Battered Womens Syndrome People v

Thesaurus

						iLaw Dictionary			USAConstitution Law
						California			Law Students-USL
						Law Dictionary			BankruptcyCode.US
						Domestic Violence			United States Law.US

US Codes

State Codes

Evidence

Law Students-USL

Federal Rules of Evidence

Medical Dictionaries

A Legal and Business Portal
A Legal and Business Portal

California
Law Dictionary

A - Aa - Ab - Ac - B- C-- Ca- D - E- F - G - H -I- J - L - M- N --U- K to Z

Domestic Violence Battered Womens Syndrome
(People v. Price)

E. Battered Women’s Syndrome Evidence

The jury also heard evidence from two expert witnesses. Marjorie Cusick was a psychotherapist who specialized in domestic violence cases. She testified as an expert on battered women’s syndrome. She told the jury that most victims of domestic violence—which she defined as a power struggle—were women. In her experience, she observed an often repeated cycle in domestic violence cases. First, an acute battering incident separates the couple. This is followed by a make-up or honeymoon period when the couple reunites. Thereafter, a tension-building period occurs when the couple goes into a power struggle about who holds the power in the relationship. This tense period is followed by another abusive incident. Typically, neither one of the couple is aware of this cycle.

Cusick told the jury that many battered women share certain characteristics that make them more susceptible to remaining in a relationship despite battering incidents. These women are in denial about the violence. They accommodate the abusers by changing their own behavior in order to avoid being hurt. They feel that the violence is their fault—that they can control the batterers by altering their own behavior. They engage in a lot of rationalization to make sense of the violence. They often minimize the actual violence that they suffer. In severe cases, the women disassociate—they allow their minds to go elsewhere so they will not feel the abuse. Sometimes, the women have no memory of any details of the abuse.

These women are not always meek, Cusick told the jury, but may be as aggressive as the batterers are. It is not uncommon for these women to have other problems relating to emotions, anger or substance abuse. Often, the victims are too ashamed to report the domestic violence to authorities. If the victim does report the incident, it is common for the victim to later urge prosecutors to drop any charges or to be reluctant to testify against the batterer. This may occur for several reasons—because the relationship is in a honeymoon period again, because the victim does not want to suffer the shame and humiliation of having a private matter publicized, because of fear of retaliation or because recounting the abuse causes anxiety.

She also described battering men as often very conscious of their abusive behavior. They could be very deliberate about it. For example, a batterer might choose what part of a victim’s body to batter depending on whether he wanted the victim to go to work or not. An incident can be triggered if the batterer feels powerless and that the victim is out of his control. Batterers use intimidation and abuse to regain a sense of power and control.

Despite a public perception that these women could leave these relationships if they wanted to do so, Cusick opined that this is difficult for these women to do, for many reasons. Some victims want to keep their children in a family setting; some lack the economic resources to leave; some fear retaliation; some love the battering person and want to try to make the relationship work; and some are influenced by religious and cultural views of relationships. These relationships often continue until a major event occurs that changes the family dynamic.

F. Strangulation Evidence

A second expert—Dr. Arnold Josselson—testified that strangulation could cause death under certain circumstances.[8] He told the jury that strangled persons often had bruises, redness or scratches on their necks. Fingernail scratches on the victim’s neck were consistent with manual strangulation—when the strangler uses his or her hands on the victim’s neck. The more the victim struggles, the more marks will be left on the neck. Bruises would be harder to see if the victim was dark-skinned.[9] The victim might also suffer a voice change as the result of damage to the larynx from strangulation.

He testified that if enough pressure is applied to the blood vessels, the victim may lose consciousness because of loss of blood and oxygen to the brain. If the pressure continues, Dr. Josselson opined, the victim could die of strangulation.[10] Loss of consciousness could occur within 10 or 15 seconds after sufficient pressure is applied, he told the jury. Prolonged deprivation of blood to the brain from manual strangulation would likely result in death.

People v. Price 6/30/04 A101668CA1/4-Hearsay/Battered Womens Syndrome

Jun 30 2004

A101668
[PDF] [DOC]

P. v. Price 6/30/04 A101668CA1/4

A - B- C- D - E- F - G - H -I- J - L - M- N - K to Z
People. v. Carmony 3/25/05 CA3C038802-Romero Motion
California: Authoritative-Law Dictionary: Table of Contents
Glossaries Directory Table of Contents
Thesaurus Directory
Dictionaries Directory Table of Contents