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battered women's syndrome Comparing and contrasting
battered women's syndrome Comparing and contrasting
battered women's syndrome Comparing and contrasting
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Battered Women Syndrome
The Battered Women Syndrome is a series of characteristics in women who are physically and psychologically abused by an important dominant male in their lives. These women learn helplessness and dependency; sometimes these characteristics originate from childhood. According to Dr. Lenore E. Walker, a woman must experience two cycles, before she can be labeled a “battered woman”. The two cycles are called the “cycle of violence”. This cycle leads to the feeling that the abuse will never stop. It almost becomes natural. Sometimes the relationships will be calm, and the abuser will apologize for what happened. This part is called the “honeymoon cycle”, but at other points in the cycle the tension and arguments just soar all the time (divorcenet.12-3-00). After years, the cycle starts to go quicker. At this point, the woman starts to feel trapped, because she would go through these cycles more than once a day. At some, certain point, she will have to act out in what is legally considered “self-defense”.
Stereotypes of battered women will always be around. Many people wonder why don’t the wives or girlfriends just get help?, why don’t they tell someone?, or just get up and leave. People fail to realize that leaving an abusive relationship can make matters worst. Some can’t leave because she is financially dependent or they have children, and/or their mates threaten to kill her and her children or take her children away. A real mother would never leave her children, in any situation. The prosecutors usually always bring up these stereotypes of battered women. In some situations the woman will leave, but staying out is hard for her or he makes it hard for her. Once the woman leaves he w...
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...drome testimony is offered in a self-defense trial to shed light on the reasonableness of the defendant’s behavior (Gillespie 159).”
Bibliography:
Works Cited
Kandel, Minouche. Moving away from victim blaming: Challenging the notion of “Battered Women’s Syndrome.”, Lifeline; Support Network for Battered women’s Newsletter, 1997, http://www.snbw.org/articles/BWS.html
Family Law advisor Home page. Family Law advisor articles: What is battered woman’s syndrome?, LawTek media group, LLC, 1999, http://www.divorcenet.com/or/or-art02.html
Gillespie, Cynthia, K, Justifiable Homicide, Ohio State University Press Columbus, 1989.
Sloan, Irving, J, The law of Self-Defense: Legal and ethical principles, Oceana Publications Inc, London, Rome, New York, 1987.
Winters, Paul, A, America’s Victims: Opposing Viewpoints, San Diego, Greenhaven, 1996.
Domestic Violence is a widely recognized issue here in the United States. Though many people are familiar with domestic violence, there are still many facts that people do not understand. Abuse is not just physical, it is mental, emotional, verbal, sexual and financial. Many victims of physical abuse are also fall victim to these abuse tactics as well. An abusive partner often uses verbal, mental, emotional, and financial abuse to break their partner so to speak. It is through this type of abuse the victim often feels as though they are not adequately meeting their partner’s needs.
Battered women constitute one of the most marginalized groupings in the social order. Their relationship incidents occasionally put these individuals into disagreement with the law, particularly when they murder their violent partners. The Battered woman syndrome (BWS) was created by clinical psychologist (1970’s) with an intention of depicting the series of occurrences that physically abused women frequently experience in their relationships.
In this paper I will be telling you many different forms of domestic violence. I will include the physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, spiritual abuse, economic abuse, social abuse, and emotional abuse. I will also describe the "cycle of violence", teen dating violence, and why women stay with an abusive partner.
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.
Stark (2006) would suggest that thirty years of research has failed to produce a consensus as to what constitutes a case of domestic violence considering that 90% of women who report the abuse have no physical injuries. Methods of coercive control do not meet the criminological viewpoint rather, control extends to financial, emotional, and psychological aspects of subjugating the partner thus no physical violence occurs. If only violent means are reported, then the reported number of victims would perhaps change thus creating a more gender symmetrical pattern. Until operational definitions are defined throughout the disciplines with consistency then there will continue to be discrepancies and opposing views. However, integrative theories of feminist views are being explored which investigate the intersection of not only male dominance as a form of oppression but the use of race, class, national origin, age, sexual orientation, and disability and their impact on intimate partner violence as stated by McPhail and colleagues
An abused woman is always faced with a number of different choices from which she may consider, with regards to seeking help or ending the relationship with a variety of alternatives, the woman knows each decision involves a variety of risks. Time after time, the common question arises, “why doesn’t she just leave?” This question can be answered by analyzing the psychological effects domestic abuse has on women. Many women are unable to cope with the emotional and psychological stress of domestic abuse and resort to violence and extre...
The Battered Woman Syndrome (BWM) is a syndrome whereas women react in a certain manner because of repetitively physical or psychological abused imposed on them by their mates. The Battered Woman Syndrome (BMW) is not limited in one area or location it is a problem that is occurring all over in the world (2009, pg. 148). Like every other issue in the world criticism come into play by psychologists and others when someone claims that they are victims of the Battered Woman Syndrome or the Battered Woman Defense when they are taken to trial for killing their batterers (BMW) (2009, pgs. 162-163).
The research is divided into four parts to better illustrate each individual topic and to provide for a more clear understanding of the material. The first analysis describes Battered Women's Syndrome and gives background information on its origin. The second part of the research affords case examples of battered women's trials, the defenses used, and the resulting verdicts. The third segment produces data on newly developed defenses and how they would help women justify or excuse their actions. The final portion of the research presents some of the different views held by supporters and critics of BWS. The conclusion of the research is based only on the data that was collected and provides some personal explanations for the problems facing battered women today.
Domestic violence can affect anyone. Domestic violence is a pattern of behavior used to establish power and control over another through emotional attack, fear, and intimidation. Domestic violence or battering, often, includes the threat or use of violence; this violence is a crime. Battering occurs when one person believes he/she is entitled to control another. Domestic violence affects people in all social, economic, racial, religious, and ethnic groups; whether the couple is married, divorced, living together, or still dating. Another reality is that abusers and their victims can be gay, strait, young, or old. Violence develops from verbal, physical, emotional, financial, and sexual abuse. Most domestic violence victims are women by men, but that doesn’t suggest that others cannot be battered or are perpetrators of abuse -- such as women on men, or same sex abuse. Battering or domestic violence, is now mutual and it is not a ‘couple’s quarrel’. Disagreements arise occasionally in all relationships, but battering involves every aspect of a relationship. While physical violence is the “enforcer” or the criminal act, other behaviors erode the partner or victim’s sense of self, self-determination, and free will; this is ultimately lethal for many women.
People do not fully understand domestic abuse as much as they should. It is not simple and the different forms of it needs to be explained more often. “Domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. It includes physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, and emotional abuse” (“What is Domestic Violence?”). These types of violence can range from mild to severe. Mild abuse includes pushing, grabbing, shoving, or slapping a woman. Severe abuse includes kicking, choking, beating or using a weapon on women.
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.
First I would like to address the definition of Battered Woman Syndrome. Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) is a condition often used by the defense in cases like this one to relieve the defendant of some or
Domestic Violence Statistics states, “Around the world, at least one in every 3 women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime” (1). The United States Department of Justice defines domestic violence as, “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner” (para. 1). Domestic violence is a crime that numerous citizens fall victim to in every country. Anyone can be a victim of domestic violence regardless of race, gender, sexuality or religion. Being a victim of domestic violence can affect a person’s way of life permanently and the way these victims interact with other people can become a difficult task and can eventually affect their future. Domestic violence is substantially wrong because it can cause drastic permanent effects in a person’s life, can cause physical, emotional and intellectual damage, and affects a child’s state of mind of what is normal and what is not if they are in a domestic violent atmosphere. While women are usually victims of domestic violence, men are victims of this crime as well. The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney states that, “According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, men account for approximately fifteen percent of the victims of reported intimate partner crimes” (Clark County Prosecuting Attorney, par.1). Physical, emotional, economic and physiological abuses are all forms of domestic violence that many people would consider to fall under another crime. There are many crimes that many citizens commit, but domestic violence is one of many that should not be taken lightly.
Historically, domestic violence was viewed as only involving physical abuse. However, the more contemporary view of domestic violence has come to include not only physical types of abuse; but as well as emotional, sexual, physiological, and economic violence that may be committed
Battered husbands have historically either been ignored or subjected to ridicule and abuse. Even those of us who like to consider ourselves liberated and open-minded often have a difficult time even imagining that husband battering could take place. Although feminism has opened many of our eyes about the existence of domestic violence, and newspaper reports often include incidents of abuse of wives, the abuse of husbands is a rarely discussed phenomenon.