A battered woman is a woman who endures repeated abuse at the hands of another individual, such as her partner. Battered women who commit intimate partner homicide normally kill out of fear. This is why either self-defence or battered women syndrome seems to be the appropriate path to take in court. However, neither option adequately reflects the situation the woman went through or helps the defendant in her case. Another factor is how the media covers these cases. Media outlets have found it more essential to attract more readers by shining these women in a negative light despite the situation they went through. As a whole, society is on the verge of being more sympathetic to the women who go through this ordeal. However, there still needs …show more content…
Women typically kill for a sense of security. This need to re-establish security can be from the abuse from their partner or other stressors, such as financial support. Economic studies have shown that financially and socially disadvantaged areas have higher intimate partner homicide rates (Diem & Pizarro, 2010). However, the second factor of this point is that this is seen in wealthy countries (Stöckl et al, 2013). Women in these areas might not have the social support such as women’s shelters to go to in these abusive relationships, leaving these women with the idea that homicide is the only option (Diem & Pizarro, 2010). It is seen that these women can also lack support from friends or family as well, whether they live in socially disadvantaged areas or not (Diem & Pizarro, 2010). In these cases the women have a hard time leaving their abusive relationship. When these cases are in court, social factors that aid in leaving the situation have typically undermined a defendant’s case. However, if more can be done to show how these women lacked these social structures both inside and outside the courtroom, there could be continued improvement both for their case and how society views these …show more content…
Similar to women in heterosexual relationships, women in lesbian relationships have a pattern of committing intimate partner homicide out of fear (Mize & Shackelford, 2008). For instance homophobia and discrimination both from family members and their community can add to the personal stress on the relationship (Mize & Shackelford, 2008). In these cases the women continue to lack emotional and social support, which the legal system seems to believe they have. What women in abusive lesbian relationships lack, is availability and safety in women’s shelters for same-sex relationships. Women’s shelters are more suited to stop men from accessing the victim’s location and information in heterosexual relationships rather than lesbian relationships. This is due to the difficulty in differentiating between the abused and the perpetrator in these relationships. A woman who is the perpetrator could easily pretend to be an abused victim and become a resident in the same women’s shelter as her victim, or could pretend to be the victim and access her records over the phone (Mize & Shackelford,
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.
Women are abused daily and sometimes, it gets so severe that they feel the only way to get out is to kill their abusers. In the past abuse was barely acknowledged. It was always kept in the home and not taken as seriously as today. It was not until the 1970’s that people started to realize what was going on behind closed doors. The pain and torture that these women endure, it’s no wonder that they may resort to such extreme measures. When women do come fourth, many times horrible things end up happening. If bruises and wounds aren’t bad enough, sometimes they are ignored. Unfortunately, it’s not taken very serious much of the time. Unless, the situation is severe, and even then sometimes, it’s still not enough to get the attention they so desperately need.
The issue with this syndrome is the extent of defining the syndrome in applying in courts during trial. There are ample theories on what is ‘Battered Women Syndrome’ but none of it provides any certainties in ensuring a fixed platform for judges or juries to base their decisions upon. Their decisions are heavily influenced with the basis of the law of
The most notable discovery or key concept behind intimate partner violence with women as victims, would be that the overall rates have seen a general decrease. As found in the National Trends in Intimate Partner Homicide report, "Spousal homicide rates for both women and men have declined between 1974 and 2000" (Bunge, 2002). Many of the authors discussed present different perspecti...
Mary Margaret Farren was the wife of a successful husband. Among other things, at one point J. Michael Farren served as Deputy White House Counsel under President George W. Bush. Mary’s husband didn’t only exude power in his public life, although that is certainly one thing he was known for prior to January 2010. At home, the Farren household was troubled with fear and intimidation. Mary never thought Michael would go as far as it took to physically assault her. He lived a life about ethics. At first, the abuse was verbal and emotional. “I was careful never to not to trigger it,” Mary said when discussing the “rage” that Michael had (ABC News 2015). On January 6th, 2010, the physical assault peaked. Michael attacked Mary in their bedroom,
Domestic violence can be described as any form of abuse towards a victim, whether physical, emotional, sexual, verbal, psychological, or economical. The stakeholders in such violence are the abuser(s), the victim(s) and the bystander(s), all of whom are affected in some form or another by the abuse. For further clarity, domestic violence in this discussion refers to situations where the principle stakeholders, i.e. abuser and victim are in a relationship, for example partners, co-workers or friends. Domestic violence affects all stakeholders, not only the victim but the abuser and bystanders, and it can be easily prevented.
Domestic Violence cases are very hard to handle. Whether you are a police officer,EMT, or first responders, lawyers, judges, and etc. These types of situations can be dangerous for the victim and the law enforcement agent working the case. With the long hours, and endless pain and stress that goes into working these cases, the dedicated officials carry the weight with them daily. As a law enforcement agent, their job is to protect and serve. Through research and interviews, with professionals in this field. How comfortable would you be coming into a home where someone’s life is being threatened, and you have no idea what the abuser has in the home? Are you willing to risk your life or family’s life to defend the a stranger’s life?
Domestic abuse is a significant and threatening issue in the United States. Sadly, the rates of this shameful violence are increasing. This violence is not limited to the privacy of relationships and homes, it occurs everywhere and in all relationships. Football player, Ray Rice portrayed an act of domestic violence when he punched his wife and knocked her unconscious on February 15 of 2014. Women are heavily affected by this abuse and it’s the leading cause of injuries on women. According to crime reports (qtd. in “Domestic Violence”), one woman is beaten by her husband or partner every 15 seconds in the United States. Also, according to a report (qtd. in “Domestic Violence”), domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States, more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. Domestic abuse is not simple, it has a historical context to it, it creates abusive cycles in relationships, and it links to economic statuses.
However, it is too often overlook that domestic violence may not only occur in terms of a man meting out violence against a woman but could also render a man as the victim too. Many times people turn their backs on male victims of domestic violence (Murray, S. & Powell, A. (2007). Due to the focus on violence against women, men lack a proper or even popular framework to fight domestic violence when it occurs that they are victims (Cruz, 1996). There is also a stereotype that only women can be victims of domestic violence. This makes it hard for men to open up and report when they experience violence from a partner (Cruz, 1996).
The continual efforts into providing support services and communal assistance have created crucial positive progression in the way it is dealt with, particularly regarding women. Understanding the circumstances how and why these fatal attacks occur has been the main concern of the governing bodies and communities, in order to help victims and deter further intimate violence. Although there has been extensive research in the field of domestic violence and consequently homicide, there is still great difficulty in assessing the different elements involved and therefore a great need to improve current information.
This typology involves either a passive woman who abuses due to an abusive male partner or a male-female couple who both equally abuse (Vandiver & Kercher). There are many issues involved with these typologies. The first issue is that the male becomes primarily responsible for the abuse instead of the female. In the situation of a passive woman whose abusive partner forces her to abuse, the victims of the abuse are most often their own children. In situations of domestic abuse, most women worry about the safety of their children or others before their personal safety. This makes it difficult to believe that a woman, even under severe abuse, would harm her children. In the case of a team who takes part in the abuse equally, when coupled with the idea that women are not physically capable of violence, the male gets burdened with the responsibility for the crime. The titles of the typologies themselves place the largest emphasis on the male and hence unconsciously place the responsibility of the crime on the male partner. Comparatively the male typologies use a more gender neutral term, “gang rape,” which makes all participating offenders responsible for the crime regardless of their level of participation. The criminal justice system overlooks these female offenders because of the idea that they
People outside of a relationship, and who have never experienced the trauma of intimate partner violence, have a tendency to blame the victim for staying under a belief that it should be logically simple for the victim to leave such a relationship. Those relationships do not begin with violence but they end that way; the partner finally leaves, dies at the hands of the batterer, or in some cases kills the batterer. Intimate partner violence can happen to anyone, yet is something widely known to happen to women and is a large health concern for women globally (Bartol et al., 2015). Therefore, to reduce the violence from occurring addressing the societal perceptions and attitudes towards intimate partner violence is a necessary step since blaming the victim is still extremely common (Gracia, 2014). Within societies changing laws in respect to women, subjugated laws had assisted different forms of intimate partner violence to, at the time, be considered cultural
Domestic violence is not just fighting, hitting or an occasional argument. It’s a chronic abuse of power. The abuser of domestic violence, controls and tortures the victim of threats, intimidation, and physical violence. Domestic violence is one of the leading causes of violence in America. The abusers are not only men, women can be abusers as well. Women make up the vast majority of domestic violence. According to the American Bar Association (ABA), 90-95% of domestic violence victims are females and 70% of intimidating homicides are females. Domestic violence is a serious crime and everyone needs to be aware of its effects. This essay presents and explains the evidence supporting the major risk factors for intimate partner homicides.
Gender-based violence has been recognized as a large public health problem as well as a violation of human rights worldwide. One out of three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in another way at least once in her life (www.infoforhealth.org). The abuser is usually a member of the family, introducing the difficult problem in that the abuse usually happens behind closed doors, and is often viewed by cultural norms and legal systems as a family matter rather than a crime.
Domestic abuse and other aspects of criminology have begun to take on a gender specific language. Criminologists use terms like woman abuse and femicide, terminologies like this have put an easy label on our focus of women as victims but have also consequently caused a neglect of the awareness of men as victims of certain crimes. a gender specific look at victimology is important when researching how to help victims cope and how to help protect potential victims but to study males and females as exclusive populations, as if they have no commonalities is comparable to doing the same to victims and offenders and can only be done in blatant ignorance of the available empirical