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March 29, 2023


    







 

 

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WOMAN ABUSE SURVIVORS SENT TO PRISON FOR SELF-DEFENSE

Loaded on July 1, 2021 by Keith Sanders published in Prison Legal News July,
2021, page 34
Filed under: Domestic Violence. Location: United States of America.
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by Keith Sanders

America’s criminal justice system is designed by and for men. It characterizes
offenders as violent and victims docile, where offenders kill and victims die.
Within this framework, women are often marginalized and unjustly prosecuted,
especially victims of domestic violence who fend off their attackers with deadly
force.

In this instance, women are not treated as victims of abuse defending themselves
but as criminals. Of course in some cases, abusive women kill their partners or
family members and claim to have done so in self defense and the dead person
cannot contradict those claims.

Part of the problem, according to investigative journalist Justine van der Leun,
writing for The New Republic (TNR), is that the criminal justice system strips
away the context and circumstances surrounding such crimes, leaving only a
conviction that does not tell the whole story. In 2018, van der Leun started a
project to provide that context and tell the complete stories of battered girls
and women who are serving time as a result of their victimhood being
criminalized.

Van der Leun’s project began ambitiously enough. She sent out 5,098 surveys to
women in 45 state detention facilities in 22 states. But for various reasons
associated with incarceration—mail­room censorship, fear of retaliation, legal
concerns—only 608 women responded to van der Leun’s survey. Yet from this
relatively small sample, the journalist discovered hundreds of victims of abuse,
and potentially many more, who were convicted of murder or manslaughter and
claimed it was in the course of protecting themselves from an abuser.

With assistance from Thania Sanchez, who currently works in the ACLU’s data and
analysis department, van der Leun devised a 16-question survey assessing a
woman’s background of abuse and the reasons for entering the criminal justice
system.

The surveys revealed that many of the respondents endured years of systematic
abuse. Over 60% reported physical, sexual, emotional or some combination of
abuse prior to incarceration. Van der Leun believes that percentage could be
much higher because 31% of respondents did not provide sufficient information to
make a clear determination. Much of the abuse they encountered came from
domestic partners: 43% said they were abused by their spouse, boyfriend, or
girlfriend; and of those, 41% subsequently killed their abusers while claiming
to be protecting themselves.

Van der Leun found that the respondents mirror the female incarcerated
population as a whole: a majority were white but there was a disproportionate
number of women of color. Their average age was 43; about 30% were serving life
sentences—some without possibility of parole—with the rest serving an average of
55 years.

Abusive relationships, especially during the formative years of childhood, can
adversely shape a woman’s future. Many of van der Leun’s respondents were
abandoned or neglected as children. But the trauma of rape proved the most
debilitating. The respondents reported being raped at gunpoint, while driven
home from babysitting, and raped by grandfathers, fathers, stepfathers,
brothers, uncles, cousins, and even mothers and sisters. Years of such abuse,
along with a confluence of other factors beyond their control, can leave victims
of abuse feeling ruined from ever getting a chance at life. “The stigma and
shame of allowing myself to continually accept abusive behavior is stronger than
the shame of being a convicted murderer,” recounted Kwaneta Harris, a respondent
from Texas.

In many states, the legal system does not allow for “duress” as a valid defense.
Based on British common law from the 1600s, the legal principle robs individuals
of acting in self-defense, especially when it entails the death of a violent or
abusive attacker. This leaves battered women in a no-win situation. Their only
choice is to die at the hands of their abuser or prison, according to Carol
Jacobsen, director of the Michigan Women’s Justice and Clemency Project. “That’s
it. It doesn’t matter that he’s going to kill you.... You let that happen,” she
said. In the past twenty years many states have amended their laws to allow
victims of domestic abuse to present a battered person defense at trial.

Victims of abuse face other legal obstacles, too. Emotional abuse, because it is
an extremely personal experience, is almost impossible to prove in court.
“Lawyers say that the only correct battered woman when talking about
self-defense is a dead one,” remarked Sue Osthoff, co-founder of the National
Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women. Moreover, prosecutors often
portray female killers, even in self-defense cases, as cunning, posing as a
victim to avoid punishment. It is of course possible that having killed someone,
the defendant claims to have been battered to seek justification for the killing
whether or not it was justified and it is not known how many batterers claim to
be victims. In theory, the jury system is designed to sort these claims out and
determine if homicides are self-defense or justifiable or criminal actions to be
punished.

The reality is different. Over half of van der Leun’s respondents pleaded guilty
to murder or manslaughter and received lengthy prison sentences. They did not
allow a jury to weight o truth, or untruth, of their self-defense claims. The
investigative journalist’s research found that most of those who plead guilty
were represented by public defenders. A sobering 2008 report by the National
Legal Aid Defender Association on Michigan’s indigent defense systems—where the
majority of van der Leun’s respondents passed through—“studied sample counties
and found none of their public defender services were constitutionally
adequate.”

Van der Leun hopes that telling the respondents’ stories and having their voices
heard can affect change in how victims of abuse are treated in the criminal
justice system. The respondents themselves offered a variety of solutions, from
decriminalizing poverty to protecting sexual and domestic violence victims to
restorative justice initiatives. They want to put an end to the practice of
criminalizing self-defense for battered women, for making survival a crime. 

 

Source: newrepublic.com

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MORE FROM THIS ISSUE:

 1.  “Progressive” Seattle Mayoral Candidate Exposed as Shill for the Private
     Prison Industry, by Ken Silverstein
 2.  The Contraband Wars Prison authorities target books and mail, miss the
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 3.  From the Editor, by Paul Wright
 4.  Course of the Covid Pandemic, by Michael D. Cohen, MD
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 6.  Inmate Magazine Service Advertising Results in FTC Complaint, by David
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 7.  Coronavirus Lockdowns in Prisons Test Limits of Colorado’s Rules on
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 8.  Guard “Justified” in Shooting Death of Elderly Woman in Spokane County Jail
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 9.  Wisconsin Prisoner In Vegetative State After Suicide Attempt Wins New Trial
     on Jury Instruction Error, by David M. Reutter
 10. After DOJ Finds Unconstitutional Conditions for Mentally Ill Prisoners in
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 11. Illinois Prisoner’s Negligence Lawsuit Alleging Injuries from Wart
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 17. Incarcerated Persons Not In-Custody for Miranda Purposes
 18. Inspector General Finds Botched Transfers Caused COVID Outbreak at San
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 19. Woman Abuse Survivors Sent to Prison for Self-Defense, by Keith Sanders
 20. North Carolina Prisons Underreport COVID Related Deaths, by Kevin Bliss
 21. New Jersey Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak Kept Quiet in State Prisons, by
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 22. GAO Reports ICE Wastes Hundreds of Millions Each Year, by Matthew Clarke
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 24. Federal Court Orders Release of Documents for Connecticut Prison Cancer
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 25. Virginia Votes to Abolish Death Penalty, by Jayson Hawkins
 26. Second Circuit Holds Connecticut Can’t Indemnify Guard in Assault Case Then
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 27. Georgia Sheriffs Entitled to Eleventh Amendment Immunity When Setting Jail
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 30. En Banc Eleventh Circuit Holds Prisoners Can Seek Punitive Damages Without
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 31. Sixth Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Retaliation Suit by Pro Se Michigan
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 45. “We Want Court dates!”, by Keith Sanders
 46. News in Brief


MORE FROM KEITH SANDERS:

 * $175,000 Paid by California County to Escaped Prisoner Mauled By K-9 During
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 * Judge Dismisses Suit Filed by California Town to Keep State Prison Open,
   March 1, 2023
 * 18 Stabbings in Less Than Nine Months at Oklahoma CoreCivic Prison, March 1,
   2023
 * Second Hunger Strike Met With Pepper Spray at Washington GEO Group Lockup
   Where ICE Detainees Allege Widespread Sexual Abuse, March 1, 2023
 * Colorado’s Halfway Houses Returning Half of Residents to Prison, March 1,
   2023
 * Arizona DOC Accused of Cheating Both Guards and Prisoners Out of Hourly
   Wages, Feb. 1, 2023
 * California City Ends Private Jail Operator’s Contract After Mass Employee
   Resignations, Jan. 1, 2023
 * Incarceration Exacerbates Obesity in America, Jan. 1, 2023
 * Ohio Pays $185,000 to State Prisoner Bitten in Genitals by K-9, Jan. 1, 2023
 * $3.5 Million Paid To Estate Of Iowa Jail Detainee Who Suffered Seizure And
   Died When Left Unattended, Jan. 1, 2023


MORE FROM THESE TOPICS:

 * Data: Families of Arizona Prison Guards Suffer High Rates of Domestic
   Violence, March 1, 2021. Guard Misconduct, Domestic Violence.
 * U.S. v. Barnes, No. 01-3048 (D.C. Cir.) (295 F.3d 1354) (July 23, 2002)
   (Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson), Aug. 1, 2002. Punch And Jurists, Domestic
   Violence.
 * Gillespie v. City of Indianapolis, No. 98-2691 (7th Cir.) (185 F.3d 693)
   (July 9, 1999) (Judge Ilana Diamond Rovner), Sept. 1, 1999. Punch And
   Jurists, Domestic Violence.
 * U.S. v. Lewitzke, No. 98-2292 (7th Cir.) (176 F.3d 1022) (May 12, 1999)
   (Judge Ilana Diamond Rovner), July 1, 1999. Punch And Jurists, Domestic
   Violence.
 * U.S. v. Meade, No. 97-10185-EFH (D.Mass.) (986 F.Supp. 66) (December 17,
   1997) (Judge Edward F. Harrington), March 1, 1998. Punch And Jurists,
   Domestic Violence.



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