Battered Women Who Kill
When women kill their abusive husbands, they received lengthy sentences. Their claims of
self-defense are refused and they are silenced in the court room. However, when men kill their
wives they received lenient or minimal sentences.
The battering cycle is divided into three phases: the tension-building phase, the explosion or
acute battering incident, and the calm, loving respite. In these phases woman would blames
themselves for the batterer's behavior and are very fearful of their abusers. Women often suffer from
many ailments such as high blood pressure, depression, and anxiousness. When the women try to
leave their abusers, they are often terrorized or threatened.
When battered woman appear in court they suffer from societal oppression. These woman
frequently encounter defense attorneys who are biased and fails to understand the woman's
accusations. Offenses against women by their abusers are not seen as serious by male judges. Many
women end up being convicted despite their claims of self defense and evidence that they were
being abused.
Muraskin Chapter 7
Mothers who kill their children were classified as a single entity with little differentiation among the
women. Mothers who kill their children were divided into five categories: filicide related to an
ignored pregnancy, abuse-related filicide, filicide due to neglect, assisted or coerced fillicide,
and purposeful filicide and the mother acted alone.
The postpartum syndromes are often overlooked, society believes mothers should be feeling
"undadultered joy" about being a mother. However, in reality, most mothers were suffering from
depression.
The societal expectations for mothers are different than expectations for fathers. For example, if the
father failed to protect his child, he will be less likely to be charged, however, the mother will be
held accountable.