Dissecting Axes of Subordination: The Need for a Structural Analysis
13 Pages Posted: 26 Mar 2013
Date Written: November 02, 2002
Abstract
Proceedings of a criminal trial in Dallas, Texas, demonstrate the vulnerability of LGBT individuals to judicial bias. Although the jury convicted the defendant of murdering two gay males, the judge explained his light sentence: "I put prostitutes and gays at about the same level, and I'd be hard put to give somebody life for killing a prostitute . . . had [the victims] not been out there trying to spread AIDS, they'd still be alive today . . . These two guys that got killed wouldn't have been killed if they hadn't been cruising the streets picking up teen-age boys . . . I don't care much for queers cruising the streets. I've got a teen-age boy." An investigation by the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct cleared the judge of any wrongdoing. This Article analyzes the problem of judicial bias as a structural matter, and it encourages legal scholars to resist treating it as an atomistic or individualized phenomenon.
Keywords: judges, judicial bias, multidimensionality, subordination, LGBT, race, class, gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, institutional bias
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