Battered Women 2
Women are more likely to be assaulted by husbands, ex-husbands, boyfriends, and ex-boyfriends than by a stranger. Domestic violence crimes committed against women are a staggering number; even though feminist have advocated for decades for women's rights laws to try and protect women from battering spouses. The truth is that,"in one six year period alone -- 1967 to 1973 -- battering men killed 17,500 women and children in the United States"(Jones 23). Exactly twice that number, in the same time period, 39,000 men were killed in the Vietnam War. The numbers have not decreased,"in 1991 more than 21,000 domestic assaults, rapes, and murders were reported to the police every week"(23). First time penalties for criminals who commit domestic violence must be harsher and longer. Historically domestic violence has been seen as "family matters" and the criminal justice system has sought to keep accountability for these crimes in the home rather than using the legal system as a deterrent. Until the 1970's, due to the feminist's movement, crimes committed against women by their spouse were seen as less serious than crimes committed by a stranger. Then in the 1980s laws were passed mandating that crimes committed by a
Our culture seems to hold a common belief that some women bring domestic violence on themselves and in some way "deserve what they get." The truth is batterers commit violent acts regardless of what a spouse might do or say. For example, one husband came home after work and as his wife opened the door to greet him he punched her in the face because he had a bad day. One therapist told a wife, "If you would stop using that language, perhaps he wouldn't get so out of control"(Jacobson and Gottman). Statements like this allow the batterer to "minimize the severity of their violent actions"(47). He feels that she is now responsible in some way for his actions, but what is so devastating in this situation is now the wife feels in some way that she did indeed bring it on herself. In this case the women felt the solution was "to be a better wife"(47). Why is it so devastating? Instead of a deterrent being established for the battered in was now the deterrent for the person being battered. This becomes the detrimental trend in women and a backlash for trying to prevent domestic violence in the future. Sentences are deterrents for batters. A person who has been found guilty of committing spousal abuse rarely will ever see the inside of a jail cell. This is due largely to the fact of over-crowding in prison; so many times judges will issue therapy instead of a sentence. Sometimes the state will simply sue the defendant as a punishment. The lack of accountability results in repeat offenders. Society has to come to the realization that as the beatings continue, so does their severity. Studies have been shown that "judges are slowly becoming educated about the importance of punishment as a deterrent"(Jacobson and Gottman 210). The fact still stands that the law needs to be re-structured so that it will maximize accountability for crimina
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Approximate Word count = 1249
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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