...•The Illinois appellate court, citing a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, says that "Perhaps we could never succeed in intelligibly defining the kinds of matter we understand to be embraced within the shorthand description of battered woman's syndrome." Why not? Would you be able to formulate an effective legal description of "battered woman's syndrome"? If so, what would it be? I entirely agree with the statement given by the Illinois and a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. We can never successfully define battered woman's syndrome few sentences formed by words. Battered woman's syndrome involves much more than objective words. The elements of battered woman's syndrome involves violence and physical and emotional distress caused by the violence. One...
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...The Sustainability of BWS under Philippine Laws (A Position Paper) The case of People v. Genosa in 2004 was a landmark case that allowed for the Philippine laws to recognize a kind of self-defense that is exclusively for women. The recognition of Battered Women Syndrome (BWS) was not only considered a triumph for Women and Children’s Rights advocates but it was also an implied recognition of the insufficiency of laws protecting the rights of women and children in the country by the highest court of the land. Thus, three months after the promulgation of the People v. Genosa Decision, Republic Act No. 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act (AVAWC) was enacted. I. The Status of Women Experiencing Violence in the Philippines Abuse of women in the Philippines is not a new issue. Reports of violence against women have consistently been present in data gathered by concerned agencies and advocate groups. In 2008, the Philippine National Police reported 6, 905 and in 2009, a total of 9, 485 cases of violence against women respectively. Table 1. Cases of Violence Against Women Reported to the Police, 2008-2009 |Classification of Offenses |2008 |2009 |08-09 Inc/Dec | | |Number |Percent |Number |Percent |Number |Percent | |Rape |811 |11...
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...Stephens In the case of the US versus Dominique Stephens, I played the role of the court reporter. In a real case I would’ve documented every word that was spoken in that courtroom. During the mock trial however, I assisted in helping the defense and prosecution build their cases. The case was tough, but having a strong defense and prosecution really cleared up some foggy topics. On June 17, 2009, at 10:32 p.m, Dominique Stephens, had called the police letting them know that she had shot her husband, Donovan. The police arrived and found her husband’s dead body face down on the ground under a blanket that had 3 bullet holes and was covered in blood. Dominique was arrested after confessing to shooting her husband and pointing to the pistol near the bed. When she arrived at the police station, Dominique wavered her right to remain silent, until the detective wrote a statement. She signed the statement and the prosecution charged Mrs. Stephens with the First Degree Murder of her husband Donovan Stephens. After confessing, however, she asserts through her attorney that it was an act of self-defense and that she is suffering from Battered Woman Syndrome. She claims that the lives of her and her kids was in imminent danger. Statutory law claims that, “Whoever, being of sound memory and discretion, kills another purposely, either of deliberate and premeditated malice or by means of poison... is guilty of murder in the first degree.” Case Law states that, “An...
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...pattern of violence in an intimate partners relation and the subsequently depression and suicidal behavior of the victim. And most of them exhibit the Battered Woman Syndrome (Strucke & Hajjar, 2010). But what exactly cause this syndrome, it is a mental illness or a learned behavior passed down generationally. First we have to understand...
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...Capitalism and Patriarchy’s Effect on Battered Women’s Syndrome and Abuse Introduction Domestic violence has existed for centuries and is still prevalent in present day society (Flowers, 1996: 131). Domestic violence generally involves violence towards women and children (Sev’er, 2007: 235).This generally includes physical, sexual, verbal, and emotional violence directed towards a spouse, girlfriend, wife, or partner (DeKeseredy, 2005: 234). One of the debates surrounding domestic violence is the legitimacy of battered women’s syndrome. There are arguments over whether or not battered woman’s syndrome is a justifiable defence or just an excuse (Fumento, 1996: 158). The aim of this paper is to justify the legitimacy of Battered Women’s Syndrome, or BWS for short. I will look at the history of violence to better understand the credibility of BWS as well as why it is discredited. I will analyze how the patriarchal capitalist society we live in affects the views regarding BWS and abuse. The purpose of this section is to understand how the patriarchal capitalist society attempts to protect male status by discrediting the validity of spousal abuse and BWS. Definition and History Battered women’s syndrome results from a pattern of abuse from a partner (Barnett & LaViolette, 1996: 158). Spousal abuse has had a long history, and has grown since the middle ages (Flowers, 1996: 131). Social scientist Friedrich Engels noted that spousal abuse began “with the emergence of the...
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...when these women are forced to kill to obtain freedom, they find themselves confronting even more victimization from the legal system. Lenore Walker, a psychologist who researched the violence women and children suffered, wanted to explain the cycles of domestic violence that were outside the normative standard of the mean. She wanted to walk the layperson through the plights and inhumane treatment that some of these women and children suffered and through sympathy, compassion and understanding gather support for their dilemma. Therefore, the idea was to apply the concept of learned helplessness to help educate the publics’ awareness and to dispel stereotyping and myths. The term applied to this defense was the Battered Women’s Syndrome used in cases where a woman kills a male in an attempt to survive....
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...Behavior Source BSHS/311 January 28, 2012 Michael Phillips Behavior Source of Help This past week’s assignment asked me to visit with a program facility that deals with human services that use behavioral tools and cognitive behavior approaches to the issue the clients face. This past week I visited the Battered Woman's Shelter of Paulding County, Georgia. This group houses woman and their children if they have any. They come from homes where there was abuse that took place. The abuse considered is verbal, mental, and physical. Sometimes only one takes place and in other homes all three forms of abuse takes place. There are 159 people currently living at this facility. The program is run by West Ridge Church. Like I mentioned before it is only for women and children if they have them. The counselors that work with these woman and children are certified through the state of Georgia and are on staff at West Ridge Church. They let the church know of the program but the facility is hidden and not everyone knows where it is located. The goal of the facility is to let the woman and children know that they are not the one in the wrong and help them through the treatments to realize this. Not all the clients work and heal at the same time so the process varies on the person and the situations that they came from. They have therapy both group and single for the women and children and there is also therapy to grow through as a family. The children of the facility all get to...
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...Department Responses to Battered Women: Resistance to Medicalization Author(s): Demie Kurz Source: Social Problems, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Feb., 1987), pp. 69-81 Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of Social Problems Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/800730 Accessed: 16-09-2015 04:38 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Oxford University Press and Society for the Study of Social Problems are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Social Problems. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 165.193.178.74 on Wed, 16 Sep 2015 04:38:26 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Emergency Department Responses to Battered Women: Resistance to Medicalization* DEMIE KURZ, PhiladelphiaHealth ManagementCorporation to "-the injuryof womenby husbandsand medicalresponses "battering are Reformers attemptingto restructure boyfriends-by encouraginghealth care personnelto identifyand intervenein cases involvingbatteredwomen...
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...Jodi Arias Articles These are some of the essays that I have written about the Jodi Arias trial. Many more to come. JODI ARIAS TRIAL: SECOND EXPERT WITNESS, ALYCE LAVIOLETTE UNDER SCRUTINY Alyce LaViolette is the second expert witness called by the defense in the Jodi Arias trial. Ms. LaViolette has a Masters degree and has worked since the 1970s in the field of domestic violence. She has been described by some as being a man hater. For instance, attorney and radio host Jenny Hutt, in her appearance on the Dr. Drew show, referred to Ms. LaViolette’s testimony in the following way: “I feel like she`s just a man hater…she`s clearly prejudicial, and she just reads that she doesn`t like men.” This criticism, valid or invalid, is also present in professional critiques, couched using terms such as “feminist perspective” and even extends to the personal reviews that can be found on Amazon.com. One reviewer, asked the question “did she ever meet a man who was not an abuser?” Obviously, the impression of Ms. LaViolette, as being a man hater, is legitimate in the minds of many people. She has left that impression with many readers and viewers of her work. This is not to say that Ms. LaViolette is a man hater, just because a number of people think her so. That would be unfair. It would be fair to say this. Her behavior, her writing, her court testimony, has left a significant number of people with the impression that she is a man hater. I don’t know if she is a man...
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...associated with each role, and what are the goals of alternative sanctions? Finally, the student will discuss personal recommendations regarding victims’ rights. The main role of the prosecutor is to get a state conviction in criminal proceedings. At times of private practice, present a case in defense of the victim and other parties wronged by a criminal. Also, the prosecutor must prove without question that the defendant is the one at fault. The prosecutor at times, seeks to resolve the case with a plea bargain. The plea bargain is a prosecutions best tool. The plea bargain closes the case as quickly as it opened, and the prosecution team gets win without having to rely on a jury or argument. The main role of the defense attorney is to come to the aid of the accused and provide a competent defense or defenses to prove the innocence of the accused. During the plea bargain the defense attorney is trying to get the best deal for the client being represented by the defense. The plea bargain is a good tool for the defense as well. Even though the pea bargain can count as a lose the defense attorney secures two objectives with it. First objective is the defense attorney lightens the case load for him or her self. Secondly, the defense attorney secures possibly the better deal for the client instead of battling with the prosecution and getting a much harsher sentencing. The criminal is the defendant that has a failed defense, incompetent defense attorney, or both. The accused...
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...that there are only government run support groups for female victims and male batterers, but not the other way around. This stems from the ideas depicted in the blue pill mentality, which states that men are always the oppressors and women are always oppressed. The idea that men are inherently violent is also attached to this, with the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime citing “poor communication skills and lack of spirituality” (CRCVC 2). They also claim that the cycle of violence, involving the tension building, acute battering, and tranquil phases, is male-centric. An account that combats the idea that men are only irrationally violent comes from a Reddit thread, titled “Men of Reddit who were victims of domestic violence by a woman, what’s your story?”, in which user Unoitsso speaks about her husband’s ex-wife and says, “Her first attempt at his life, was over him eating a candy bar from her stash. She stabbed him with a screw driver and pushed him down the stairs” (Reddit). This irrational action is just one example that proves that anger is not only present in males. Another example of the inequalities men face is the lack of support for men in shelters run by the government, with 90% of them forbidding men and boys over the age of twelve. As of 2018, there...
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...perpetrators to control and obtain power over their partners. Domestic violence crosses ethnic, racial, age, national origin, sexual orientation, religious, and socioeconomic lines. The majority of victims of domestic violence in heterosexual relationships are women. One out of every three adult women experiences at least one physical assault by an intimate partner during adulthood. African Americans experience domestic violence at a high rate in comparison to their numerical representation in the population. Although domestic and sexual violence occurs in all socioeconomic classes, socioeconomic disadvantages do increase the risk of the incidence of violent crimes. In intimate partner violence cases of spousal assault, power balance is an important risk factor. Among domestic violence cases, husbands who have (or feel that they have) less power than their wives are more physically abusive toward them, because of the perceived lack of power in other areas of their lives. Although there are different sociological theories about the process through which a society recognizes and addresses social problems, the constructionist theory (also known as interactionist theory or collective behavior theory) provides a useful framework for understanding this process (Blumer, 1971). The term domestic violence has had many meanings over the past 20 years. It is commonly associated with wife beating or spousal...
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...The Public Needs to Know: Domestic Violence Shelters Domestic Violence Shelters Today in America we face a challenging crisis called Domestic Violence (DV). Everyday there is another case where a woman has been challenged by this issue. The rapid demand for domestic violence shelters has increased over the last years. Domestic violence shelters are used to help woman move on from violent situations and into a positive environment. Bethlehem Haven, is a non-profit organization that has many services to offer women to help them start fresh. Over the last few years the need for DV shelters has almost doubled. The process to join a DV shelter will have a significant impact on a woman’s life and benefits are endless. Census In 2013 NNEDV had a count for both women and children that were victims of domestic violence. This census documented all the number of both children that were affected by domestic violence in a 24-hour period. During this documentation the noted the types of services that were requested and successfully fulfilled and also the unmet requests. According to DV counts in 2013, 2424 victims were served in one day, 1168 domestic violence victims (618 children and 550 adults). Out of the 2424 victims that were affected by this crisis 1259 weren’t in need of shelter but were taken to receive counseling and legal advice. The children were also referred to programs to help them cope with the situation. Unfortunately not all requests for assistance can be...
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...behavior relating to the methodical blueprint of power and control. Domestic violence comes in many forms but not always seen by the naked eye. Domestic violence constitutes forms of physical abuse, psychological abuse or even death that can be seen by other family members possibly causing a continuous cycle of abuse for generations to come. Facts and Statistics It is hard to grasp the notion that somewhere in the world every nine seconds a woman is being beaten or assaulted. On average, 85% of victims of domestic violence are women and 1 in every three women will endure some form of domestic violence in their natural life. Sadly enough only one fourth of all victims who have been physically assaulted by an intimate partner will actually report it to the police, implying that official statistics will never justify the full scope of the problem. The average age of a female victim who is at the greatest risk of harm by an intimate partner is between 20 to 24 years old. Domestic violence is the primary source of harm to a woman over all other possible harmful circumstances she will encounter. As if domestic violence isn’t already difficult enough for women to endure in an intimate relationship, if she has a male child who witnesses these assaults he is now two times more likely to abuse his partner or children as an adult passing along the cycle of abuse for our future....
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...and the criminal justice systems. It involves having a thorough understanding of the criminal systems applied in various jurisdictions by constantly evaluating them at a global perspective (Bartol &Bartol, 2012). The scientific aspect of it takes this information and analyses this information and interrelates it with attorney generals, judges and other legal professionals. Moreover, the field is based on scrutinizing witness testimonies in an attempt to check its validity and make informed decisions when dealing with ambiguous court cases. The roles of forensic psychologists are multivariate. This is because they perform diverse roles according to the settings, circumstances and nature of the job. For instance, they train and evaluate police officers and, members of other law enforcement organizations. They also advise judges in determining court cases (Bartol &Bartol, 2012). For instance, when the juries are dealing with ambiguous court cases of rape, insanity or murder, all arising from mental in-capabilities of the assailants, forensic psychologies are called based on their expertise and experience to examine, evaluate and give recommendations concerning the sentencing of the culprits. Because of these several but crucial responsibilities, the field of forensic psychologist cuts across different professions (Bartol &Bartol, 2012). These professionals might work with State’s Attorneys, Public Defenders and several law enforcement agencies: private attorneys, juries...
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