Battered Women’s Syndrome Plea and a Defendants Financial Dependence: Evaluating Legal Decisions

Tanya Mitchell frantically called 911 to report a shooting-a shooting she committed. In an act of self-defense against her abusive husband who, at the time, was threatening to kill her, she did what she had to do to save her own life. From her reports, her husband was not only abusive, but that he gave men in his “motorcycle club” permission to gang rape her-while he watched. Specific example of his sadistic abuse include him telling her they were going to get married while holding her at gunpoint, making her play Russian roulette, and even trying to rip off her nails. Her attorneys were going to use Battered Woman Syndrome (to take her psychological health based off of her abuse) as a factor in the case but were not confident it would

Working with victims of domestic violence can be an extremely rewarding and fulfilling endeavor. One of the most crucial aspects for a paralegal working with victim of domestic violence is adequately engaging in the task of educating oneself to understand the commonalities of such victims and the ordeals that they have been through. Such clients are drastically different from other individuals who have suffered other physical and violent crimes. Understanding the background of someone who has lived through domestic violence is absolutely central to being able to provide adequate and sensitive legal care. Most victims of domestic violence are women (95%) though domestic violence can have an impact on ever age, class, race, ethnic, cultural or religious group (purplerainfoundation, 2012). "In the United States, nearly one in three adult women experience at least one physical assault by a partner during adulthood (American Psychological Association, Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family 1996 Report)" (purplerainfoundation, 2012). These women are often terrified of their partner's temper, apologize when they are abused and often in the most extremely controlling and isolated environment where the abusive partner will control who the partner sees and where the partner goes outside of the home, jealous of outside relationships (purplerainfoundation, 2012). In these abusive relationships the women are hit,

The battered woman syndrome turned out to be recognized in Canadian courts in the verdict made in R. v. Lavallee. In the case, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized the battered woman syndrome inside the circumstances of spousal homicide. Before Lavallee in 1990, the legal prerequisites for self-defense in conjunction with the legal exploit of the phrase ordinary man to decide reasonableness failed to consider disparities in size and strength amid males and females plus the truth that battered women have encountered constant violence.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been prevalent throughout the years, specifically in the state of South Carolina. There are numerous accounts where the system fails the victim or the victim fails to receive adequate help, and kills their batterers. When this came into existence many legal justifications came about, including Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as a form of self defense. Before a final verdict is made in such cases, I feel that there are several factors that should be considered. These mitigating factors should include whether the victim tried to get help, and if so what all was done, whether the victim was awarded an order of protection from the offender and did they stay in contact afterwards, etc.

The Theories Behind Battered Woman’s Syndrome (BWS) Focus Questions 1. How has BWS been used in the legal system 2. What are some of the controversies around BWS Battered Woman’s Syndrome is a psychological theory which evolved in the late 1970’s, it was developed by Dr Lenore Walker, a leader in the field of domestic violence. In 1979 Walker conducted a study based on 120 random battered women in the region of Colorado, in order to develop ideas and possibly prove that there are similarities in the way that these women act due to their abuse.

Given, there is no true way to diagnose battered woman syndrome. It is a name given by a doctor who has encountered several women facing problems due to abuse in their homes. A woman facing chronic abuse would be safer using a PTSD plea. “This is not to say that a woman cannot be assessed for medical signs of physical trauma, however these physical signs are non-definitive of BWS, and could have occurred at any given moment.” (Dixon) There are several arguments that BWS does not exist. Some try to use BWS as a mental illness or an insanity plea. Clinical expertise use specific signs and symptoms to verify situations of abuse. These same signs and symptoms are visible in many given situations and not only those pertaining to BWS. In a study done on learned helplessness there was no sudden rage or aggression from the caged animals. So, why do these women claim that their helplessness caused them to harm another. “Further, and more importantly, there has never been any experiment demonstrating the phenomenon of learned helplessness in human beings. So, the entire argument for learned helplessness in battered women is pure conjecture, without any empirical support.” (Dixon)

In order for the Battered Woman Syndrome claim to be used expert testimony is essential. This is needed in order to give matter to the argument that justifies what the woman did. It is also needed because there needs to be an explanation of the Syndrome to juries, in away they can understand. Learned helplessness and other scientific knowledge need to be explained in order for the jury to understand. To understand what the woman is going through, what she was thinking at the time she committed the crime, and that she did it (murder her abuser) it because she honestly felt that it was the only solution in getting the “cycle of violence”. First, the women must show that she is able to prove either through her own testimony or through the testimony of other witnesses that she is a “battered woman”. She must then provide proof that the expert who she has chosen is qualified in the field. Some think that the defense based on Battered Woman Syndrome is an insanity defense, because of the experts who are brought in to explain the characteristics of the syndrome, psychologists or psychiatrists. Also because the word “syndrome” is often used to describe mental illnesses. “First her husband, now the courts”, is what one of the signs read at a march during

To begin, no I do not believe battered woman syndrome exist, there are women and men who have been raped and battered as well and do not go out and kill the wrongdoer. Whether it be male or female, an individual facing imminent danger has the right to defend himself or herself. A woman/or man who kills there souse hours after being beaten is murder. Instead of exiting the situation, they take the time to think which according to the law is mens rea, and then completion of the act, which is physical. To explain further, if an individual is perceptive enough to load a gun and shoot it, this situation is not paralysis it is clear thinking. In a state of paralysis, one should not be able to operate a weapon or think clearly enough to execute revenge. Why would the victim not apply this energy into an exit strategy?

The findings demonstrate that men commit battering against their current of former female partners much more often being victims of battering. The findings are consistent with findings from national crime survey data, revealing that women 's use force is often in self-defense, retaliation, or to express anger, stress or frustration, whereas men 's use of violence is often to control and exercise power over their partners. Thus, the motivation for violence differs between men and women. Furthermore, the damage caused by women when using force does not equal to that caused by men. Therefore, gender symmetry does not exist in domestic violence.

In an article written by Albert R. Roberts, a five-level classificatory typology specifying the duration and brutality of woman battering was studied by interviewing 501 battered women. Through the interviews, it was found that the length and severity of abuse ranged from short-term to chronic to homicidal levels. A number of differences were identified between short-term and long-term batterers. One of the major differences noted was that most of the chronic batterers and their victims consisted of mostly individuals with a low level of education as 40% of them were high school dropouts and the other 40% were high school graduates that did not pursue any tertiary education. Also, 39% of these individuals had low annual incomes or were receiving public assistance or unemployment compensation that was regarded as being at poverty level. Whereas, short-term batterers and their victims were either of the middle-class or upper middle –class that had either completed college courses or even graduated from college and had a decent annual income. The severity of abuse impacts the battered women negatively and often leads to high rates of medical issues as well as mental health problems that are of great risk (Roberts, 2006, 522).

Battered Women’s syndrome is a women being physically and psychologically being abused by their partner in a relationship. These women often continue to stay in the relationship despite being abused because either they are ashamed of what society might think of them and sometimes they are so in love with their abuser. These abusers easily reel them in with their sweet

Domestic violence occurs between family members; married or de facto couples and or their children. There have been cases where women have been subject to domestic violence and have killed their spouse, (R.v Heather Osland 1996). ‘Battered woman’s syndrome’ is a complex of psychological adaptations that lead women to kill, which can now be used as self-defence and provocation.

Domestic violence is often perceived as males projecting physical abuse to female victims which overlooks the psychological abuse that they also experience (Carlson and Worden, 2005). Jill is a domestic violence survivor who filed a restraining order against her husband. Jill remained with her husband despite being abused because she felt threatened to leave the relationship. Her behavior triggered battered-women syndrome. Battered- women syndrome refers to the male batter’s violent behavior patterns towards the female victims and her response towards the abuse (Walker, 1984b). This paper will show that women stay with their abuser due to the post-traumatic stress disorder, learned helplessness, and emotional intelligence.

It is common knowledge that Ray Rice used his wife as a punching bag in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino. What is truely remarkable is that his fiancé became his wife after that vicious left hook to the face left her unconscious. Why do women stay with men who beat them unconscious? Domestic violence is a serious and complex plague of society that affects all, but women make up the largest number of victims in most case studies. In the United States alone, '1.5 million women are raped or

Battered woman syndrome is a mental disorder that emerges within victims of long-term domestic abuse (Thomson Reuters). Around 4,000 women a year die at the hands of their abusers — 75 percent of them because they are trying to leave. For women, killing is often seen as a last resort  (Starre Vartan). An example of a battered woman syndrome case is the case is People v. Scott in