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Conclusion about battered women syndrome
Conclusion about battered women syndrome
Conclusion about battered women syndrome
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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. Dowd states in his article, “The Battered Woman Defense” It’s History and Future, that essential to the existence of domestic violence is the denial of the equality of women in cultures that perceived this denial as both acceptable and lawful.”(1) In Roman times a husband was permitted to use reasonable physical force, including blackening her eyes or breaking her nose, in disciplining his wife. (Dowd) Today, many men still continue to use this type of physical force to control their woman even though equality should exist between the two. Many women are in abusive situations and at times feel they are trapped in their own body. A man raping his wife has only been considered illegal for roughly the last fifteen years and that’s only in a few states. Other states require evidence or other types of pro... ... middle of paper ... ...autiful creatures and deserve everything life has to offer. When gathered together, nothing can destroy the strength of a woman. Guidance from parents, at a very young age, can help mold the minds of the young children in today’s society. This world has become overpopulated with greed and hate. The only way to get past the hatred and violence is to love thy neighbor, and protect our young from the unnecessary violence that can be eliminated with love for one another. Works Cited Dixon, Joe. An Essay on Battered Woman Syndrome. Copyright 2001-2007 Dowd, Michael. The “Battered Women Defense” It’s History and Future. Published 2008-03-26 The Four Stages of Battered Woman’s Syndrome. www.marriage.laws.com/domestic-violence/battered-person-syndrome Walker, Lenore. www.selfdefense-4-women.com
In her 1979 book "The Battered Woman", Dr. Lenore Walker first came up with what is now known as battered woman syndrome. Put simply, battered woman syndrome, or BWS as it is sometimes called, is a group of psychological symptoms that are easily recognized in women who have been physically, sexually, or psychologically assaulted by their domestic partner. According to Dr. Walker, "Battered woman syndrome presents evidence that the syndrome is part of a recognizable pattern of psychological symptoms called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reported to be produced by repeated exposure to trauma such as the physical, sexual, and/or serious psychological assault experienced by battered women" (Gelles 133). Because battered woman syndrome is considered to be in the same category as PTSD, it does not have its own classification in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders third edition, also known as the DSM-III.
A nuclear family is described to be a family unit composed of parents and their children; this smaller family structure is subject to great stress due to the intense, close contact between parents and children. In other words, a nuclear family is a family consisting of a mother, father, and their children. They are usually distanced from their extended family. A broken home is a home in which one or both parents are absent due to divorce or separation; children in such an environment may be prone to antisocial behavior. A child, whom in which their parents are separated, may be antisocial because of trying to cope and to understand why they were abounded or no wanted. Battered child syndrome is nonaccidental physical injury of children by
In the movie Provoked, Kiranjit Ahluwalia is a victim of Battered Woman’s Syndrome because she has hallucinations, believes that she was at fault and portrays learned helplessness throughout the movie.
Finally, the movie says that women, first of all, should rely on themselves and not submit to any kind of domination. They should simply support themselves by their own efforts instead of letting someone else arrange and control their lives. The movie also demonstrates how a girl possessing the virtues of honesty, patience, prudence, industry, and obedience can be rewarded with a husband and the attendant better life and higher social position.
Like many syndromes, BWS has several general characteristics that can be associated with a battered woman: “the woman believes that the inflicted violence is her fault, she perpetually fears for her life/lives of her children, and she has an irrational belief that the abusive party is omniscient and omnipresent” (“Battered Woman Syndrome Defined”). Even after a battered woman is freed from the cycle of abuse, treatment will be needed to extensively guide the victim back to a safe reality. Women who are diagnosed as “battered” would have to had experienced the full cycle of stages during the abuse. The beginning stage involves only moderate encounters that consist of small fights and arguments. The following stage is an eruption of physical and verbal violence which then leads into the very calm period that is
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
In this article author, McColgan explains many reasons why battered women go to the extreme of killing their abuser. She references some cases where battered woman have killed their abusers because they hit back in the midst of the physical attack, responded to verbal threats by the abuser, used force in the aftermath of the attack or in anticipation of another one, while others were motivated by feelings of revenge. McColgan argues in this article that “self-defense whether at common law or under section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 should be more often considered as a possible defense even in those cases
Long before its enactment on September 13, 1994, the foundation for the Violence Against Women Act was being constructed. More than 140 years ago, members of the U.S. government were working to end the injustice of violence against women when, in 1871, Alabama was the first state to make it illegal for a man to beat his wife (U.S. Department of Justice, 2010). In 1967, one of the first domestic violence shelters in the country opened its doors in Maine; and from that time until 1994, progress slowly but steadily continued. Within the next 10 years, the first emergency rape hotline opened in the nation’s capital, and Pennsylvania alone established the first state coalitions against sexual assault and domestic violence, and was the first state to pass a regulation for orders of protection for battered women (U.S. Department of Justice, 2010). Sexual and domestic violence protection was enacted on a national level when, in 1978, The National Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence were formed.
The Battered Woman Syndrome, like the Cycle Theory of Violence, helps to illuminate the situation of the person victimized by domestic violence. However, it may also contribute to the violence of the battering situation. In this paper, I explore some of the implications of the Battered Woman Syndrome for domestic violence cases wherein an abused woman kills her abuser. I begin by delineating some of the circumstances of a domestic violence situation. I then discuss the particular moral issue of subjectivity or moral personhood involved in instances wherein a woman victimized by domestic violence responds by killing her batterer. Finally, I argue that the Battered Woman Syndrome and similar alternatives to or qualifications of self-defense are problematic because they strip a woman of her moral subjectivity. I conclude with a brief articulation of a proposal for reform of the criminal justice system specifically aimed at cases wherein there has been a long history of abuse or violence. This reform is unique because it does not rely on a separate standard of reasonableness particular to battered women, but arises out of consideration of the moral implications of legal proceedings involving domestic violence.
Domestic Violence is a pattern of behavior used to authorize power and control over another human-being through fear and intimidation, also including the threat or use of violence. Although there is no direct explanation for domestic violence the effects of domestic violence can be fatal for all who are involved.
In 1991, Governor William Weld modified parole regulations and permitted women to seek commutation if they could present evidence indicating they suffered from battered women's syndrome. A short while later, the Governor, citing spousal abuse as his impetus, released seven women convicted of killing their husbands, and the Great and General Court of Massachusetts enacted Mass. Gen. L. ch. 233, 23E (1993), which permits the introduction of evidence of abuse in criminal trials. These decisive acts brought the issue of domestic abuse to the public's attention and left many Massachusetts residents, lawyers and judges struggling to define battered women's syndrome. In order to help these individuals define battered women's syndrome, the origins and development of the three primary theories of the syndrome and recommended treatments are outlined below.
been applied not just to women showing the battered syndrome, but to many situations and
The male is often found in a non-confrontational position, causing the woman to look even guiltier. The woman is brought to court in order to state her case as to why she is being accused of killing her husband. The woman usually takes the plea of Battered Women Syndrome as self-defense for her actions. As of 2004, battered woman syndrome statistically is the “most widely used self-defense plea by abused women who kill their abusers” (Wallace, 1749). These self-defense claims are troubling because the facts of these cases do not conform to traditional ideas of self-defense meaning that “typically the term self-defense conjures up images of a defender who is backed against a wall and facing imminent death, strikes out at the last moment to kill the attacker” (Faigman, 626). A battered woman however, often kills her abuser after an attack has ended or when no immediate danger is present (Faigman, 627). This is where the case becomes problematic because although the harm may not be “imminent by objective temporal measures, disagreement exists as to whether battered women’s subjective perceptions of imminent harm can be deemed reasonable” (Wallace, 1749). In this essay, I will explain why I believe that although domestic violence is terrible, Battered Women Syndrome is not a justification of self-defense in a legal
Domestic violence (DV) affects men and women everywhere, yet we only hear about the women’s cases. There is sexism when it comes to domestic violence cases; the women are treated as a priority, whereas men have almost no choice but to keep quiet. Plagued by the ideas and stereotypes of society, they are trapped in a world of hurt in fear of being emasculated, meaning them feeling like less of a man; yet even when they do come forward, the way we react and treat them is humiliating and never what we give to women.
SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME PHYSICAL FORCE HAS BEEN USED TO KEEP SUBORDINATE GROUPS IN THEIR PLACE BY DOMINANT PEOPLE IN SOCIETY. MEN HAVE ALWAYS BEEN PHYSICALLY LARGER THAN WOMEN AND SINCE MOST SOCIETIES ARE MALE DOMINATED, TOO NO SURPRISE THE WOMAN HAS ALMOST ALWAYS BEEN THE MOST COMMON VICTIM. IN ROMAN TIMES, A MAN WAS ALLOWED TO DIVORCE, CHASTISE, OR EVEN KILL HIS WIFE FOR ADULTERY, ATTENDING PUBLIC GAMES, OR PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS. ALL OF WHICH THE HUSBAND WAS ALLOWED TO FREELY PARTAKE IN. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES IT WAS MANS RIGHT TO BEAT HIS WIFE OR KILL HER FOR SO MUCH AS GIVING HER HUSBAND A DIRTY LOOK. THE FIRST RECORDED ADVOCATES AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE WERE TWO AUTHOR BY NAMES OF CHRISTIAN PIZAN AND MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT. EVEN THOUGH THE ISSUE WAS BEING PUB...