Crime after Crime: A Documentary

831 Words2 Pages

In the documentary Crime After Crime, Deborah Peagler suffered abuse from her intimate partner through her life. The abuse started in High School. When her mother introduced her to Oliver Wilson, his charming personality fooled everyone. Oliver forced her into prostitution to make money for him. When she refused, he beat her until she promised to sell herself. The beating gradationally evolved to bull whipping. In addition, all of this occurred during her junior and senior year in high school. Oliver felt it was his right to have ultimate control over Deborah, this fact is generally accepted in the society (Belknap 247). The male dominance, male authority over women is something taught to young children. It is sought to be the place of women to wait for the husband by the door when he comes home. The male masculinity fact kicked in and it drove him to force his dominance over Deborah into physical abuse. When Deborah refused to do his bidding, he felt it was necessary for him to show her who is in control by beating her. This is the message sent to young boys of past generations and a bit less for the current one through media and entertainment.
Oliver kept Deborah in check through violence and the use of physical threats. They entered the honeymoon period after Oliver impregnated her. Deborah felt safe and believed the abuse would be over. However, the honeymoon period did not last long, and the abuse worsened (Herrera, 2013). This is a cycle of violence domestic dispute. Often the victim of the abuse would forgive the abuser during the honeymoon period, only have a short period of peace. Tension would build up in the relationship and a violent release of anger by the abuser. This cycle can go on for years. The victims are oft...

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...m would still defend the abuser and argue with the police. From the outside, all of this would make no sense. The abusers breaks down the victims psychologically over time, the victims would believe the beatings are their fault. This is unacceptable. However, the abusers usually come from abusive homes. He is merely doing his part to keep the abusive chain, where he learned through childhood experiences.
It appears that Deborah’s mother is the one responsible for hiring the gang members to go see Oliver. The mother thought Oliver was a nice young man introduced him to Deborah. If nothing else, this should teach parents a lesson not to meddle in their child’s life. The mother suggested getting the local gang to help Deborah to end Oliver’s abuse, which resulted in his death. Although it is tragic that Deborah put in this situation, she is not the first, or the last.

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