1 / 7

Abusive marital relationships

Abusive marital relationships. 33-50% of American women have been beaten are abused at some point in their lives (Walker, 1992) About 1400 women are killed each year by their spouses/partners Battering cycle: Tension building phase Acute battering incident

almira
Télécharger la présentation

Abusive marital relationships

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Abusive marital relationships • 33-50% of American women have been beaten are abused at some point in their lives (Walker, 1992) • About 1400 women are killed each year by their spouses/partners • Battering cycle: • Tension building phase • Acute battering incident • Contrite period; batterer begs forgiveness

  2. Characteristics of battered women • Low self esteem • Traditionally feminine gender role • Depression; sense of worthlessness • Self-blame

  3. Characteristics of batterers • Low self esteem • Denial of any problems • Jealous and possessive • “Charming con artist” • May have a drinking problem • Frequently unemployed

  4. Why stay in abusive marriage? • Isolated from friends; family • No source of economic support • Attributing the violence to yourself instead of to him • Investment model: “Staying” determined by • Quality of alternatives to relationship • Level of “investment” in relationship • Satisfaction level

  5. Battered Woman Syndrome • Learned helplessness • Inability to plan • Fear and terror • Anger and rage • Diminished alternatives • Hypervigilance to danger cues • Tolerance for inconsistency

  6. Battered women who kill:Possible defenses • Insanity defense (or temporary insanity) • Battered woman self defense • Subjective definition of self defense: rests on the defendant’s belief in imminent danger • Objective definition of self defense: would a “reasonable man” perceive himself to be in danger of his life? • “Psychological self defense”: in defense of one’s psychological self, rather than one’s life (Ewing)

  7. Forensic expert testimony • Discuss psychological consequences of abuse • Did woman have reason to believe that she was in imminent danger? • Why didn’t woman just leave the relationship? • Do batttered women provoke confrontations? • Was “unnecessary” force used?

More Related