NOW - NEW YORK STATE SUPPORT MEMO
S3164 (Volker)-A6150 (Weinstein)
- Merit Time Legislation
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The National Organization for Women – New York State, Inc. strongly
supports S3146/A6150. This much needed legislation will grant merit time eligibility
and increased merit time allowances to inmates who have defended themselves
against abusers, or who have committed crimes as a result of the abuse they
have suffered.
This legislation is particularly important to women and their families. Case
study shows that women who are charged with the death of a mate have the least
extensive criminal records of any people convicted of crimes. However, they
face higher penalties than men who kill their mates. FBI statistics display
that fewer men are charged with first or second degree murder for killing a
woman whom they have known than are women who kill a man whom they have known.
And women are frequently sentenced to longer prison terms than are men (Angela
Browne, When Battered Women Kill, New York, NY: The Free Press, 1987, p 11).
Women kill at far lower rates than men, who commit 85% of all homicides. When
they do kill, the vast majority kill family members who have battered them
for years. As many as 90% of the women in jail today for killing men have been
battered by those men (Allison Bass, “Women far less likely to kill than
men; no one sure why,” The Boston Globe, February 24, 1992, p 27). In
a study of gender and homicide, Nancy Jurik and Russ Winn found that 44% of
the women participating said that a precipitating event to the homicide was
partner conflict, and 42% of the women stated that they acted in self-defense
(Nancy Jurik and Russ Winn, “Gender and Homicide: A Comparison of Men
and Women Who Kill,” Violence and Victims, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1990, p. 236).
Ninety percent of all incarcerated women, whom have endured abuse, would benefit
greatly from legislation that would lower sentence lengths in response to proof
of long withstood domestic violence, whether it is physical, psychological,
or sexual.
Women who have defended themselves against abusive individuals are no threat
to society, and often have no criminal records or histories of violence. The
ill-treatment which they have suffered should be considered when convicting
and sentencing takes place. Bills S3164/A6150 will give women who have been
victimized a chance to return to their communities and lead productive lives.
On behalf of over 40,000 supporters, the National Organization for Women-NYS,
Inc. urges the New York State Legislature to pass this legislation.
Marcia A. Pappas, President, NOW-NYS, Inc.
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