The Controversial Concept Of Battered Woman Syndrome

According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The National Institute of Justice, one in four women in the United States has experienced domestic violence during her lifetime (Battered Woman Syndrome, 2012). This type of abuse can be fatal and detrimental to one’s personal growth. When woman are repeatedly abused, they show different signs, symptoms and general characteristics. These characteristics are defined as Battered Woman Syndrome.

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

Ladies and gentlemen, please note that guidelines for the use of Battered Woman Syndrome state that testimony claiming that the defendant is suffering the effects of BWS should be taken with a grain of salt.

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

The laws of BDS are kind of confusing. In many states is now recognizable in legislation

This began to change in the 1980s, as women’s groups were organized locally and internationally to demand attention to the physical, psychological, and economic abuse of women (p.369-370). Domestic violence is a serious social issue that happens to many women in our world today. This type of abuse is not declining but continually rising on a daily basis. There have been issues in the past with the way these cases were being handled. Today, there has been some improvement concerning the laws that have been enforced in order to protect women from this type of abuse. There has been extensive research done on this issue in the past concerning domestic violence. Over the last ten years there have been a number of surveys on domestic violence that have been published from around the world.

In 1979, psychologist Lenore Walker discovered that the majority of abusive relationships follow a similar pattern that cycles itself. This cycle could happen over any period of time but will almost always repeat itself a multitude of times. Lenore Walker’s cycle is not the exact same for all abusive relationships, some are much worse, but many share the same three stages which are tension building, incident, and honeymoon/calm. All three stages are fueled by constant denial from the victim. The cycle of domestic violence is a traumatic psychological sequence that millions of people of many different cultures and nationalities are tragically stuck in.

In my third article by Lenore Walker discusses Battered Women and the impact caused on them from martial abuse that had led to Battered Women to be diagnosed with PTSD from the level of beatings, and constant abuse they took from their partners over the time of the relationship. Walker discusses five major areas that negatively affected with the women’s coping skills they are manipulation, dissociation, anger, intimacy, and compliance. When she was assessing women of the PTSD like symptoms she had come to notice a few things about the women, that lead to diagnose them with PTSD as the symptoms, as well as what triggered the responses are the same across the board for all those diagnosed with PTSD. She noticed that many of the victims would minimize the trauma or even deny it happened from the very start which is a common coping method that she had pointed out in her article. She also noticed that some of the women would almost go into a sort of trance like state in which they would gaze

By comparing the overall scores of each questionnaire given, the researchers confirmed their hypothesis. The results of this study showed that PTSD and major depressive disorder was high among the battered women. Additionally, in the scores of those women who with PTSD and depression, learned helplessness was also highly correlated. The PTSD group had higher scores on all of the conditions measured (depression, learned helplessness, severity of abuse and male dominated backgrounds)

The standards of women and their rights have changed vastly over the years. In the 1800’s women were subject to whatever treatment a man felt necessary. Self-defense was not heard of and women did not dare stand up for themselves. In the modern age of today women have the right to be treated just like everyone else is, with respect. Although women have more rights in today’s society and have the right to stand up for themselves that does not mean abuse does not happen. Shocking statistics show that 1 woman is beaten by their partner approximately every 15 seconds in the United States alone and 1 and 3 women who are victims of homicide were murdered by their abusive partner. There are many laws against spousal abuse and abuse against women in general. Once the laws are put into action then comes the legal defense used in court. Battered Woman Syndrome is a physiological condition just like depression or mental insanity. It is a real condition that women suffer from because of long term periods of physical, physiological, and emotional abuse by there loved ones typically spouses. Many debates come from the topic of BWS and whether it should be a legal defense in court or not. Battered Woman Syndrome is a condition that is severe and should be accepted as a legal defense in court just as every other physiological defense is. Battered woman syndrome (BWS) is a mental disorder that develops in victims of domestic

Walker’s Battered Woman Syndrome sought to explain the actions of an abuse victim who fought back and killed her attacker in the process. It suggests that a woman in this situation was justified in killing her abuser as a result of the circumstances she found herself in. This meant that any woman had tools with which to defend herself in the courtroom, and that any reasonable woman would use force in such circumstances when presented with the opportunity. It was an instinctual response to a

In 1979, Lenore Walker published The Battered Woman which became instrumental in addressing abused women (Bartol & Bartol, 2012). Lenore E. Walker is a leading authority in partner abuse, Walker coined the term cycle theory of violence (Wallace & Roberson, 2014). Walker’s book provided an academic look into lives of abused women while also debunking myths associated with abused women (Rutherford & MacKay, 2013). She also developed the battered woman syndrome; the syndrome discusses two aspects of the dynamics of abuse, the cycle of abuse and learned helplessness (Rutherford & MacKay, 2013). This cycle of abuse does not discuss the cause of IPV but rather the dynamics of this type of relationship (Wallace & Roberson, 2014). Prior research conducted on other theories related to the cycle of violence have found results similar to Walker’s findings (McMahon, Hoertel, Wall, Okuda, Limosin, & Blanco, 2015). Walker claims the abuse is cyclical and consists of three different phases (Wallace & Roberson, 2014).

The Battered Women Syndrome is a series of characteristics in women who are physically and psychologically abused by an important dominant male in their lives. These women learn helplessness and dependency; sometimes these characteristics originate from childhood. According to Dr. Lenore E. Walker, a woman must experience two cycles, before she can be labeled a “battered woman”. The two cycles are called the “cycle of violence”. This cycle leads to the feeling that the abuse will never stop. It almost becomes natural. Sometimes the relationships will be calm, and the abuser will apologize for what happened. This part is called the “honeymoon cycle”, but at other points in the cycle the tension and

According to Walker's The Battered Woman Syndrome (p. 95-97, 1984), there are four general characteristics of the syndrome:

The term battered women refers any women that is driven so far they kill their significant other from enduring years of agonizing psychological and physical abuse from their significant other. Today the term battered women is associated with a self-defense argument as a means of elaborating on the circumstances of the defendant (Claus 978).