In the aftermath of George Zimmerman’s controversial not-guilty verdict, another Florida case is making headlines, shining light on the­­ issue of domestic violence.

Recent cases have made it clear that we need better ways to protect women who have survived such abuse.

Last year, Marissa Alexander, a 31-year-old mother of three, was sentenced to 20 years in jail for firing one shot into a wall of her home in hopes of scaring off her abusive husband, who she had a restraining order against.

The two cases beg for comparison. Zimmerman, a self-appointed neighborhood watchman, followed, shot and killed Trayvon Martin, who was not out to harm him. Alexander acted to protect her life, didn’t harm anyone and has to spend two decades behind bars.

Our law enforcement has acted differently between the two cases, highlighting a huge flaw in our country’s systems.

Florida’s “stand your ground” law, in particular, isn’t helping the right people. It should have applied to Alexander because she was defending herself against a husband who had previously been arrested twice on misdemeanor battery charges against other women. He was a clear threat and she was acting out of self-defense.

It’s absurd that this law protected Zimmerman, but not Alexander. Shooting a hole in the wall is not worthy of such severe punishment, but killing an innocent 17-year-old boy is.

Domestic violence is any kind of abusive behavior in a relationship to maintain power or control over a partner. It can be physical, sexual or emotional. It’s a relevant and dangerous issue, and needs to be taken more seriously.

An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year, according to the National Coalition on Domestic Violence. The coalition reported that 85 percent of domestic violence victims are women, and 1 in every 4 women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. Domestic abusers most often victimize women they know, and most cases of domestic violence are never reported to the police.

Advocates are currently trying to pass the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, which would allow judges to factor physical and mental abuse into sentencing decisions in felony criminal cases.

Kim Dadou of Rochester, N.Y., spent 17 years in state prison on first-degree manslaughter charges after killing her boyfriend. It didn’t matter that her boyfriend had been arrested five times before for attacking her.

Dadou said she was a victim before she was a defendant. Yet New York’s mandatory minimum laws didn’t allow judges to consider domestic violence as a factor.

Carie Charlesworth, a second-grade teacher from San Diego, Calif., was fired because her abusive ex-husband showed up outside the school, which was then put on lockdown. She and her four children, who were students, were forbidden from returning to the school because school officials feared their situation would be dangerous for other students and faculty.

When a victim of domestic violence is punished for his or her abuser’s behavior, it perpetuates victim blaming. It is never a woman’s fault that her husband or boyfriend is acting abusively. Rather, it is he who should be punished. The school should have helped Charlesworth and her family find safety, rather than shut them out.

The Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized this year to extend protection to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, immigrants and Native Americans. We’re lucky this happened, rather than the House Republicans’ version of the measure, which would greatly weaken the bill’s protection for certain categories.

Strides of progress, like strengthening VAWA, are what women in this country need. But oftentimes, as in Marissa Alexander’s case, other laws create a conflict. Factors of domestic abuse should be more heavily considered in courts, or else justice will never truly be served.

Laura Cohen is a junior magazine journalism and women’s and gender studies major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at [email protected]. 

Published on July 22, 2013 at 7:20 pm