If, in the United States, a person would encounter a woman’s corpse mutilated on the side of the road they would be frightened, disgusted, horrified. They would call the police and an investigation would be launched. The story would be on the news and when the offender was caught the nation would him. If he ever got out of jail, people on the street would stare at him with utter contempt. But, in Guatemala, the site of a tattered female body along the roadside is not a tragedy. It is not an alarming scandal. It is commonplace. It is just another number to add to a growing statistic (Carey & Torres, 2010).
As Hilda Morales, a native Guatemalan, said “in Guatemala, killing a women is like killing a fly; no importance is assigned to it… the perpetrators …show more content…
When the government or its leaders needed something accomplished, their first instinct was to use violence. In 1981, when the people tried to revolt, the government responded with over four hundred massacres which resulted in the death of four hundred Mayan communities and a thousand Guatemalans (Menjivar, 2008). The country is rooted in violence. Not only does Guatemala have an incredibly high rate of femicide (the killing of females because they are female), most of them were tortured, raped, and/or mutilated before they were killed (Ogrodnik, Corinne & Borzutzky, …show more content…
Women face disapproval at every turn and in 2010 a study showed that 95% of women drop their cases (Musalo & Bookey, 2013). They drop them because, as Ogrodnik and Borzutky point out, many women in Guatemala believe the justice system to be unequal. Additionally even in the small percentage of cases that the offenders are found guilty, it took almost three years for the court to reach them (Ogrodnik, Corinne & Borzutzky, 2011). In many cases where the judge decides to sentence the offender they receive a mere five years. Prepetrators with these sentences are able to pay a minimal fee, equivalent in USD to $.60-$13 daily, to avoid jail (Musalo & Bookey,
As Hilda Morales, a native Guatemalan, said “in Guatemala, killing a women is like killing a fly; no importance is assigned to it… the perpetrators …show more content…
When the government or its leaders needed something accomplished, their first instinct was to use violence. In 1981, when the people tried to revolt, the government responded with over four hundred massacres which resulted in the death of four hundred Mayan communities and a thousand Guatemalans (Menjivar, 2008). The country is rooted in violence. Not only does Guatemala have an incredibly high rate of femicide (the killing of females because they are female), most of them were tortured, raped, and/or mutilated before they were killed (Ogrodnik, Corinne & Borzutzky, …show more content…
Women face disapproval at every turn and in 2010 a study showed that 95% of women drop their cases (Musalo & Bookey, 2013). They drop them because, as Ogrodnik and Borzutky point out, many women in Guatemala believe the justice system to be unequal. Additionally even in the small percentage of cases that the offenders are found guilty, it took almost three years for the court to reach them (Ogrodnik, Corinne & Borzutzky, 2011). In many cases where the judge decides to sentence the offender they receive a mere five years. Prepetrators with these sentences are able to pay a minimal fee, equivalent in USD to $.60-$13 daily, to avoid jail (Musalo & Bookey,