Examples Of Bias In To Kill A Mockingbird

Most are under the impression that all juries are chosen at random and are unbiased, however, this could not be more untrue. The results of court cases are still affected, if not determined, by bias. The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, highlights the difficulties faced by a black man, Tom Robinson, when trying to defend himself to a white jury. Harper Lee also called attention to the inequalities in court with Mayella and her testimony as a white, impoverished, female and the struggles that Boo Radley, an individual with disabilities, faced. In the historical context of the story it was a regularity for the topics of race, class, gender, and disabilities to be subject to bias. Against many attempts to create equality within the

When Tom was testifying about how he resisted Mayella, Gilmer had taunted him, ¨was [he] so scared that she´d hurt [him], [he] ran, big buck like [him]? ̈ (Lee 275). Gilmer questioned Robinson being scared in court because it seems completely unreasonable to be threatened by a girl. The stereotypes that surface gender create inequality in the court. In order to prevent this juries are selected at random, but the voir dire questioning process allows the gender bias back into play. There is a mass amount of inequality in the voir dire system as the ¨female population in most states is unequal to the proportion of female jurists. If a woman is included in the jury pool, she can still be excused from duty during voir dire examination¨ (Mahoney). Women, although being randomly selected, are still discriminated against in the jury. Because of common stereotypes and beliefs, men are able to discriminate against women in the courtroom, when really there is little to no evidence to prove that women do not have an equivalent bias to men in the jury (Mahoney). It is stereotypical of men to think that women would favor women in cases of domestic violence, rape, and cases evolving children, without looking at solid evidence, just because the defendant is female. It is also commonly believed that women base their judgment off of the defendant's reputation and the attractiveness of the subject, while men do not. Men use the stereotype of women being biased to discriminate them from the jury, which creates more un-feminine bias in the legal system. So not only are women given an unfair advantage through the jury system and voir dire questioning, but they are also deemed unfit because they are stereotyped to think or have bias on certain topics. Gender bias and stereotyping negatively impacts women by not allowing them to have equal opportunities in the courtroom. Factors like