-2875. The NSF is not responsible for the results. * * Law and Social Science Fellow, Russell Sage Program, Yale Law School. On leave as Professor of Political Science, University of Illinois. Member of the Illinois Bar. *** Law and Social Science Fellow, Russell Sage Program, Yale Law School. Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of California at Davis commencing au- tumn, 1971. 1. Seidenberg, The Submissive Majority- Modern Trends in the Law Concern- ing Women's Rights, 55 CoRNL L. Rav. 262 (1970). See also L. KANowrrz, WOMEN AND THE LAw 167-72 (1969) [hereinafter cited as KANowrrz1; Schulder, Does the Law Oppress Women? in SISTERHOOD IS POWERFUL, 139, 153 (R. Morgan ed. 1970).

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