S Court and the Legal System—Family Forensics
Subsequently, a jury of eight women and four men rejected Ms. Malott's claim of self-
defense based on battered woman syndrome and convicted her of second-degree and
attempted murder. She was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for
at least 10 years (Bindman, 1991).
On December 26, 1993, Marsha Brewer Stewart was found with a knife in her chest.
Police say she was murdered by her husband, Gregory. Just 7 months earlier, Marsha
had defended her husband in a suburban Chicago courtroom by testifying that he hat!
not attempted to murder her. She had dismissed the episode as a drunken fit of rage.
Police and prosecutors begged her not to post his bond or move back with him. Like
many other women, she forgave him. On December 26, Marsha called the police in a
desperate plea for help. By the time a squad car arrived, Marsha was dead. Hours later,
her husband was charged with murder (Shalala, 1994).
Cases such as Ms. Malott's and Ms. Stewart's exemplify that domestic violence all
too often leads to disastrous consequences for the couple and their children. Early
intervention can be facilitated by neighbors, community members, and a legal sys-
tem that implements stringent arrest policies for the accused perpetrators. However,
how can victims, police officers, and the courts identify such abusers? As alluded to
earlier, a plethora of research has been geared toward identifying characteristics of
male spousal abusers. Thus far, researchers have been unable to consistently identify
a profile which is inclusive of most abusers, in terms of personality, psychopathol-
ogy, and demographics. In this section the predominant patterns of abusers and
their families of origin are discussed. Furthermore, issues pertinent to court medi-
ation and legal interventions regarding the deterrence of abusers are explored. The
primary objective is to provide clarification on the preceding issues.
The increasing prevalence of cases such as Ms. Malott's and Ms. Stewart's has
engendered vast research regarding the incidence of such abuse and the charac-
teristics of abusive individuals. In the United States alone, 4 million women of all
races and classes are battered by a spouse or intimate partner (Mills, 1996). Battery
by a spouse or intimate partner is the single most common reason for women en-
tering emergency rooms, exceeding the rate of childbirth, automobile accidents,
muggings, and all other medical emergencies (Mills, 1996). Cross-cultural research
indicates that American women are not alone in this regard. A cross-cultural study
of family violence found that domestic abuse occurs in over 84% of the 90 societies
examined (D, Levinson, 1988). In countries such as Canada, Guatemala, Chile,
Columbia, Belgium, and parts of Europe, domestic violence figures range from 4
to 60%. These alarming statistics have mobilized a number of battered women and
feminists nationwide to address the issue of domestic violence.
In an effort to reveal theoretical and treatment implications, vast research has fo-
cused on describing the characteristics of abusers. Hastings arid Hamberger (1988)
suggested that the preponderance of identified male batterers showed evidence of a
personality disorder. These researchers found that in comparison to age-matched,
LITERATURE REVIEW
