University of Cambridge, UK.
Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol. 2021 Mar;65(4):346-372. doi: 10.1177/0306624X20936202. Epub 2020 Jul 2.
Attempts to uncover the "different voice" of female judges through testing the statistical significance of judges' gender in decision making have offered inconsistent results. Meanwhile, a proliferation of research suggests that such "voice" might be detected through qualitative analysis. Existing findings indicate that when female judges have discretionary power regarding case management, they will typically foster a process of settlement. Based on this information, I conducted eight months of fieldwork in China and observed 68 victim-offender mediations in four district courts. I found that the criminal division is widely perceived as a masculine setting, and female judges are accustomed to employing mediation as a preferred dispute resolution method to facilitate reconciliation between the two parties and seek civil compensation for victims. Such judicial behavior is a result of propaganda from the Supreme People's Court and a reflection of female judges' life and work experience. By contrast, a neglect of mediation among male judges can be identified in the same workplace. The belief that mediation is feminine and time-consuming contributes to this neglect. In addition, rape lawsuits are an exception for mediation. This explorative research not only represents one of the first efforts to reveal a "different voice" in the Chinese criminal justice system but points out a direction of research for studying the judicial behaviors of female judges worldwide.
试图通过测试法官在决策中的性别统计显著性来揭示女性法官的“不同声音”，但结果并不一致。与此同时，大量研究表明，这种“声音”可能可以通过定性分析来检测。现有研究结果表明，当女性法官对案件管理拥有自由裁量权时，她们通常会推动和解进程。基于此信息，我在中国进行了八个月的实地调查，观察了四个区法院的 68 起受害者与罪犯调解案件。我发现刑事庭普遍被视为一个男性化的环境，女性法官习惯将调解作为首选的纠纷解决方式，以促进双方和解，并为受害者寻求民事赔偿。这种司法行为是最高人民法院宣传的结果，也是女性法官生活和工作经验的反映。相比之下，在同一工作场所的男性法官则忽视了调解。调解被认为是女性化和耗时的，这导致了这种忽视。此外，强奸诉讼案是调解的例外。这项探索性研究不仅代表了揭示中国刑事司法系统中“不同声音”的首次努力之一，也为研究世界各地女性法官的司法行为指明了一个研究方向。
