CC203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: South African Class 19C 4-8-2, Montreal Star, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Document Summary
Long time battered women, her husband stabbed her 11 times. She murdered him with an axe, her sentenced was to be hanged. 1909 wife beating was listed in the federal criminal code. Section 295 in 1906: assaults occasioning actual bodily harm - you can"t beat her with anything bigger then your thumb. Most men found guilty of beating their wives were fined- most women didn"t want their husbands put in jail because their children would starve- an option was they wanted a small public shame and pay a fine. Penalties of whipping and imprisonment for the offender were rarely used. If a women was outspoken not submissive the husband didn"t think that she could support his lifestyle. Divorce act of 1968, and changing attitudes in policing from the mid-1980s offered women greater promise of escaping abuse and finding remedies through the courts. Trying to get out of a dangerous marriage. Police officers had to be cited for domestic violence.