The Battered Person Syndrome: What Causes?

George Orwell said, “Of pain you could only wish one thing: that it should stop. Nothing in the world was so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain, there are no heroes.” Domestic abuse is a major issue in this country and world. However, the bigger issue is the long term effects any victim suffers from. Many persons suffer from an affliction known as Battered Person Syndrome. What is BPS? This condition is known today as, “a mental disorder that develops in victims of serious, longterm abuse” (citation #1). A battered person is very fragile. They are taught by their abusers that the offense being done to them is deserved. As if it is their own fault. Now, when someone suffering from BPS is still in an abusive relationship, and are put in

The injustice of abuse is all the more destructive when society punishes any victim out of ignorance and lack of knowledge. No one can fathom the torture that battered people have been through, and not to mention, have to suffer the effects of. Defenses of necessity, like self-defense, are based on the assumption that a person should not be punished for being in an impossible situation. Which is the exact opposite of what happened to Gaile Owens (citation #7). Gaile was a victim of domestic abuse from her husband. She hired someone to kill her husband because she could not bear to face him, or let her children know what kind of abuse he put her through. She was too afraid. However, the court would not accept that she was a victim of domestic violence, so she went to jail and was on and off death row for 20 years before they accepted the evidence of abuse. All Gaile wanted to do was protect the lives of her children and herself. Society can not be close-minded when it comes to situations like these. Situations compel actions. In violent relationships, the martyrs act the way they do, to defend themselves. The punishment they deserve is nothing, because have the not already suffered