Abstract
This paper uses an original data set of more than 3000 cases from 1918 to 1926 in
the Central Criminal Courts of London to study the effect of the Sex Disqualification
(Removal) Act of 1919. Implemented in 1921, this Act made females eligible to serve
on English juries, providing a novel setting for studying the impact of female representation
on jury verdicts. Results based on a pre-post research design imply that the inclusion
of females had little effect on overall conviction rates but resulted in a large and
significant increase in convictions for sex offenses and on the conviction rate differential
between violent crime cases with female versus male victims. The inclusion of women
also increased the likelihood of juries being discharged without reaching a verdict
on all charges and the average time taken to reach a verdict. A complementary analysis
of cases in which the jury was carried over from a previous trial also implies that
the inclusion of female jurors on the seated jury sharply increased conviction rates
for violent crimes against women versus men.
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