It has long been argued that joint trials are disadvantageous to defendants, but this claim has not been tested in regard to subgroups of defendants such as women. This chapter examines the legal institution of trying two or more defendants together in the same trial. Analysis of the statistics for women tried in the upper courts of colonial Western Australia indicates that, although co-accused status was generally favourable for female defendants, the effect was mediated by the category of offence, and women accused of violent crimes were less likely to gain an advantage from joint trials. These findings differ from recent research for the general population of defendants tried in joint trials. While overall, women tried injoint trials multi-defendant trials were found to have a greater chance of acquittal than solo defendants, this advantage was mediated by the type of crime involved. Women who were tried for interpersonal crimes were disadvantaged by the presence of aco-accused status" \r "TEBK8950 co-defendant, who were invariably male. Case studies are used to show the types of crimes for which women were indicted and which of those were more likely to be acquitted.