Thank you for your post. You spoke with such empathy and understanding of the plight of an abused woman’s state of mind after long-term abuse. The man does not start out the relationship with his partner as abusive. They are very charismatic, attentive, and loving in the beginning. They slowly say and make subtle demands of the woman, that at first may be a little odd, but she may believe that he is injured by past experiences and is drawn into his misery which in turn the woman will tend to feel that she can fix him or believe that if she shows him enough love, he will heal and they can go back to the way it was in the beginning. Over time his initial demands increase and subsequently begins to take his frustrations and past anger out
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There is the building up of tension before or as the abuse occurs after which there is the making up period when the abuser apologizes or even blame their victim for making them abuse them followed by the calm after the storm where abuse does not occur, and the abused woman may believe that it will not happen again, but it does (Thawley, 2015). As you mentioned in your post, the abused partner becomes completely dependent on their abuser. Regarding the battered woman’s syndrome defense, it is a defense that explains her experience as an abused person where is was not necessarily self-defense per se all the while still self-defense (Find Law, 2017). That is the twist of a court allowing the expert testimony from someone in the scientific community to convince a jury that the battered woman felt that her life, not just at that moment necessarily, but the rest of her and her children’s lives were in imminent danger. In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, defines imminent as “ready to take place” and “hanging threateningly over one’s head” (Meriam-Webster, 2017). Unfortunately, most women that use the batter woman syndrome as a defense end up losing their case (Greene, 2007, p. 130). It is of my opinion that the battered woman syndrome should be admissible in court as a self-defense plea and taken seriously by the court system. Can it be hard to prove? Yes, it can. Should a jury have the opportunity to view
There is the building up of tension before or as the abuse occurs after which there is the making up period when the abuser apologizes or even blame their victim for making them abuse them followed by the calm after the storm where abuse does not occur, and the abused woman may believe that it will not happen again, but it does (Thawley, 2015). As you mentioned in your post, the abused partner becomes completely dependent on their abuser. Regarding the battered woman’s syndrome defense, it is a defense that explains her experience as an abused person where is was not necessarily self-defense per se all the while still self-defense (Find Law, 2017). That is the twist of a court allowing the expert testimony from someone in the scientific community to convince a jury that the battered woman felt that her life, not just at that moment necessarily, but the rest of her and her children’s lives were in imminent danger. In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, defines imminent as “ready to take place” and “hanging threateningly over one’s head” (Meriam-Webster, 2017). Unfortunately, most women that use the batter woman syndrome as a defense end up losing their case (Greene, 2007, p. 130). It is of my opinion that the battered woman syndrome should be admissible in court as a self-defense plea and taken seriously by the court system. Can it be hard to prove? Yes, it can. Should a jury have the opportunity to view