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Desires Women Jurors

Desires Women Jurors image
Parent Issue
Day
20
Month
December
Year
1895
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

A writer from this city, signing himself "Citizen," bad the followiug intoresting commnnication in yesterday morniug's Detroit Tribune : To the Bditor : Your editorial last Friday as to the faet that in a case of criminal assault, the modest woinan suffered more to punish the criminal than was just. This you regretted, but in the next column advised the V. C. T. U. ladies to keep a vay from such trials. Why not oncourage them, and throw the weight of the Tribune's influence, to rid the country of a great moral sore. A modest yoaug lady, your daughter or your sister, is assaulted and then dragged iuto open court to teil the story of her shame 10 a orowd of leoherous men ; and attorneys are allowed to ply her with obsoene questions, and make unjust" insinuations- and, having no other resource to break the weight of her testimony, to cover her with abuse. Why? Because laws are made by men, juries and judges are men, and a crowd of ooarse men fill the court room. Here is where the fault lies. The juries should be at least one-half, if not all women, and there snould be a woman judge, and woman attorneys, and half the audience matrons. It is woman's honor which is assailed, and there should be no levity, and no impure language used or allowed, and it will not be when women sit as jndge and jury, as they will in 10 years in this state. Till then let women rally ; let good men rally; and let them attend the oourt, and force attorneys and all to be decent. You say this is impossible. It is not. Prince Michael was tried in Ann Arbor for a brutal assault and the Ann Arbor clergy and W. C. T. U. , tlirough their oommittees, saw the judge in the interest of good morality, and in _ advance of the trial secured pledges from the jadge and attorueys that they make the trial as decent as possible, and the judge assured the ladies who proposed to attend tbe trial that they should have the proteotion of the court, and they did attend, and the result was that the young girls who were tbfi sufferers were enoouraged and befrieuded, aud shielded from the vile qnestiouo aui insiuuations of opposing counsel, and the trial was made decent. All saw it and the judge, prosecuting attorney, and the public highly comruended the ladies for their efforts to elévate the tone of our conrts. There is no necossity for the use of indeoent langnage in these trials, and it is t.iue that tbo-Uorgy, vmimu and the press, moved to purge our courts of vulgarity and impurity. Arm Arbor, Mich. ,Dec.. 18.

Article

Subjects
Ann Arbor Argus
Old News