A Jury of Her Peers

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Question 1: Although the actual trial of Hossack and the narrative of Minnie Wright occurred during different periods, a trial of Minnie Wright would have also resulted in an innocent verdict for Mrs. Wright. In both periods, women were generally viewed as not being capable of carrying out violent crimes. This perception combined with the fact that the evidence in both cases was circumstantial makes them similar enough to reasonably conclude that Mrs. Wright would also have been found innocent. During the beginning of the 1900’s women where viewed as being inferior to men both physically, mentally, and within the general construct of societal standing. Women lacked the rights of suffrage, property ownership, and a right to trial by their peers (as jurors of both periods were composed of white men), amongst other injustices. In having a jury in both instances composed of white men, one would assume that they in turn would bring their societal prejudices and period norms as a framework for determining the verdict. A white male jury would not have submitted to the theory that a woman of that period would have the mental fortitude to murder her husband, let alone the physical strength and endurance to successfully carry out the act. In A Jury of Her Peers, Minnie Foster Wright is a woman who has been arrested and sits in jail for the murder of her husband. Mr. Wright was found the day before with a rope around his neck in his own bedroom. Mrs. Wright claims someone entered the house as they slept and committed the crime. She did not wake up during the murder, but told no one after she discovered his lifeless body and was sitting in the kitchen when a neighbor, Mr. Hale, dropped and sees that Mrs. Wright is distraught and asked for her husband. When she gestures in the general direction of the bedroom, Mr. Hale proceeds to the bedroom to discover Mr.

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