The use of mercy in the criminal court was described by Douglas Hay as “the discretionary element of the law.” This chapter examines the use of mercy and leniency in women’s trials in colonial Western Australia and the manner in which it was used by those in positions of power in the court room. Male judges and juries drawn from the land-owning classes determined the fate of the mainly working-class women tried in the upper courts but had the capacity to dispense mercy to defendants. The research indicates that juries did exercise their prerogative to recommend mercy when they felt that women were deserving of it. Women received leniency in the form of mercy riders (recommendations to mercy) or partial verdicts (conviction of a lesser crime) from the jury for reasons such as family responsibilities, youth, or provocation. Judges also exercised leniency in sentencing and women who were able to present a persona of respectable femininity, or young women accused of infanticide, were more likely to receive a lenient sentence.