In 1990, Brenda Koss shot her husband, Michael, while he slept and killed him consequently. Brenda Koss and a number of other witnesses testified about Michael’s ongoing abusive behaviors toward her. The Ohio Supreme Court recognized BWS as a defense in a criminal case. The Koss case is an example of how the law and perception on BWS evolved. In 1981, the state high court had refused to allow the admission of any evidence on BWS, believing that it had not yet been scientifically validated to sufficient extent. However in State v. Koss case, the court found that the professional literature and psychiatric understanding of BWS had very much improved; therefore, the court reversed itself and held that expert testimony on BWS could be admitted in a trial. The Court held that evidence of BWS was admissible through an expert testimony to help prove an element of self-defense —that is, Brenda Koss had a bona fide belief that she was in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that her only means of escape was the use of force (Bettman, 2011). This case illustrates how the court changed its opinion and perception on BWS as the public started to understand more about BWS and battered women. Unlike State v. Stewart (1988), BWS was positively used to support battered women’s acts of self-defense. Shortly after the Koss case was decided, the legislature passed a law recognizing and validating BWS; it permits the use of expert testimony in support of the defense. Weiand v. State, 732 So. 2d 1044 (Fla. 1999) Kathleen Weiand shot and killed her husband Todd. At trial, Kathleen’s defense was BWS; because of Todd’s abuse, she had no choice but to kill him, fearing that if she did not, he would eventually kill her. Defense expert Dr. Len... ... middle of paper ... ...iew system for battered women to achieve their goals without negative effects. 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 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.
When Mathews heard Clinton begin to yell and hurt Donna through the phone, he called the police. When the police arrived, they noted the disheveled state of the house and the accused’s head injury. Note that, according to Dr. Kim Lenore, a BWS expert, the accused was at the fourth stage of BWS, in which the woman has already realized that she is not at fault for the abuse she is receiving and begins to realize that there is a way out and that she can find it. At this point, however, the defendant lied to the patrol officer and claimed that her injuries resulted from a fall. Dr. Lynn Johnson, Yale Law professor and psychology expert, agrees that this “excuse … is characteristic of the guilt stage. The defense can’t have it both ways.” If Donna had really been undergoing BWS in the way that she and the defense’s expert witness, Dr. Lenore, had claimed, she would’ve had no qualms against telling the police the truth and having Clinton arrested for domestic abuse. She didn’t do this because she had already planned her own way
The battered woman syndrome is more of a psychological issue so sometimes the judges may have a hard time understanding the underlying causes that lead to the victim making the choice that he or she did. At times it would not be allowed to be used in
To discuss the role of the battered women’s syndrome in relation to how characteristics of a victim affect legal decision-making it is important to define what battered women’s syndrome is. Battered women’s syndrome is the array of physical and psychological injuries exhibited by women who have been beaten repeatedly or otherwise abused by their partners or spouses (Dutton & Painter, 1993). More specifically women feel helpless or a lack of control and do not leave their abusive partner. According to Russell, Ragatz, and Kraus (2012) Lenore Walker (1984) theorized that battered women experience a three-phase cycle of abuse through learned helplessness: 1) the tension building up to the abuse, 2) acute battering and abuse escalation, and 3) remorse for the violence exhibited by the abuser toward the victim. She argued that battered women believe that the abuse they withstand was their fault, and as a result, stay in the relationship.
Even though self-defense is not a 100% solution to violence against women, it helps to reduce rates of recidivism. Physical and emotional disadvantages make women vulnerable to their human counterparts. Although is considerable the number of female violence by strangers, women that suffer abuse is in most cases by their partners. In both cases, the law does not have an effective strategy to prevent the problem, and it is very complex in cases of domestic violence because the victim is involved emotionally. In 2008, about 500 women were assault every day in the U.S. Additionally, children that grow up in a violent environment can be severely affected throughout their lives. The result of this
Historically, domestic violence has been a devastating social problem affecting individuals from every segment of the American society irrespective of race, class, age, religion, sexual orientation, nationality and economic status. Although, men to a smaller extent experience domestic violence, it is usually understood as a women 's issue; which inadvertently affects children. Approximately, 85 to 95% of victims are females (Laney, 2010). Every 9 seconds in the United States, a woman is assaulted or beaten (National Domestic Violence Statistics, 2014). 72% of all murder-suicides involve an intimate partner and 94% of the victims of these murder suicides are females. Moreover, 9.4% of women in the United States have been raped by an intimate partner in their lifetime (National Domestic Violence Statistics, 2014). Intimate partner violence
The changes in criminal justice response to domestic violence have increased the number of arrests. Yet Stark explains that the probability that an arrest will lead to a sentence remains minimal (p. 79). The number of violent attacks on women by their partners is about the same today as it was before the domestic revolution, but the frequency of minor injuries has increased rapidly (p. 79). Stark explains that at the heart of the domestic violence revolution was the acceptance of a particular type of violence and victimization. Although this made the domestic violence revolution successful in the ways outlined above, it also failed to encompass the experiences of women outside of these narrow
How battered women are socially stuck in an abusive relationship and how this affects the way they are treated through the criminal justice system.
In closing, the legal system has been moderately effective in achieving a just outcome for victims of domestic violence, despite it attempts to protect victims and reflect the values and ethics of society. Ultimately, further reforms are required in order to deal with domestic violence as statistics show that domestic violence rates are increasing, however, the legal system has endeavored to reduce the impacts of domestic violence on victims.
When viewed from a strictly medical, psychological aspect, Andrea Yates medical history indicates that after the birth of her first child, she began to suffer from various forms of depression and suicide attempts. If one only examines the paper trail and doesn’t think beyond what the medical history does or does not indicate, then perhaps, Andrea would be innocent by reason of mental insanity as the 2006 acquittal suggest. However, when viewed form a legal aspect there are several inconstancies that challenge if this former nurse was insane or if she in fact premeditated the murder of her children as well as her acquittal.
Domestic Violence is a critical issue negatively impacting women in the world today. There has to be something done to prevent this type of abuse from happening. The results of my research revealed that there are many victims that do not know the type of help that is available and there needs to be major improvement in the way domestic violence cases are handled. Based on my findings, awareness and prevention programs should be implemented in every state in order prevent this type of abuse from happening over and over. Also, each program must be monitored to ensure they are following the proper guidelines in order to better serve the victims and their families.
The battered women's movement highlighted the different ways in which the credibility of women gets attacked in courts. Women are not being treated as victims but are often questioned as if they were the perpetrators. The credibility of women is assessed by their sexuality; women with many previous relationships are seen as promiscuous and wanting the harassment, assault, or abuse. “Activists insisted that women on witness stands not be grilled by their sexual behavior” (Schechter, 300). This reform with institutions is necessary to prevent women from once again being victimized by the courts. Credibility of women is also assessed by their education and socioeconomic background. Women with higher education and a higher socioeconomic background are seen as more likely to tell the truth. They are not fabricating lies about their harassment, assault, or abuse. This dependence on education and socioeconomic backgrounds led crisis center to train women to become legal advocates (Schechter, 300). Credibility is also assessed by whether there was someone else to corroborate their claims (Schechter, 300). The sole word of the woman was not accepted as the truth, someone else needed to have witnessed the harassment, assault, or abuse the woman claims happened. This led to the introduction of battered woman’s syndrome in courts. Women were now portrayed as victims who suffered from long
There are many cases where self- defense has been used as a plea where the victim felt they were in harms’ way or unable to escape a specific situation that ended badly. The definition for self- defense is: 1. Defense of oneself when physically attacked 2. Defense of what belongs to oneself, as ones work or reputation 3. (Law) the right to protect oneself against violence or threatened violence with whatever force or means reasonable or necessary. According to an expert on battered women, a woman must experience at least two complete battering cycles before being labeled a battered woman. (Walker) According to Dowd, “he believes the proper use of BWS assists the fact finder to understand the state of mind of the battered woman at the time she fought back against her abuser.”(1) Women should be able to use BWS as a plea when habitual abuse occurs within a relationship with a significant other and results in violence or worse death.
Research has shown that there is a growing positive outcome of advocacy, law enforcement, prevention, intervention, resources, and protection. (Sacco et al., 2015). While grant programs have been utilized and resulted positively for battered women, it also has been made known that no one wants to be against battered women. (“Problems with VAWA,” 2012). Some opinions remain that there are underlying issues not being resolved while still spending immense amounts of money. The ongoing effort to strengthen victim advocacy and expedite helpful resources is ever growing. Since 1994, the policy has continued on a journey of helping battered women, their families, and a broader basis of sexual offenses to enforce with more appropriate punishment. It has acknowledged modern day ideals of including other minority oppressed groups; such as, trafficking victims, immigrant victims, Indian tribes, and same sex intimate partners. The policy presently includes many avenues for battered persons and families to gain resources and strength to rehabilitate from violence and also enforcing stricter laws for appropriate punishment towards its offenders. I hypothesize that the reauthorization of this act will continue to grow, make revisions, become more diverse, and change the social consciousness towards battered persons and their
On one side, domestic violence can affect women directly, but on the other side there can be consequences towards their children and other bystanders can get killed. Consider, the children of a couple experiencing domestic violence “since they lose one parent to the murder, the other parent to jail, and [they]often have to leave their parental home and adjust to a new environment in which they might be labelled as the child of the murderer”("Understanding and Addressing Violence Against Women: Femicide”). For this reason, domestic violence does not only affect the couple, but can leave damaging psychological and emotional consequences to their children who had nothing to do with it. Therefore, together women can impede domestic violence from converting into femicide and protect their children by advocating for protection laws and reaching out to people that can help guide and recover women from this horrible