Battered Wife Syndrome Essay Sample

Maltreatment continues to be a important job nationwide. shattering the lives of many. It is difficult to conceive of the domination that the maltreater exercises over the abused. the danger that they feel. and the force and fright that traumatise them. Violence is non a private affair. One can non pull the drapes and forgive and bury. society must step in and offer aid and comfort. However. sometimes the aid offered can be unequal and unlogical. Battered married woman syndrome ( a status created by sustained physical. sexual. and/or emotional maltreatment. which creates a assortment of physical and emotional symptoms ) has been used as a defense mechanism in slaying instances in which adult females have killed or harmed their maltreater. Although adept testimony sing beat-up married woman syndrome has gained some credence in the tribunals. it is questionable that it provides adequate solid and substantial grounds to be used as a believable defense mechanism. The beat-up married woman syndrome defense mechanism is more of a demand for compassion and empathy. as one who was battered ne’er deserved such intervention.

The deficiency of a remarkable profile. the immorality of “two wrongs doing a right” . and the support of a gender hierarchy. makes the usage of this syndrome doubtful. Battered married woman syndrome suggests that the psychological impact of banging is defined by a common set of symptoms. but battered victims reactions to force and maltreatment vary greatly and hence there is no individual profile on the effects of buffeting. Emotional reactions can include alterations in beliefs and attitudes about them egos. others and the universe. and symptoms of psychological hurt or disfunction. A peculiar battered victims reaction may or may non run into the standards to justify a clinical diagnosing. How can one make up one’s mind the sum of buffeting that leads to the ability to plead beat-up married woman syndrome in a tribunal of jurisprudence when each individual reacts otherwise to being battered. No 1 can get down to understand each victim of maltreatment. what they have gone through. or what their breakage point is. Therefore. is it just to state that merely because a individual may hold been subjected to merely one or two episodes of maltreatment. that the impact of that limited maltreatment was non plenty to hold a damaging consequence on their life. and therefore non plenty to do them to flog out?

The supplication of beat-up married woman syndrome is normally non available to victims who have merely been abused a twosome times. yet it is possible the psychological consequence was the same as a victim of long term maltreatment. If the label battered married woman syndrome is reserved merely for victims with specific types of reactions. so utilizing it alternatively of a diagnosing is confounding. particularly since battered married woman syndrome is non a recognized diagnostic term in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( Violence Against Women 1999 ) . The term battered married woman syndrome does look in several province Torahs in the United States of America. but its definition is non consistent from province to province. Alternatively. if the term is used more loosely to mention to a scope of psychological reactions to buffeting. as it frequently is in existent testimony by experts. so its diagnostic public-service corporation is lost since there are no clearly defined standards for inclusion. The inquiry of whether a beat-up victim “suffers” from battered married woman syndrome is non an appropriate inquiry as it’s significance is obscure and can be deceptive. therefore go forthing room for mistake and misinterpretation.

The condemnable justness system is an articulation of the basic moral codification of our society. In other words. the jurisprudence is invariably based on impressions of morality. Morality is one of the most of import values in determining the ultimate construct of jurisprudence. refering the differentiation between right and incorrect. Without ethical motives there would be entire pandemonium because every jurisprudence springs from a system of values and beliefs. every jurisprudence is an case of passing morality. It is illegal to slay or mistreat person. therefore it is certainly non morally approve for person who has been abused to so turn around and go the maltreater. They become everything they are seeking to get away. The victim in an opprobrious relationship can easy be compared to a slave and in order to acquire out of bondage you must utilize self-defense. However this self-defense does non justify in decease or critical hurts. There are about ever non-violent paths one can take and in the instance of maltreatment there are many options. such as utilizing the jurisprudence to 1s advantage. taking up abode in a safe house and naming for aid. It may non be easy to happen the bravery to go forth but if one has been able to last the damaging effects of maltreatment. so one can hold the audaciousness to go forth. Options that injury people become morally unacceptable when less harmful options exist.

Murder can ne’er be morally allowable. It can be excused. but non justified. There is an utmost difference. If we of all time let slaying to be morally allowable. we violate the most basic right. the right to life. The regard of human life achieves morality. while utilizing lifelessly. consider force against repeated inhuman treatment does non. Although the maltreatment victim may be robbed of autonomy and felicity. they still have the chance to recover it because they are alive. Life provides the chance to exert all other rights. and hence. it is more valuable than all other rights. A victim’s usage of deathly force would hence be disproportional and morally impermissible as the victim becomes everything they are concealing from. If force begets force. it is merely a affair of clip before civilised society distils down into lawlessness. The beat-up married woman syndrome does non give the battered partner a license to kill the batterer. as force is ne’er the reply. For old ages adult females have been contending for equal rights. and great betterments in this country have been achieved. but the usage of the beat-up married woman syndrome implies inequality.

The word “syndrome” suggests unwellness. that there is something incorrect with the adult female. It carries negative intensions. and there is a inclination for members of the legal community and society at big to construe beat-up adult female syndrome as some kind of incapacity defence. It implies that adult females are inferior and need particular intervention. as there is no beat-up adult male syndrome. Although the defense mechanism of beat-up married woman syndrome can be used for both work forces and adult females. the name leads one to believe it is focused on adult females as the name chosen singles out adult females alternatively of providing to both genders. This besides suggests that adult females should non be held to the same strict legal criterions as work forces. therefore back uping a gender hierarchy. Additionally. the illation that sick persons of beat-up married woman syndrome are incapable of taking a lawful response to their husband’s maltreatment. besides insinuates that work forces must command their “irresponsible” married womans ( Coughlin 1994 ) . The beat-up married woman syndrome defense mechanism fails. non merely because it holds work forces and adult females to different criterions. but besides because it implies that adult females do non hold the same capacity for self-governance as work forces.

Yet. the figure of adult females who will be killed by their maltreaters is far greater than the figure of maltreaters who will be killed by their victims ( Battered Womans: Populating with the Enemy 1994 ) . Abuse is non a victim’s issue it is a human issue. No 1 chooses to be battered. there is no alibi for maltreatment and the victims need to hold protection available to them. There is assistance and aid available for the victims of maltreatment and the jurisprudence offers a defence. but it is frequently unequal. Battered married woman syndrome has the possible to be a valid rebelliousness but fails to make so for many grounds. The usage of this syndrome as defence is morally questionable.

Maltreatment is morally incorrect and illegal but so is killing person or aching them ; two wrongs do non of all time do a right. The deductions behind the phrase. “battered married woman syndrome” . non merely suggest inequality but besides back up a gender hierarchy as it holds work forces and adult females to different criterions. Using a defense mechanism that implys adult females are “less” so work forces degrades women’s battle for equality. The effects of battery are complex and differ from individual to individual ; because of this there is no clearly distinguishable set of standards under which to specify “battered married woman syndrome” . If these defects are addressed. so possibly battered married woman syndrome might go a valid defence and assistance in seting to rest the sad bequest of hurting that maltreatment causes.

Work Cited

Anne M. Coughlin. Excusing Women. California Law Review. Vol. 82. No. 1. Jan. . 1994. hypertext transfer protocol: //www. jstor. org/discover/10. 2307/3480849? uid=3737720 & A ; uid=2 & A ; uid=4 & A ; sid=21101654055197

Kosof. Anna. Battered Women: Populating with the Enemy. New York: Franklin Watts. 1994. Print

Torr. James D. . and Karin Swisher. explosive detection systems. Violence against Women. San Diego. Calcium: Greenhaven. 1999. Print.