Opinion | Who Gets to Kill in Self-Defense?

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the challenges faced by women who kill their abusive partners and the shortcomings of the U.S. legal system in addressing domestic violence. It examines the cases of Anita Ford and Shajia Ayobi, who were convicted of murdering their husbands despite evidence of long-term abuse. The article also presents findings from a Stanford study that surveyed hundreds of incarcerated women in California, revealing the high rates of domestic violence experienced by those convicted of homicide-related crimes. The article explores the legal principles of self-defense and how they often fail to account for the realities of domestic abuse, and it compares the U.S. approach to that of Canada, which has implemented more expansive self-defense laws. The article argues that the legal system needs to better understand and accommodate the experiences of abused women who resort to violence as a means of survival.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Anita Ford and Shajia Ayobi's Cases

1. What were the key details of Anita Ford's case?

• Anita Ford was convicted of first-degree murder in 1987 for her role in the death of her abusive husband, Barry Ford.
• She had endured years of physical and emotional abuse from her husband, including being dragged by her hair, having her hand squeezed until a glass broke, and her husband hitting their children.
• Ford had tried to leave her husband multiple times, including fleeing to a friend's house, but he would track her down and threaten her and the children.
• On the night her husband died, Ford confronted him, saying "It's either going to be you, or it's going to be me. One of us is going to die, because I'm not playing this game anymore."

2. What were the key details of Shajia Ayobi's case?

• Shajia Ayobi was convicted of first-degree murder in 2013 for her role in the death of her abusive husband, Ghulam Ayobi.
• Ghulam Ayobi had become increasingly erratic and controlling over the years, stalking Ayobi at her job and threatening to kill the children if she tried to flee.
• Ayobi considered getting a gun for protection but feared her husband would find it and use it against the family.
• Ayobi ultimately offered a classmate $10,000 to kill her husband, rather than killing him herself.

[02] Findings from the Stanford Study

1. What were the key findings from the Stanford study on incarcerated women in California?

• The study surveyed 649 women incarcerated in California for murder or manslaughter, and found that nearly three-quarters of them had experienced intimate partner violence in the year leading up to their convictions.
• Of the 134 women convicted in the deaths of their partners, 110 had experienced domestic abuse in the year prior, with 80 of them being in extreme or severe danger.
• The study found high rates of nonfatal strangulation or choking among the women, with 60% reporting such incidents, which can lead to traumatic brain injuries.
• The Danger Assessments conducted as part of the study showed that two-thirds of the women who experienced intimate partner violence in the year prior were in the "extreme" danger category, meaning they were at the highest risk of being killed by their abusers.

2. How did the findings of the Stanford study challenge the legal system's approach to these cases?

• The high rates of domestic abuse and extreme danger faced by the incarcerated women highlighted how the legal system often fails to adequately account for the realities of domestic violence when adjudicating these cases.
• The study demonstrated that many of these women were acting out of desperation and a fear for their lives, rather than premeditated murder, but the legal system still viewed their actions through a narrow lens of self-defense principles.
• The findings underscored the need for the legal system to better understand the cumulative effects of abuse, such as traumatic brain injuries, and how they can impact a victim's ability to appear credible or act "reasonably" in the eyes of the law.

[03] Shortcomings of Self-Defense Laws

1. What are the key principles of self-defense law that prove problematic for abused women?

• Imminence - The threat of great bodily harm or death must be imminent, but for many abused women, the threat is ongoing and cumulative, rather than a single, immediate attack.
• Proportionality - The victim's response must be proportional to the threat, but this is difficult to determine when the abuser has a significant physical advantage.
• Reasonableness - What seems "reasonable" to a court may not align with the victim's lived experience and intuition about the danger they face.

2. How do "stand your ground" laws further disadvantage abused women?

• "Stand your ground" laws generally do not apply to violence in the home against a spouse who has an equal right to be there, leaving domestic violence victims defenseless in the place where they face the most danger.
• These laws are written from a male perspective, emphasizing the need to protect citizens from external threats while ignoring the realities of intimate partner violence.

[04] Comparison to Canada's Reforms

1. How have Canada's legal reforms aimed to better address domestic violence cases?

• In 2013, Canada changed its self-defense laws to allow for a much more expansive definition, considering factors like the parties' relative sizes and strengths, history of abuse, and the nature of the relationship.
• The reforms allow for self-defense arguments even in planned killings, and a woman's personal history of trauma can be introduced as context for her state of mind at the time of the crime.
• This allows for the possibility of full acquittals, rather than just reduced sentences, based on the circumstances of the abuse.

2. How do these Canadian reforms differ from the approach in the United States?

• In the U.S., the impact of contextual factors like abuse history is much more limited, often only resulting in a conviction being downgraded rather than a full acquittal.
• The U.S. legal system has struggled to see the world through the eyes of an abused woman and to understand how years of brutality can shape her perceptions and actions.
• Canada's reforms demonstrate a willingness to more fully imagine the experiences of abused women and to adjust the legal principles of self-defense accordingly.