Research Proposal on Women

"Ironically, the most complete description of women's suffering from domestic violence has entered our case law and legal literature at the point where violence against women finally harms men - when battered women kill in self-defense."

--Lenore Walker

"She is Francine Hughes, who poured kerosene around the bed of her sleeping husband and lit the bed on fire . . . the same night Mrs. Hughes was smeared with food and garbage and raped by Mr. Hughes. She is Leslie Emick, who shot her sleeping husband; three days before, Mrs. Emick was burned with an electric immersion coil in her vagina, nearly hanged in a shed, and struck in the head with a mallet by Mr. Emick." (Feminists Negotiate the State p. 53) These are only a few examples of some experiences women have had due to the abuse of their husbands or lovers. When a man beats a woman once or twice a week, and she kills him to protect herself from more physical or emotional abuse, the act should be considered self-defense rather than premeditated murder. These women are often seen as having a motive to kill because there is no other way out of their abusive situation. Society may condone the man's behavior or reject her because of her decision to leave.

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In the case of Mrs. Emick, when taken to court, she was convicted of first degree manslaughter. The defense attorney, on Mrs. Emick's behalf, presented testimonies from both a physician and psychiatrist who supported the magnitude of her physical and psychological torture. In the end, the prosecution said, "the very ongoing nature of the abuse prove[d] that Miss Emick was under no imminent danger, particularly from a sleeping man." (Feminists Negotiating the State p. 54) Similarly, Judy Norman, a woman who shot her husband in the back of the head while he slept was charged with voluntary manslaughter in North Carolina. The state supreme court ruled the defendant was not in imminent danger because she was - "not faced with instantaneous choice between killing her husband or being killed or seriously injured." - (Feminists Negotiating the State p. 60)

Many homicides of spouses are committed during times of non-abuse and therefore the premise of self-defense is hard to prove. Therefore, it is necessary to explore other possible motives. There are an overwhelmingly large number of murders committed by abused women in a highly emotional state, for purposes such as jealousy, anger or revenge. These are called "senseless" homicides by government officials and typically are regarded by the judicial system as "involving simple meanness or sociopathic behavior". (When Women Kill p. 174) Additionally, it is hard to prove that the woman was being abused and acted solely in self-defense. But, in many cases, both self-defense and emotional motives can be considered a possibility, so it is necessary then to take into account the prospect of premeditation. If the woman appeared to premeditate the murder beforehand, self-defense is many times not seen as a valid defense. But yet, the idea of premeditation is hard to define and even harder to prove. A small number of the women had threatened their abuser with homicide before committing the act and yet prosecutors have used the statement, "I'm going to kill him for that" as verification for premeditation. Also, stashing a knife (i.e. for emergencies like burglaries) was ultimately considered an act of premeditation. Why does a jury accept a crude statement as evidence for premeditation? People say ridiculous and fictitious statements daily but never carry out their threats. Some reports, such as the study performed by Winn, Haugen and Jurik in 1988 indicated that only 27% of the women had premeditated their homicides. (When Women Kill p.175) It is a possible then that the judicial system does not realize the magnitude of women's abuse and then dignifies a statement as valid evidence of premeditation. The prosecution may be too weak and the judicial system wants to serve justice to the woman who killed her spouse and allows that as ample evidence.

During the 1970's Lenore Walker did a study on abused women and the steps that were taken by the judicial system to help them (which proved to be very little). She discovered that "an arrest of the batterer was not mandatory, and restraining orders against the batterer were not effectively enforced, if they were even granted at all." (Feminists Negotiate the State p. 56) Sue Ostoff, a woman who continued the research on battered women in 1992 declared, "When battered women kill their abusers, the same criminal justice system that often could not protect them vigorously prosecutes them as violent criminals." (p.56)

Violence against women is condoned by the small number of protective laws for abused women. This standard can be due to the history of wife beating dating back to the Puritanical century. An old English proverb says, "A spaniel, a woman, and a hickory tree, the more ye beat them, the better they be." This standard of wife abuse was held in the 15th century and wasn't reproached until Mary Wollstonecraft in the late 18th century when she spoke of the ill-treatment of women and their need for legal protection. (Feminists Negotiating the State p.5) There is a report that states the use of the "rule of thumb", which was used in England. This permitted a man to beat his wife with any instrument as long as it wasn't bigger than his thumb. These were acceptable levels of violence against women in those times. Until the middle of the 19th century, there were no laws regarding wife abuse. Legislation was finally passed in Tennessee in 1850 and Georgia in 1857 regarding wife abusers, and it acknowledged that hitting their spouse as a misdemeanor. (Battered Women's Justice p. 10) Finally in 1972 the battered women's movement began and women's shelters were created and laws were being ratified by states defining women's rights. It took more than 500 years for women to achieve any sort of rights in this country and it is very hard to believe a law can be passed and every citizen will appreciate it and obey it. There are men (and possibly some women) who continue to believe in and condone the act of abusing women. At the beginning of the feminist movement for battered women, "feminists assumed that violence against women was rooted in a patriarchal system that condoned violence against women. To end wife abuse, the patriarchy itself needed to be challenged and dismantled." (Battered Women's Justice p. 3) In these terms, when women are on the same level as men in society, there will no longer be wife abuse. That may be far down the road.

Until men and women are equal, the power and ability of women who leave their husbands may still remain low. Women are beaten within an inch of their lives, raped and tortured for lengthy periods of time but they stay. It appears as though many do not have other options. In an interview, a woman named Karen Weber, who had been abused for 19 years of marriage, answered the question of why women stay in abusive relationships. She said, "I hate to say something as trite as "People stay for the kids", or "Women are scared to be on their own" but I think that most of the time, that's the truth. She went on to say that she stayed with her husband Kenny for so long because she was afraid of the humiliation and shame that it creates when people ask why a woman is no longer with her husband. "People prod and you don't want to tell them he stabbed you with fire pokers or hit you so hard blood vessels popped in your eye and permanently damaged your sight. Unfortunately, they don't judge the men - just the women." She added that she was also guilty of staying for her children and finally had the courage to leave when they were all in college. Karen Weber is just like thousands of other cases of women who are afraid to leave.

But juries, prosecutors, judges do often ask, "Why didn't she just leave, rather than killing or trying to murder the abuser?" (Battered Women's Justice p. 80) A large portion of this has to do with gender biases. Research says that girls are presumed to be more passive and dependent and boys are for their protection. When a woman attempts to be independent and is leaving an abusive relationship, it does not coincide with the social norm and for many women has proven to be difficult finding a job. Her past is a big issue and her employer may feel uncomfortable with the circumstances. Although a valid point, many do not side with her on the basis that money is no reason to stay with an abusive mate. Unfortunately, statistics show that single mothers are very economically and legally disadvantaged. Upon finding a job, wages can be low and child care can be impossible to find. If they decide to break out on their own without their children, it is said in Feminists Negotiate the State that a woman has "very little chance of re-establishing any parental rights in the future. . . women who leave are most at risk for being hurt or killed." (p. 92) Most importantly, if a man is threatened with separation, he may become enraged and lash out at the victim worse than before. "Leaving does not end the violence; on the contrary, it may make it worse." Men have attacked their spouses long periods after the women have left and the men killed, raped or beat the women again. (Battered Women's Justice p. 82) In Karen Weber's case, her husband Kenny followed her to work and watched her children during the school day, but never came close enough to inflict any physical pain.

The women who call the police on their abusive husbands are referred to as hassles. Mrs. Emick killed her husband during his sleep after she had been burned in the vagina, but would the police have helped her had she called for their help? The acts of this woman and Francine Hughes as well as countless others should be a matter of open and closed trials. Their husbands beat them and the women saw no other way to end the abuse but to kill. Society has offered them no support and stereotypically, women are supposed to endure this treatment. Some legislative changes that provide more protection for the abused woman have been made, although they are still too minuscule. It is becoming clearer that women who are abused are killing due to their need to protect themselves or their children, because the judicial system has proven to be useless for them. Unfortunately, in trials where a woman has killed her husband because he has burnt her with cigarettes, raped her for sexual pleasure, stabbed her for fun or made her suffer any other awful abuse, the courts often turn a "deaf ear". Is this sort of behavior classified in the "rule of thumb"? More often than not, the judicial system has been accused of being biased against women and attempting to put out a message that women should be submissive and depend on "her" man. But does this hold true if he beats her within an inch of her life?

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