Week 7 Gender, Battering and Law (Social Norms and Law) Flashcards
Historical Context
Efforts to control battering are not new
The Temperance Movement was supported by women trying to control battering
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were advocates for better control of the problem
From 1920-1980, though, police were unwilling to intervene
Why? - The public-private divide. The continuing belief that men were responsible for all of the punishment and discipline inside the home and that police were only responsible for crimes that happened outside the home
Reluctance to Intervene
Homes were considered private
Perception of danger to officers
The belief that the problem was just about calming down
Sometimes, a belief that she did something wrong
Concern over wasted time
Even if there is an arrest, it won’t end the abuse
“Why Doesn’t She Leave?”
Police, and most raised in our culture want to know
Often there is a good reason
- custody threats
- economic dependence
- social isolation that further complicates economic dependence
- fewer places to go than we imagine
- threats against her physical safety or her kids’
- the statistically real danger
Research: Take 1
Battering was measured by injuries serious enough to send someone to the hospital
The first efforts to study battering found
- perpetrators are overwhelmingly male (90+%)
- Victims are overwhelmingly female (93% of serious injuries)
- Three-stage pattern
- tension building
- acute incident
- honeymoon
Research Take 2
Later research found that battering was gender neutral
- men and women are equally likely to commit the offense
- had to do with the measurement strategy (its completely different from Research 1)
- Conflict Tactile Scale (This measures offensive and defensive violence exactly the same way)
- defining “violence” to include nagging and embarrassment
Which methodology makes more sense to inform policy, do you think?
Research 1 since the behavior is unlawful and injury-producing so you are arresting the people who are causing harm and not the people who have been harmed
Three common police responses
Counsel the couple (yell at the couple and say don’t make me come back)
Separate the couple (One or the other packs an overnight bag and goes to a friend or relative house for the night and in the morning hash the problem out)
Arrest the man
Sherman and Berk and the Minneapolis Experiment: Which response is best?
- found that arrest cut recidivism in half
Social expectations change
Feminists and other publicize the Sherman and Berk findings
Tracey Thurman captures national audience
- Thurman vs. City of Torrington
Mandatory Arrest policies sweep the nation
DV may be the most common call for service
Mandatory Arrest requires that if certain criteria are met, someone MUST be arrested
- This was the first indication that this unique form of assault would be treated as serious crime
But, some problems emerged
Over-arrest of women
Mandatory arrest deters some women from calling the police
Replications of the Minneapolis Experiment could not reproduce their finding (did not find recidivism is cut in half result despite replicating the experiment 9 times)
Some data even suggested that mandatory arrest increased the risk of injury to woman
The arrest had the opposite effect where women feared the police and the legal consequences and after the first time no longer called the police
Current national policy
Not mandatory, but pro-arrest (aka presumptive arrest)
- One study auggests ANY police response reduces future battering
- Another found that since the
mandatory arrest was implemented, there are fewer domestic homicides
Current outcomes when making an arrest (not good at all)
- obviously, there are more cases reaching the courts
- 51% are dismissed
- 5% not guilty
- 44$ convicted
The factors of whether or not a guy was convicted were:
- The number of times a prosecutor and victim met
- Victim’s willingness to provide testimony
FActors not related:
- Whether or not the victim was forced to testify
- The severity of the beatings of injuries
If the victim was strangled at any point it predicted a greater number of days for probation
Non-police responses
Restraining Orders
- Process
- Strengths (Will get punished if the offender violates)
- Weaknesses (It’s still just a piece of paper, and puts the burden on the woman to find out how to do it. The process is confusing and if economically dependent will not complete the process. Police don’t want to enforce.)
(toolbox of tools and need to know which option to use on which day for a certain purpose)
Contempt of Court avenues- can give jail time if violated the restraining order. Says the guy makes an offense against the court. Quick path to jail.
No Drop Prosecution Policies- Subpoena the victim and force her to testify in court and she could be arrested in court. This is to break the cycle of the man finding another victim.
- Issues with forcing someone to testify in court against someone they love as to why they shouldn’t be free
Battered Women Who Kill
In self-defense law, our ideas for when women are authorized to kill are different from when men are authorized to kill in its implementation not its text
Battered Women Who Kill
Battered Women’s Defense, insanity defense
Often no successful
CJS is notorious for harsh after but fails to help before
Intimate Murders
Men are more likely to kill an intimate partner than women are
- Intimates account for 40-50% of murdered women
When women kill
- They often receive life, even with a clean record
- Protection of children is a driving force
- The woman believe it is obviously done in self-defense
- Most cases result in a conviction with an appeal
Their children go to foster homes
Women who kill vs those who don’t
Killers are most likely to
- Have abusers who physically or sexually assaulted the children
- Perceive a more immediate sense of danger
- Have received death threats
- Been terrorized with a weapon
The woman’s options usually are in the mind state of killed or be killed and have exhausted all their other options
Battered Women’s Syndrome
Must involve expert testimony to establish 3 criteria
- Cycle of violence
- Leanrned Helplesness
- PTSD
Some concerns about BWS
- PTSD or BWS both imply mental illness
- Conceptualization as an illness is problematic
- Mental health label has implications for custody
- Requires outside experts to validate her experience
- Many women do not fit this template
