Battered Women’s Syndrome is a psychological condition that can develop when a person experiences abuse, it is also a legal defense used in courtrooms. This specific legal defense doesn’t work for just anyone. Battered Women’s Syndrome has only ruled in favor of white women.
Black women who kill their abusers are typically served for a sentence of ten years to life. A question I often ask myself is how a defense for women only executed correctly if you are a Caucasian woman. Race seems to play a part in the legal system, which is to be a disadvantage for minorities.
Women of color have long lasting stigmas which characterize them as aggressive, overbearing, ignorant which could be a reason as to why battered women’s syndrome has not worked for minorities. Caucasian women are deemed as submissive, kind, and gentle so when they do kill their abuser they see it as their breaking point versus a black women they see just “ the angry black women.”
Removing stereotypes would bring more equality in the world and a step forward to making battered women’s syndrome work in all women’s favor regarding your race or ethnicity. In February 2020 the Domestic Violence Law Clinic at Tulane University received a two-million-dollar anonymous donation to expand its work giving domestic violence survivors in prison a second chance.
Candice Malone, woman of color released from Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women on probation after serving thirteen and a half years for killing her abusive boyfriend. Malone was serving a life sentence for defending herself.
This is her story: After high school she began attending Grambling State University. Candice had a hard time balancing school and a job all while paying her way through college which led her to a depression. She then met Terrance Henderson, which she believed to be her emotional savior but what turned quickly into a abusive relationship. Her first offense is when he cut her with a knife. Malone called the police, police encouraged her to file a restraining order for $100 which she didn’t have as a struggling college student.
Making her way through college, by junior year she was covered in bruises from her elbows to her neck. She became tired of the violent acts and began to fight back, she pushed him off and grabbed the gun and hit him with it. The next morning the violence began again she pointed the gun and didn’t hear the firearm go off and he fell on the floor, As final exams were right around the corner Malone was charged with second degree murder. Ten jurors found her guilty and sent her to prison for life.
Since she was released twenty-one other women has also been discharged. Hearing the stories of women getting released for killing their abusers in self defense makes me ecstatic, hoping that institutions will begin to realize that battered women’s syndrome can happen to anyone regarding their ethnic background.