I came across this article a few minutes ago and I'm just not sure how I feel about it. Actually, that's not true. It pisses me right off but I can see both sides of it and that pisses me off even more. To say that being a victim of domestic violence is no excuse for the women who do not intervene to save their children from a living situation that results in their harm or death is both disgusting to me and reasonable. Here's the thing...I don't think people can understand what being in a situation like that where fear becomes an ingrained part of your life and where trying to please someone who can never be pleased becomes the key to your survival does to a person. I'm not big on playing the gender card but I think that in this particular case most men really can't understand it. And maybe alot of women can't either. I don't know. Why would you not just walk away? But if you think about how much a woman in this situation goes through, you can imagine how they might think that they couldn't leave. That they were too stupid or too weak to survive on their own, or that the man in their life wouldn't let them go. That something worse could happen if they were to enrage him in that way. On the other hand, a grown woman has a limitless amount of options and control that a child just doesn't have. In any situation. A 2 year old girl can't walk away no matter what hand she's been dealt so it falls to the parent to care for them at whatever cost. So yes. This article has me all aflutter. My overall feeling is that Arnie has his head so far up his rich white male ass that he has no business judging anyone. I can't imagine that he has much empathy for someone who has been dominated and abused or much understanding of what that kind of constant fear can do to a person. Anyway, I'm done with my rant so here's the article.
"When California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied parole to a battered woman last week, he underscored a message that courts and prosecutors are increasingly giving mothers: They can be prosecuted for murder and imprisoned if they fail to prevent their children from being killed.
Linda Lee Smith, 52, has spent 24 years in prison in the murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Amy. Although the parole board has declared her suitable for release six times since 1989, the state's governors have decided otherwise.
Smith was convicted of second-degree murder in San Luis Obispo County in 1980 and sentenced to 15 years to life after she did not stop her boyfriend from fatally beating Amy. Whether Smith participated in Amy's abuse was hotly disputed at her trial. The prosecution argued that by not aggressively intervening, she condoned the violence.
That Smith may have been a victim of domestic violence was no defense, Schwarzenegger said. He said in his May 18 letter denying parole that Smith still poses "an unreasonable threat to public safety."
Smith's situation is not unique. Legal scholars and court dockets across the nation suggest that during the past two decades, mothers increasingly have been blamed -- and prosecuted --for not protecting their children from harm. That includes women who have been victims of domestic violence or who have used drugs while they were pregnant."
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you know, I think that's kindof sick. I don't understand who this woman could still be a danger to society after 24 years. She was passive, possibly on drugs, or a victim of her boyfriends' abuse herself... it's a crime that she did not do something, but this woman will always be paying that debt. Jail in fact may be a respite for her, as she does not have to "go on" with her life; she can tell herself that she is being punished, and therefore does not have to punish herself for what she has done.
were she to be set free, she would have to finally face what she's done, and find a way to live a real life with that knowledge. And what kind of danger would she pose to others? Surely she will have no more children, and who would leave theirs in her care? She herself has not shown violence... perhaps she would be a danger to herself, but is that a reason for taxpayers to pay for her food, lodging, supervision & medical care?
let her out.
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