Blurring the Boundaries: Women's Criminality in the Context of Abuse

Abstract

A link between women's victimization, generally speaking, and criminal offending has been substantiated throughout feminist criminological scholarship. However, more research is needed in order to better understand the connections between intimate partner victimization and female offending within varying contexts. The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which different criminal offenses within the context of intimate-partner battering may be understood as an extension of a woman's efforts to survive this victimization. Specifically, I was interested in analyzing how the context of intimate-partner battering shapes a woman's choices, or lack thereof, to engage in crime. Stated another way, does intimate-partner victimization create a context for women in which engaging in illegal activity seems reasonable, or perhaps necessary, in order to survive and resist victimization? I argue that while there are indeed various avenues of legitimate help-seeking theoretically available to battered women (e.g., calling the police, filing for divorce, fleeing to a shelter), these avenues are sometimes unavailable, inaccessible, or unhelpful. In this context, committing crimes provides an additional outlet for surviving violent victimization. Conceptual Framework Woman battering is one of the most pervasive social problems today. It occurs within a central institution in our society, the family or intimate dyad, and involves the patterned manipulation, degradation, and abuse of a woman by an intimate partner (most commonly a man) for the purposes of establishing power and control. Battering accounts for the physical injuries and sexual assaults of approximately 1.5 million women each year in the United States (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000), as well as the deaths of an estimated 1,300 women annually (U.S. Department of Justice, 2000). These figures illustrate the way in which even our most intimate of spaces remains infused with patriarchy and gendered violence. By supporting idealized hegemonic standards of gender, patriarchy lends a supportive structure for male domination of females in various respects (Rhode, 1989). For instance, men are encouraged to take authoritative roles in dating situations and marriage in ways that ensure women remain respectful of, dependent upon, and submissive to them (McGregor & Hopkins, 1991; Schneider, 2000). Patriarchy also plays a significant role in entrapping battered women in abusive relationships by influencing social expectations about marriage and the role of law in violent domestic situations (Dobash & Dobash, 1988; Schneider, 2000; Stark & Flitcraft, 1991). Marriage has long been considered a sacred and private institution that should not be intruded upon by outside forces like the police or court system (McGregor & Hopkins, 1991). The justice system, particularly the police and courts, have historically marginalized or outright ignored battered women's requests for protection (Buzawa & Austin, 1993; Dobash & Dobash, 1979; Ferraro, 1989; Websdale, 1995; Websdale & Johnson, 1997) and continue to respond to them in inconsistent and often discriminatory ways (Eigenberg, Scarborough, & Rappeler, 1996; Ferraro, 1989, 1993; Ptacek, 1999) in spite of mandatory and presumptive arrest policies, enhanced prosecutorial efforts, and harsher sentences for convicted offenders. While the Violence Against Women. Act [VAWA] has provided much needed funding for police, prosecutors, education and other prevention programs, as well as shelters and victim services (U.S. State Department, 1998), its effectiveness has simultaneously been impeded by welfare reform (Roberts, 1999). The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act [PRWORA] substantially eroded welfare benefits for the poor, many of whom are impoverished because of domestic violence (Brandwein, 1999; Ferraro, 2001; Kurz, 1998; Zorza, 1991). While PRWORA provides a stipulation for domestic-violence victims whereby they may be exempted from the time limits placed on recipients for receiving benefits, these exemptions are inconsistently offered to abused women (Kurz, 1998; Roberts, 1999). …