As many readers may know, I've been training with the Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk (VIBS) to become a certified Emergency Room Companion (ERC).. Sorry about all the alphabet soup..
This training has involved a great deal of fact-finding, all if which has been totally disturbing. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV.. couldn't resist), the average prison sentence for men who kill their female partners is 2-6 years. Women, however, are sentenced to an average of 15 years for the same crime, even though most women convicted killed in self-defense. As many as 90% of these women who killed were being attacked, battered, or abused at the time they killed. I'll never forget the face of one woman in a documentary, testifying from jail about fearing for her life as her boyfriend raped her with a hot curling iron, yet she is in prison for life, for killing this heinous man.
What reason could possibly account for a female killer deserving 3 or more times the jail time as a man who has committed the same crime? Let's (not) mention the fact that over 60% of violent crimes are committed by men in the first place.. Now I'm no math whiz, but it all just doesn't add up. I can only hope that my life as an attorney will bring us closer to a more fair, just society for all.. especially my fellow ladies.
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