The concept of family violence, tied in with mental illness is highly contentious and arguable. When reading about the Luke Batty case, I was firstly shocked and later confused. The whole situation is terrible and I feel remorse for everyone who was affected, especially Rosie. On the surface this case appears to be black and white, however when you dig deeper there’s a lot more to it.
Rosie suffered for several years due to Greg, dealing with verbal/physical abuse and life threats. Some would question why Rosie stayed with him. From my own experiences, I have a witnessed a friend who was in a relationship, arguably similar to the one that Rosie and Greg shared. He was verbally abusive and extremely manipulative and controlling. My friend,
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In Greg’s case, I don’t think he had this and I don’t think that Rosie was strong enough to force Greg, as she feared his reaction. I think that Rosie did everything she could do to try and get help to protect her family when getting intervention orders and making reports to the police. This required braveness and courage. When put into the hands of the police, it makes me question why the police didn’t do anything to stop him or to prevent this from escalating. I originally shared Appelbaum’s (2003) views when he asks a good question, ‘must authorities charged with protecting public safety wait for violence to occur before intervening?’ However Merkel (1993) shaped and challenged my opinion on this. I originally thought that if someone is dangerous and threatening peoples life, why wouldn’t you just put him or her in prison? I never thought about, is this person a risk to society? How high is the risk they pose? Or how long is their sentence going to be? And if they did go to prison why would they be any different when they came out? Understanding the multi-faceted sides to risk assessment has made me step back and question my opinions. I have never been in a criminal situation or even known someone in one and therefore feel as though my initial response is always one that is naïve and
The staggering truths about domestic violence are evident in every town, city, state and nation! Furthermore, it is a criminal offense that does not discriminate against color, creed, gender, or socioeconomic status! Marcy was all too familiar with the horrific dangers of this crime. In fact, domestic violence took Marcy through her own private hell and learning the difficult lessons of life, including the ones that no one discloses. At the budding age of nineteen, her first true love, Barry, was promising marriage with the hopes of starting a family. Barry was charming, romantic, and completely devoted to Marcy! He seemingly was the perfect man, the man of her dreams, and the man who evolved into a monster. Marcy was criminally beaten and mentally broken! Moreover, Marcy is one of the millions who have fallen prey to these devastating and horrendous acts of violence. The following research will inform you of the staggering statistics, the predicting indicators, including battered women’s syndrome, the tactics of abusers, and the laws against domestic violence.
In the article, “In Death, Florida Family Reveals a Spiral of Domestic Abuse,” the children portrayed in this story had shown many of the signs listed above, and yet, no one intervened. Lizette Alvarez and Frances Robles wrote about the horrific abuse that had plagued the whole household in a small Florida town. In Bell, Florida a woman by the name of Sarah Spirit, 28 years of age would constantly call the police on her father who she claimed was brutally violent and that she was terrified of him. The uniqueness about this story is that the abuse was not between a husband and wife, it was between a father and daughter and her six children. However, as stated previously, domestic violence can be any form of abuse between two people in the household.
While there is no official agreement that battered women’s action of killing their abusers should be justified, people need to understand that battered women are in different positions with relation to justice than defendants in general cases of homicide. Perhaps, victim advocates, the judge, attorneys, psychologists/psychiatrists, and social workers from women’s shelters should consider alternative approaches, such as creating a more comprehensive system to review and assess past cases where battered women have been convicted of killing their abusers from a legal, medical, and psychological perspective. Although it may not be practical to alter the law, it is possible to amend the legal system to support those battered women who deserve more freedom from their abuse with fair judgments.
The question raised in the Hawthorne v. State amicus was related to the expert testimony of Dr. Lenore E. Walker, a Clinical Psychologist with extensive involvement in the study and research of “battered woman syndrome.” Amicus indicated Dr. Walker’s testimony would provide the Trier of facts with expert opinion on a battered woman’s belief that resorting to the use of deadly force against her husband was required, if the woman had perceived imminent death or bodily hard to herself and/or her children. Dr. Walker would clarify battered woman’s syndrome to the jury including clarifying all the relevant stages, cycles of violence, symptoms and reasons why women choose to stay with the abuser.
There are two main models in the criminal process, the crime control model and the due process model. The crime control model focuses on repression of crime in a speedy and conclusive way. The use of “presumptions of guilt” speeds the process up because very little evidence is needed against the suspect for them to be considered guilty. In this model, it is believed the laws should be stricter, the police force should be increased, and the sentences should be more intense. The due process model has more steps and is more dependable. It focuses more on investigation and finding all the facts. This model pays attention to the person’s rights and liberties as stated in the and the limited powers of the government. The due process model also takes mental illness into consideration, whereas, the crime control model does not. In The Brothel Boy, Mr. Blair used the due process model. Mr. Blair did not think the brothel boy should be as harshly judged and persecuted for his actions because he did not know any better and did not know what he was doing, he was “just like an animal.” Dr. Veraswami, contrarily, uses the criminal control model. He thinks the brothel boy should be treated as everyone else would, and should be hanged for what he did (Packer).
The purpose of this research paper is to prove that criminal law in America has failed to provide a defense that adequately protects women suffering from Battered Women's Syndrome. Battered Women's Syndrome, or BWS, is a very complex psychological problem facing criminal courts today and has caused great debate on whether or not it should even be allowed in the courtroom. Although the syndrome has been given more consideration as a warranted issue by society, those who create our laws and control our courtrooms, have not developed a defense that sufficiently protects these women. United States courtrooms, instead of protecting battered women, have put these women on trial and found them guilty of murder.
Welton, Nathan. “Mentally Ill Are More Likely To Be The Victims Of Violence.” The Tribune [California] 19 Mar. 2006: n. pag. NewsBank Special Reports. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
George Orwell said, “Of pain you could only wish one thing: that it should stop. Nothing in the world was so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain, there are no heroes.” Domestic abuse is a major issue in this country and world. However, the bigger issue is the long term effects any victim suffers from. Many persons suffer from an affliction known as Battered Person Syndrome. What is BPS? This condition is known today as, “a mental disorder that develops in victims of serious, longterm abuse” (citation #1). A battered person is very fragile. They are taught by their abusers that the offense being done to them is deserved. As if it is their own fault. Now, when someone suffering from BPS is still in an abusive relationship, and are put in
Domestic violence and abuse takes place within family-type intimate relationships and forms a pattern of intimidating and controlling behaviors, which overtime escalates (Dennis, T. 2014, p 1). It can also cause physical psychological or sexual harm to these relations as well (Gul & Faiz, 2013). Domestic Violence according to Fairtlough (2006) is “the misuse of power and the exercise of control by one individual over another, generally by men over women, with whom they have been in an intimate relationship. It assumes a wide range of abusive physical, sexual, and psychological behaviors.” Dennis argued that domestic violence has become a serious societal and public health issue and is a major risk factor for psychiatric disorders
Markowitz, F. E. (2011). Mental illness, crime, and violence: Risk, context, and social control. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 36-44.
Violent behavior by men against their family members were traditionally considered private matters. We recognize public violence as being morally wrong or socially destructive. Domestic violence and child abuse are two forms of private violence that were more or less immune from public scrutiny and considered inappropriate for "outsiders" to intervene in unless the problem reached extreme proportions.
Paddock, Catharine, PhD. "Mental Health Disorders Linked to Domestic Violence." Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Since the police officers have a lot of say in dealing with calls and crimes, they all vary in their approaches to doing so. For instance, one officer may think a call is not as important as another, while a separate officer may decide the first call was more serious and he/she may respond to that one first. This is the same problem with whether or not to use force. There are many factors that affect not only the officer’s decision to use force, but also the criminal’s choice of actions. If an officer is being rude or discriminating against a suspect, then that suspect may act in a more vicious manner. This could result in the officer deciding to use force. All officers may see a threat differently, resulting in different disciplinary actions. The use of force rules vary in different police departments. This is concerning to some because the citizens may feel that they are not being treated as equal as others. Other issues include illegitimate investigations, spying, which could result in an unfair judgement of individuals that result in the officer’s use of force (Walker 1993, 24). Some officers will report an unfounding crime, which affects the true data of lowering the official crime rate (Walker 1993, 24). These issues are occurring in society today and are common topics in the news. Citizens want to know how we can better our systems to create a safer environment for
There are many sad scenarios that come to mind when thinking about the victims of domestic violence. With this particular issue, the victims are impacted mentally and physically. A situation that comes to mind is one of a little boy hiding under his bed. He is in a neighboring room and can hear furniture moving and screams of his mother in agonizing pain. He understands that he is too small to intervene on his mother’s behalf and too scared to confront his father. What is he left to do? The young boy calls 911 with the hopes that they could step in and end his mother’s pain. The boy’s father repeatedly abused his mother and insisted that she stay in her place and never considers ending the relationship. This fictional situation is one that occurs everyday in every corner of our country. Domestic violence incidents in 2005 accoun...
Fisher, B. S., & Lab, S. P. (2010). Family violence. In Encyclopedia of victimology and crime