Also on the news is the finding that Scott Peterson, previously convicted of killing his 8-months-pregnant wife, Lacie, will receive the death penalty for those convictions.
I am stymied by the differences here. I know that Bonnie Lee Bakley was disparaged for her sometimes quasi-criminal past. She was painted as a groupie - a woman somewhat unhinged by her need for attention and desire to be associated with famous people. She gave birth to a child fathered by Blake. Her child is now being raised by Blake's older daughter.
Lacie Peterson, on the other hand, was seen as an ideal wife. Scott was the errant husband, deceiving his girlfriend by telling her he wasn't married. We are all now familiar with the picture of Lacie proudly displaying her obviously pregant belly.
I do believe that this along with Blake's superior financial resources account for the differences in the outcomes. Those factors weigh far more heavily in criminal court decisions than any amount of evidence or proof.
Whether you believe Blake and Peterson to be innocent or not, the two dead women (and Lacie's poor baby who will never be born) are examples of the all-too-often minimized war on women that is waged daily from coast to coast and border to border in the good 'ol USA.
Consider these statistics:
- In 95% of reported domestic assault, the female is the victim and the male is the perpetrator. 3% of reported domestic assaults are homosexual male couples. In 2% of reported domestic assaults, the female is the perpetrator.
- Each year, 7% of all American women are physically abused by their spouse or partner.
14% of all American women acknowledge having been violently abused by a husband or boyfriend. - In 1998, 35% of all violence against women was by an intimate partner.
75% of domestic homicides occur after the victim has left the perpetrator.
28% of all homicides of women are related to domestic violence. - Violence against women in the home causes more injuries to women than car accidents, mugging, and rapes combined.
- Every day, 4 women are killed by their intimate partner.
- Kids in homes of Domestic Abuse are 1000x more likely to abuse as adults, 74x as likely to commit crimes against other people and 24x as likely to commit rape or sexual assault.
(Source: Murray Strauss, University of Durham, N.H.)(Recent research from American Psychological Association confirms this study.)
These numbers point out the reality of domestic violence. They tell you who is being abused and by whom. They tell you why the victims "don't just leave." They speak volumes as to the truth of women's lives.
The cases heard in Tennessee courtrooms are just as bad as those heard in these two California courtrooms. We may have a few battered women's shelters. We may have a few advocacy programs in place. We may have domestic violence task forces, working groups, and other associations populated by sometimes well-meaning professionals. But until we cut more deeply into the flesh of the beast in the living room, the numbers cited above will never change.We must begin early. The children are the hope for change in this battle against a monster that deforms many lives. Until we begin to teach our children - all of our children - that love makes no excuses for violence, we will spend our resources and energies cleaning up after this beast.
