A summary of the article

Boyd, & Nelson, (2017), in their article, talks about how the gender of a trial judge influences the decision or the verdict of a case. Some studies have been able to conclude that the background and cultures that a judge grew up in can influence the way they make decisions towards a case. Female judges have been believed to be very lenient to offenders who are female as compared to how they are to male offenders. An example is when a male suspect is presented before a female judge with the charges of having defiled a female child or minor. The female judge is likely to be harsh in her decision as compared to how a male judge would handle the case. The main point of the article is on how public opinion and the gender of the trial judge influence criminal sentencing decisions. The public opinion comes around whereby the beliefs of the judge and the setting and culture where the judge grew up uphold. Some cultures shape the thinking of people in such a way that they grow up towards a specific direction of decision making. According to Boyd, & Nelson, (2017), Several studies from states like that of Colorado and how female judges determine cases differently from male counterparts and how public opinion influences the verdict by trial judges.

An analysis of the article

The argument of the article is clear and organized in such a way that the reader can capture every detail that the author wanted to pass on sentencing in the United States. The two main points are those of the effects of gender and public opinion towards the case determination. These points are organized in a way that the author first discusses the effects of gender on judging in depth and then discusses the effects of public opinion judging behavior. The article is not based on opinion only and whatever is discussed is supported by facts. One of the facts is the empirical designs and studies that were conducted between 2004 and 2009 on the legalization of marijuana. From the results, the authors were able to come up with findings on the pattern of judging between male and female judges.

Logic in a way used to articulate the main points of the article, and it truly makes sense. This is because today in the America courts the judging and verdicts given vary from one judge to another, and the article tries to find some of the reasons as to why these instances happen from time to time (Carp et al., 2019). In a way, the argument derived from the article matches with my opinion on the topic of sentencing in America. This is because male offenders tend to get harsh imprisonment when presented in front of a female judge as compared to female offenders. On the other hand, male judges tend to be lenient to female offenders who leave male offenders in trouble. This, therefore, makes the topic important and making sense where some factors that lead to such occurrences in the American courts.

Judges, judicial staff and scholars are the target audience of the article. Judges are being addressed where they are given the facts of how they give their verdicts and some of the factors that influence them. Scholars and researchers are targeted by the article in such a way that they are supplied with empirical evidence which can assist them with facts for further studies. The arguments provided on the effects of the gender of a trial judge and public opinion towards the making of verdicts in the country are in a way convincing. This is because the argument is supported by a trend that was recorded in Colorado in between 2004-2009 where the main agenda was that of the legalization of marijuana. The findings were that the female judges represent a small fraction of the judicial system and hence the reason as to why their sentencing trends are different from that of the male judges.

The argument presented by the author in the article can be described as one that was playing safe. This is because according to Boyd, & Nelson, (2017), the author did not point any finger to anyone in the judicial system and neither targeted a certain judge male or female that made a certain decision which was controversial. The article was very general and played safe to the fullest. Every research always has a room for improvement, and this article also has some information that can be added to make it better. One of the areas that the article could have talked on more is on factors that influence the decision making in the courts. The article discussed only two factors which are gender and public opinion. Other factors that the article would have talked on are those of corruption, race, family ties among others that influence trial judges in making a verdict.

Conclusions

Scholars and researchers who study matters law and more so on the topic presented by the article are getting useful information from the article. Additional those students who study law are getting a hint of what happens in the courts and the trends which are there during delivering the verdict for offenders. Researchers are also benefiting because the article provides some information which can be used to conduct further research on the same topic. One of the areas that the research can develop further basing on the article is the area of the factors that influence sentencing in the United States.

References

Boyd, C. L., & Nelson, M. J. (2017). The effects of trial judge gender and public opinion on        criminal sentencing decisions. Vand. L. Rev., 70, 1819.

Carp, R. A., Manning, K. L., Holmes, L. M., & Stidham, R. (2019). Judicial process in America.         Cq Press.