Opinion
 

Justice system too hard on battered women

by Crystal C. Brown

Once again, a Houston mother and wife has made national headlines in a murder trial against her husband. The Susan Wright case was the topic of global conversations because of the nature of the case: she stabbed her allegedly abusive husband 193 times.

Clara Harris from Clear Lake was sentenced to 25 years last year for running over her cheating spouse with her Mercedes. Women I spoke with felt her sentence was harsh when one considers the emotional and verbal abuse that she was subjected to by her spouse.

Isn't it ironic that both women received 25-year sentences? Are Harris County juries reluctant to extend understanding and compassion toward emotionally and physically abused women?

I do not condone murder, but each murder case is unique. The prosecution bringing in the actual bed and re-enacting the murder from their perspective was not only tacky, it was sensationalist and inappropriate. Only two people truly know the evening's events, and only one is alive to accurately portray it. When men are on trial for murder and rape, prosecutors don't go to the extreme of re-enacting rape scenes to persuade the jury of the brutality of the crime.

I believe Susan Wright was an abused woman. Only anger and years of abuse would stir up enough emotion and energy to stab someone that many times. Yes, she should be punished for taking a life, but if it was self-defense, she should not be sent to prison. Self-defense is to kill or be killed.

The justice system is flawed. Battered women aren't protected and then the system steps in when it is time to sentence them for killing their batterers. Cries and pleas fall on deaf ears to police yet juries hand down verdicts in a matter of hours. Greater intervention is necessary from government agencies to stop the cycle of domestic violence before women take matters into their own hands ... literally.

Brown, UH alumna, 
can be reached via dccampus@mail.uh.edu.