When victims of DV are jailed

33 replies

msrisotto · 03/10/2014 12:43

I could scream or cry reading this article. (disclaimer - it starts by describing a real case in some detail which you may well find disturbing)How the law turns battered women into criminals. It's just horrific! I can't believe this happens. The report is about the US so I don't know what the figures are like in the UK or elsewhere.

Quote -
"Over the past decade, BuzzFeed News identified 28 mothers in 11 states sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for failing to prevent their partners from harming their children. In every one of these cases, there was evidence the mother herself had been battered by the man.
Almost half, 13 mothers, were given 20 years or more. In one case, the mother was given a life sentence for failing to protect her son, just like the man who murdered the infant boy. In another, the sentences were effectively the same: The killer got life, and the mother got 75 years, of which she must serve at least 63 years and nine months. In yet another, the mother got a longer sentence than the man who raped her son. In one more, a father fractured an infant girl’s toe, femur, and seven ribs and was sentenced to two years; for failing to intervene, the mother got 30.

...BuzzFeed News found a total of 73 cases of mothers who, regardless of whether they were battered, were sentenced to 10 years or more. For fathers, BuzzFeed News found only four cases."

I could quote and underline my horror of the whole article but i've linked it for those who want to read it all. As a comment says, it is the ultimate in victim blaming.
You can't get arrested for failing to prevent crime - unless your partner committed it against your child. WTF? The law acknowledges that we do not have control over others, but makes a special exception for couples? Why not arrest the mothers parents of all criminals too? Parental responsibility after all....

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Original poster

msrisotto · 04/10/2014 09:47

Carol, if you read the article, you'll see that the women tried to leave and were either physically dragged back (and punished) or their families were threatened. Being terrified to leave, is common for women who are beaten by their partners. They are taught that if they do as they are told, then their partners weight calm down and might not hurt them/their children/their family. Plus they will have had years of emotional abuse and bullying.

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caroldecker · 04/10/2014 00:47

IMO the mother can 'consent' to her own abuse by not leaving. She is as guilty as the father if she fails to report the abuse of children.

BertieBotts · 04/10/2014 00:16

The US legal system in general is totally fucked up, but yes this is a problem.

In the UK a woman is more likely to lose access to her children for her failure to protect them from an abusive father, SS don't tend to pursue cases for child abuse/neglect unless a child has been killed, it's too time consuming and expensive, so if they are sure the child cannot be safe with the parent(s) including a situation with abusive father and a mother who cannot be trusted to keep the child away (either because she's frightened of the father or in love with him, it doesn't matter to SS) then they will remove the children from both parents.

If the woman is able to keep the abusive father away from her children then SS would drop the case, the issue being that the only support here to help the woman (who is just an ordinary person!) keep an extremely determined, vindictive and manipulative person away from their child are 1, refuges, which are losing funding and places at an alarming rate and 2, CAFCASS who are a ridiculously tolerant bunch of arseholes who don't appear to know the first thing about abuse.

If a child is murdered by an abusive father then the mother could be sent to prison in the UK for not preventing the act. See that case a year or two ago where the father burnt the house down with all of the children in it and both parents were prosecuted.

Original poster

msrisotto · 04/10/2014 00:00

I must disagree that it's not a problem with the courts though, they do the sentencing after all!

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CrotchMaven · 03/10/2014 21:13

I have lots of thoughts and very few words, so enraged am I about this.

Get these men away from women at the first opportunity. We have the line drawn in the wrong place.

ROARmeow · 03/10/2014 20:39

Really interesting (and upsetting) article. Thanks for linking to it.

Squidstirfry · 03/10/2014 13:35

Messed up, completely. The law has to be consistent though across various context.
I believe it is tied into a new law whereby you can in fact be convicted for failing to prevent a crime if you are present at the scene.
It used to be only the actual gang member who committed the murder could be convicted, so obviously gang leaders assign the job (to commit the crime) to a lesser member of the gang.
Now all gang members who are present at the scene of a crime can be arrested and convicted on the grounds that they did not prevent it.

It's awful, but it's not a problem with the courts. PP is right in that there needs to be more support after the first reports of DV by the local police to actually prevent the violence from escalating in the first place.
Victims of DV need to be able to leave and be safe. This requires intervention at a local/community level.

Original poster

msrisotto · 03/10/2014 12:57

And what about all the times when DV is reported to the police and they don't do anything? Or they don't do enough? They might jail the perpetrator for a short time and see them go straight back doing the same damn thing and do nothing? Shouldn't they go to jail too? They allowed it to happen again?

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