[KS] punishment of women in Choson

[Jisoo Kim]

Dear Deberniere,

William Shaw's *Legal Norms in a Confucian State* has a section on "Women
and the Law" (pp. 101-6). Also, 백옥경, "조선시대 여성폭력과 법: 경상도 지역 <검안>을 중심으로,"
한국고전여성문학연구 19. She also explains women's punishment based on the *Great
Ming Code*.

As Sun Joo suggested in her email, I also do not agree with the statement
you highlighted: "that the Choson state was more lenient toward women as
criminals, since they were considered subject to and therefore less
responsible than men." I don't know where you got this information, but I
think this statement generalizes women's punishment in the Choson. Women's
punishment depended more on what kind of crime women of different social
statuses committed. For example, if a woman murdered her husband, she would
receive harsher punishment than a man. It would be more helpful to think
about in what context and what kind of punishment women committed in your
research. You could then refer to the legal codes or court rulings to
examine what punishment they received.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Jisoo

On Thu, Feb 5, 2015 at 1:47 PM, Clark W Sorensen <sangok at u.washington.edu>
wrote:

> Deberniere,
>
> The University of Washington Press has issued a translation of the Ming
> Code (translated by Hang Yonglin) that might speed up your research.
>
> Clark Sorensen
>
>
> On Wed, 4 Feb 2015, DeberniereTorrey wrote:
>
>  Dear Members:
>> I'm trying to track down an authoritative reference for a claim that I've
>> come across in several scholarly sources (both English and
>> Korean), none of which gives a citation for this information: that the
>> Choson state was more lenient toward women as criminals, since
>> they were considered subject to and therefore less responsible than men.
>> The statement fits my understanding of Choson values and
>> legislation, but I have yet to find a specific reference. Deuchler's
>> Confucian Transformation briefly mentions cases of leniency toward
>> yangban women, but goes no further. I've read that the Ming code was
>> somewhat lenient toward female criminals, placing them in the
>> custody of family members rather than in jail, and I understand the
>> Choson criminal code was based on the Ming code. I've also checked
>> Women and Confucianism in Choson by Pettid and Kim, as well as the recent
>> Wrongful Deaths by Sunjoo Kim, but haven't found specific
>> reference to the above topic in these sources. Any help would be
>> appreciated.
>> Thank you,
>> Deberniere Torrey
>>
>>
>>
>>


-- 
Jisoo M. Kim, Ph.D.
Korea Foundation Assistant Professor of History, International Affairs,
and East Asian Languages and Literatures
The George Washington University
801 22nd St., NW, Suite 315
Washington, DC 20052
Tel: 202-994-6761
Fax: 202-994-6231
E-mail: jsk10 at gwu.edu
http://departments.columbian.gwu.edu/history/people/111
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