SEX AND DEATH: IS IT HARDER TO KILL A WOMAN? by Jane Velez-Mitchell
November 17, 2014
[polldaddy poll=8454888]The penalty phase of the Jodi Arias trial marches on, despite ferocious battles over defense claims that cops deleted purported pornography on murder victim Travis Alexander’s computer. Unless this new controversy derails the case, judgment day is coming and soon.
Twelve people will have to decide if they want to kill Jodi Arias, the woman convicted of viciously murdering her Mormon ex-boyfriend. But, will they be able to do it? While racial bias in executions has a long and much discussed history, gender bias in executions has been less of a headline maker…. until now.
The Arizona jury that convicted the pretty waitress/aspiring photographer couldn’t decide whether to give her the death penalty. They came back with a split decision: 8 in favor and 4 against giving her a lethal injection. So, now, a new jury must decide her penalty: life or death.
The re-trial has lots of folks wondering: is it harder to sentence a woman to death, especially an attractive one? As I explain in my New York Times bestseller Exposed: The Secret Life of Jodi Arias, Jodi is a beautiful and intelligent woman who did something incredibly ugly and stupid. She knifed her on again/off again lover 29 times, slitting his throat ear to ear and shooting him in the head. The handsome motivational speaker was planning to take another woman with him on a much-anticipated vacation to Cancun, but never made it because Jodi killed him first.
Jodi Arias proceeded to cover her tracks in the most insidious way, even leaving a voicemail for her murder victim inviting him to a play. She looked detective Esteban Flores in the eyes and told him a slew of lies. First she denied she was there.
When Flores confronted her with time stamped photos that put her at the crime scene she blamed masked intruders. After contemplating the mountain of irrefutable evidence against her, like her own bloody palm print at the murder scene, she ultimately admitted she killed Travis but claimed self-defense, using a vicious blame the victim strategy where she painted him as a sexual deviant. His family sitting in court was left fuming and in tears.
Some might say if there was any case that warrants the death penalty this would be it and if there’s any woman who deserves to be given a lethal injection, Jodi Arias is that woman. But, will she get it?
The odds that she’ll evade the ultimate punishment just might be on her side. According to some experts, women defendants are steered toward more lenient outcomes at every stage of the judicial process.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center: women account for about for 10% of murder arrests, 2.1% of death sentences imposed at the trial level, about 2% of people on currently on death row and only 1% of persons actually executed in the modern era.
Women are about half the population. But, the Death Penalty Information Center says, since 1976 only 14 women have been executed in the United States while, in that same time period, more than 1,300 men have been put to death.
It’s ironic but it seems women are so non-violent, in a statistical sense, that some experts wonder if there’s even a large enough pool of death penalty murders by women to make a fair comparison. Richard Dieter, the Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center told me, “There’s about 60 women on death row and that’s kind of held steady for a good while. It’s dangerous to do statistical studies, especially with each crime being unique, and to say well, there’s a bias, that women aren’t getting the death penalty because juries look more favorably on them.” If the jury’s out on a statistical certainty, some experts are still voting with their gut that women are harder to put to death.
Nationally recognized psychotherapist Dr. Robi Ludwig believes culturally there is a gender bias that favors women noting, “Even staunch feminists who want equality change their tune when it comes to women on death row.”
One reason why female killers seem to have a better chance than men of having their lives spared involves the types of crimes women tend to commit. They are far less likely, for instance, to commit violent rape/murders, deadly home invasions, deadly armed robberies or violent stranger abduction/murders. They far more often kill people they know. Says Dr. Ludwig, “Women tend to commit crimes based on their intimate relationships. So it’s usually either a partner, their husband or their kids and so it’s very hard to justify killing these women when they tend to kill over close family connections. For one, it makes them appear less dangerous.”
And, there’s the damsel in distress factor. Says Dr. Ludwig, “there’s something about a woman being a caregiver and being seen as a nurturer. There’s this mythology around women that when they are sick and become murderous we’re more inclined to give them a pass because we see them as sick and mentally fragile.”
So, will the new jury decide Jodi is a sick, fragile woman who deserves a pass? Or will they decide she is every bit as diabolical and dangerous as a man could ever be? Remember, the verdict must be unanimous. All she needs is one.
GET THE FULL STORY WITH DETAILS NEVER REVEALED AT TRIAL….
EXPOSED: THE SECRET LIFE OF JODI ARIAS
Now in paperback
Twelve people will have to decide if they want to kill Jodi Arias, the woman convicted of viciously murdering her Mormon ex-boyfriend. But, will they be able to do it? While racial bias in executions has a long and much discussed history, gender bias in executions has been less of a headline maker…. until now.
The Arizona jury that convicted the pretty waitress/aspiring photographer couldn’t decide whether to give her the death penalty. They came back with a split decision: 8 in favor and 4 against giving her a lethal injection. So, now, a new jury must decide her penalty: life or death.
The re-trial has lots of folks wondering: is it harder to sentence a woman to death, especially an attractive one? As I explain in my New York Times bestseller Exposed: The Secret Life of Jodi Arias, Jodi is a beautiful and intelligent woman who did something incredibly ugly and stupid. She knifed her on again/off again lover 29 times, slitting his throat ear to ear and shooting him in the head. The handsome motivational speaker was planning to take another woman with him on a much-anticipated vacation to Cancun, but never made it because Jodi killed him first.
Jodi Arias proceeded to cover her tracks in the most insidious way, even leaving a voicemail for her murder victim inviting him to a play. She looked detective Esteban Flores in the eyes and told him a slew of lies. First she denied she was there.
When Flores confronted her with time stamped photos that put her at the crime scene she blamed masked intruders. After contemplating the mountain of irrefutable evidence against her, like her own bloody palm print at the murder scene, she ultimately admitted she killed Travis but claimed self-defense, using a vicious blame the victim strategy where she painted him as a sexual deviant. His family sitting in court was left fuming and in tears.
Some might say if there was any case that warrants the death penalty this would be it and if there’s any woman who deserves to be given a lethal injection, Jodi Arias is that woman. But, will she get it?
The odds that she’ll evade the ultimate punishment just might be on her side. According to some experts, women defendants are steered toward more lenient outcomes at every stage of the judicial process.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center: women account for about for 10% of murder arrests, 2.1% of death sentences imposed at the trial level, about 2% of people on currently on death row and only 1% of persons actually executed in the modern era.
Women are about half the population. But, the Death Penalty Information Center says, since 1976 only 14 women have been executed in the United States while, in that same time period, more than 1,300 men have been put to death.
It’s ironic but it seems women are so non-violent, in a statistical sense, that some experts wonder if there’s even a large enough pool of death penalty murders by women to make a fair comparison. Richard Dieter, the Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center told me, “There’s about 60 women on death row and that’s kind of held steady for a good while. It’s dangerous to do statistical studies, especially with each crime being unique, and to say well, there’s a bias, that women aren’t getting the death penalty because juries look more favorably on them.” If the jury’s out on a statistical certainty, some experts are still voting with their gut that women are harder to put to death.
Nationally recognized psychotherapist Dr. Robi Ludwig believes culturally there is a gender bias that favors women noting, “Even staunch feminists who want equality change their tune when it comes to women on death row.”
One reason why female killers seem to have a better chance than men of having their lives spared involves the types of crimes women tend to commit. They are far less likely, for instance, to commit violent rape/murders, deadly home invasions, deadly armed robberies or violent stranger abduction/murders. They far more often kill people they know. Says Dr. Ludwig, “Women tend to commit crimes based on their intimate relationships. So it’s usually either a partner, their husband or their kids and so it’s very hard to justify killing these women when they tend to kill over close family connections. For one, it makes them appear less dangerous.”
And, there’s the damsel in distress factor. Says Dr. Ludwig, “there’s something about a woman being a caregiver and being seen as a nurturer. There’s this mythology around women that when they are sick and become murderous we’re more inclined to give them a pass because we see them as sick and mentally fragile.”
So, will the new jury decide Jodi is a sick, fragile woman who deserves a pass? Or will they decide she is every bit as diabolical and dangerous as a man could ever be? Remember, the verdict must be unanimous. All she needs is one.
GET THE FULL STORY WITH DETAILS NEVER REVEALED AT TRIAL….
EXPOSED: THE SECRET LIFE OF JODI ARIAS
Now in paperback
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Jane Velez-Mitchell
Jane Velez-Mitchell is an award-winning TV journalist and New York Times best-selling author. She is the founder of UnchainedTV and the host of several shows on the network.
Why should jodi get special treatment she did the crime so its time for her to do the time whether it be life or death and she shouldn”t be able to profit off of his death like she is doing
I completely agree! No pity here, she did the crime now she should have to die.
I feel horrible for Travis is family having to sit through this again
I think it’s wrong to drag the dead victim through the mud in the press to help keep the killer off of DEATH ROW. This is wrong any way you look at it. Jodi deserves only one sentence, the same she gave her victim. DEATH, hers will be more humane than his was.
I believe Arias deserves the DP. However, I don’t think she will get it. I think there is a Juror that will hold out because of the way the Def is portraying Travis. I pray that Travis and his family get what they want but I really think the outcome will be in Jodi’s favor.
As many verdicts have been reversed lately, I don’t think a death sentence should be a verdict in any case
That’s simple 4 u – live in a state that doesn’t have one !!!!!
In states that do – even the bluest state in the country CT – mine
It’s appalling but certainly telling the left THINKS they know best . Our state capital actually went behind our own majority in the state of having it an option on the books – to removing it!!
NOW to boot – OVER 73% in the resent poll in CT FAVOR having it BUT once again the Uber LEFT wing nuts we have in Hartford know much more then us “stupid voters” that elected these fools and took it off the books late one night ! Now what does that tell u ?
We r the only ALL blue state in the country represented in DC and this is what they do….. Here is the kicker – they held the repeal up UNTIL the ONES they wanted and deserved the injection (the Dr Petit’s family murder)
Well the Petit family got justice but going forward no other family will have that satisfaction !!!
So it was ok that they chose to let those murders get the needle but no one else can
Please please try to even explain that move ???
Kill the Bit#$% she tried to cut the man’s head off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mant women have died in death row for a lot less than what Jodi did to Travis. If she killed him out of defensive hate and rage of the things she is saying about him, she wouldn’t have stabbed him so many times. But thos was pre-planned jealous rage from his rejection. Her mind games and the thought of not controling him got the best of her. THIS WAS SEVERE DEEPLY EMBEDDED RAGE!! PSYCOPATHIC RAGE that caused her to SLAUGHTER Travis.. Non stop stabbing, then a gunshot, and above all, hanging around his apartment afterwards for so long, cleaning and hiding evidence, trying to cover her tracks on all bases!! Coloring her hair! DEATH PENALTY ONLY!!!
She has to pay for her crime. Why is another trail necessary. A whole new one…for what…the judge, lawyers and other staff need overtime pay? If life is given…NO BENEFITS.. She is the most hated person on earth beside the devil.
If it wasn’t harder, why are we here?
the people on the jury need to pretend for a neo second, that this man was their son, brother, husband, say no more,,
i cant belive this its not fair id like to smack her silly
Jodi is a sick person. This is a woman with serious mental issues long before adulthood.
Arias planned and carried out this absolutely horrible murder. Her sentence should be death.
Just give her death sentence and let her sit on death row with her appeals. In the meantime she is by herself which is Worse than death to her!
She killed him (butchered him) because he was taking another woman to Mexico and she had the nerve to try and say he was a child molester which was just making him look like a pervert. If anyone ever deserved the death penalty it is her. They say she is pretty but when you look at her all you see is ugly.
What a dam disgrace our justice system is! Well, in this case, as here in Jersey this bullshit don’t happen!
Also, JSS shoukd be debenchedm and Nurmi & co. should all be disbarred! How is it the Judge Stephens is allowing FALSE accusations, lies, and this disgusting slandering of an innocent man whose life was brutally taken by this sociopath! Yesterdays testimony, that so called antique sex dr was a disgrace! All the lies she told on that stand, all those emails about kids were all out of context! Travis NEVER emailed kids out of a sexual need! What a dam joke, trying to lead the jury into thinking he was this sick pedophile! I look forward to Juan slamming every lie and false accusation right in their dam face! What fools. Did Nurmi think Juan is so stupid ?? The jury too?? This witness won’t know what hit her when Juan is up! Donovan stated before penalty phase started to expect lots of surprises. hmmmmm, what she really meant was lots more slandering and putting Travis on trial. And the so called Judge sits back and lets it happen. I am so disgusted and disappointed in how our justice system works. The victim has no rights, and is forgotten about in that courtroom. I can’t wait for Juan to slam those autopsy pics down, bringing that courtroom back to the reason they are all there! Shaving ones privates, or emails from 2007 between old girlfriends has nothing to do with butchering a human life! Juan is gonna come back with a vengence and oh boy, that sex dr better be ready for it. I don’t know how they sleep at night, All
i can say is karma will be knocking on their doors one day and maybe then they will regret all the disgusting things they are doing. Justice for Travis will come and that evil scum will be heading to the needle, all alone in a cell for 23 hours a day. Noone but herself to talk too, no more twitter or arts and crafts days. The gang in Perryville has been waiting her arrival.
If anybody deserves the DP Jodi does. If she were a man who did this to a woman this trial would have been over and he would be sitting on Death row! also, Jane I would have loved to read your book but you constantly keep saying how beautiful Jodi is so that alone makes me think you are feeling sorry for her. It is an insult to say a heinous calculating murderer is beautiful. JMO
1) If Martinez were to hire actors to come into the courtroom and re-enact the murder, this might convince any jurors who have doubts.
2) Doesn’t the law state that the jury has only to decide if it was pre-meditated and unusually cruel? If so, they have no option but to choose death. They need to leave their personal consciences outside the jury room and follow the law.
3) We read about people like Charles Manson every day (he is supposedly getting married now?) and the family of Travis Alexander will never have any peace if Jodi is behind bars with the ‘cult following’ of a Manson.
4) Probably there is at least one juror who hopes to achieve recognition for a) being on the jury and b) voting against death; thus, getting him/herself notoriety.
Jane, I have to disagree with you on one point. The fact that females “only” tend to murder people known to them, such as family members, doesn’t make them “less” dangerous, in my mind. Women kill their husbands, children, lovers–people they claim to “love.” If they can heartlessly take the life of someone they “love,” everyone at large, SHOULD feel unsafe around them. Will she get the death penalty? Her crime, the brutal and tortuous nature of the crime, warrants the death penalty, but as you said, it only takes one. Regardless, the prison she is headed to in Perryville, has quite the reputation. She is considered one the most dangerous offenders, and will be housed with other women, just like herself–very dangerous women. Whether she will be sitting on death row or WISHING that she was, it’s truly in the hands of this jury. I just wish the process could be moved along a little faster for the sake of the Alexander family. I’ve been following along with trials for many years and have never witnessed such a blatant disregard for the feelings, and emotional well-being of the victims, as they pursue justice. Absolutely disgraceful!
I watch that whole trial the first time and there is no other than the death penaltty for her. She tortchured that poor Travis and now she is tortchuring his family and it is a disgrace. i pray that his family can get some closure soon and don’t have to listen to more of her crap. Put her on death row all by her little old self with no computer or ways to sell her junk. I don’t know who would want any of it. Give Justice to the family now.
If Travis was a disgusting pervert, why would she spend an entire day having sex with him??? Not sure how I feel about the DP in general, but isolation sounds like a good punishment for her, otherwise, his family will be hearing news about her (in general population) forever.