To Kill Or Be Killed: Women as Victims, Perpetrators, and Survivors

        WC Blogpost by: Elise Pennyfeather

                                                                         
 

Women have been both the target of criminal actions and the perpetrators of crime throughout history, or as we prefer to call it: “herstory.”

As my class has begun to learn, this results from the hierarchical structure of society, forcing women to commit criminal acts in order to fight their oppression. Women throughout history have been seen as weak and subordinate, causing them to be the target of violence, often from their husbands. Moreover, the numerous identities that make up a woman greatly contribute to how they are seen by society. Gender, race, age, social class, sexual orientation, and physical appearance all play unique roles in determining how a person is treated within the criminal system. There are many complex layers to the ‘herstory’ of women and crime, yet my previous learning has focused solely on the stories of incarcerated men. By taking this course, I look forward to learning more about how systemic structures like racial and gender hierarchies affect the criminalization of women. I look forward to discussing themes of female insanity, the different ways of policing different women, and how female criminality will be affected by abortion laws. In a class where a majority of students are female, and each student understands the significance of hearing female stories, I cannot wait to continue participating in class discussions. Previous discussions have been lively and engaging, as each member of our class comes with a different framework for interpreting the information and a unique understanding of the topic. 

For such a long period of time, women have been excluded from history and female stories have been minimized. 

Learning about women and crime today, in 2023, we must recognize the advances women have made within global racial and sexual hierarchies, while also considering the different types of discrimination that still exist. It is very important to learn the stories and histories of women who have been victimized and driven to commit horrific acts. We must consider the full story, including the numerous factors that compelled women to commit criminal actions and how the criminal system treated these women. 

The victimization of women and the crimes that women commit must be understood together. Both situations are relevant to fully understanding the history of women and crime. In “The American Revolution, Wife Beating, and the Emergent Value of Privacy,” scholar Ruth H. Block explains how wife beating was not addressed in the law for centuries, and even when it was addressed, it was difficult or impractical to divorce one’s husband on the grounds of abuse. Women would not receive any financial benefits from divorce during this time period, so they would be left with nothing. Women would only claim divorce on the basis of cruelty if they had significant support from their community. While our system of divorce is much better in 2023 than it used to be, there are still many issues. However, the need for support from a woman’s community still remains. Many women still do not come forward about marital abuse because they fear retaliation or becoming an outcast in society. 

In our class discussion, we spoke about the paradox of opinion in the nineteenth century regarding wife beating. There was an outpouring of sympathy for victims of abuse, most of whom were seen as innocent, vulnerable women who could not protect themselves. However, there was also the belief in the importance of maintaining the hierarchical relationship within a family, allowing men to still maintain control over their wives, resorting to violence if needed. Learning about this was especially infuriating to me, as I cannot understand how people think that maintaining the traditional structure within society could ever be more important than anyone’s safety. Today, many people still believe in the maintenance of this hierarchical relationship, but they frame it as having ‘traditional family values.’ This belief in the nuclear family where the husband is at the top of the hierarchy and controls the wife and children will not vanish easily and makes it much more difficult for women to divorce their husbands, even when abuse occurs. 

The right to privacy, and whether the government should interfere with the private family, is especially pertinent here. However, it is important to note that the right to privacy eventually became a significant force in arguing for reproductive rights and securing the right to different sexual practices, including gay marriage. The right to privacy is clearly a double-edged sword and I would be very interested to learn more about how it has helped secure rights for some groups while stripping others of their basic freedoms. 

Often pushed into a corner where they had no choice but to stand up for themselves, women in ‘herstory’ have fought back against their oppressors. In “Mad Enough to Kill: Enslaved Women, Murder, and Southern Courts,” historian Wilma King speaks about three different girls, Nelly, Letty, and Celia, all of whom respond to their subjugation in similar ways yet are criminalized differently. It is crucial to consider the unique facts of each case and what caused the juries to make different decisions. Nelly was a 14-year-old enslaved teenager who killed her own child, presumably the child of her slave owner, in 1846. Many people, including over 200 residents of Missouri, petitioned the governor asking Nelly to be pardoned. During her trial, a doctor stated his belief that Nelly was suffering from postpartum psychosis and could not be seen as morally accountable for her actions. The petitions worked, Nelly was not executed, and she received a pre-trial exoneration. Going to trial would have been a major scandal for the slave owner. Additionally, if Nelly was executed then the financial welfare of the slave owner’s children would suffer. Our discussion on psychosis was particularly interesting to me. I am curious whether an insanity plea would have had any weight in her trial had it gone to trial and whether other cases of this time period had discussed postpartum psychosis. 

Celia, a 19-year-old enslaved “woman”, was indicted after murdering her owner. She had told her owner that she would hurt him if he tried to force himself on her while she was sick. However, that did not stop him, and when he visited her, she killed him. Celia attempted to destroy evidence. A third female, Letty, was indicted for brutally murdering an infant only 24 hours after delivering her. Letty claimed that she was innocent and would not have done this if the child had been the same color as her. Letty was sentenced to death by hanging, but many people asked for her death sentence to be commuted. 

The major difference between these cases were that Letty and Nelly’s victims were enslaved newborn children who were seen as economically worthless at their birth as they were not yet productive laborers. As a result, slave owners preferred to keep the female slaves accused of murder alive to maintain their economic welfare. Celia’s victim was a well-respected white man who owned land and slaves. To maintain social order, the jury determined that Celia needed to be executed. Twelve jurors voted to execute Celia, while many begged the governor to pardon Nelly. It is very interesting to see the jury's motives here and determine which women were deemed to be needed for policing. I look forward to diving into this topic more with our unit on social order and female policing. 

The sexual exploitation of women is clear in both the nineteenth century and in 2023. In the nineteenth century, slave owners maintained power over their female slaves through rape and physical assault. Additionally, newborn children were considered worthless as they could not yet do labor, so it was more important to free the female slave who killed a child than to get justice for that child. In 2023, however, control of women through these same violent, physical means is still occurring. The hierarchical structure is maintained through this violence and through the denial of abortion rights. The argument is over what rights a fetus has, with little concern about women's rights. It is fascinating to see how the same power struggle occurs centuries later.

Further, this sexual exploitation led to what historian, Nell Irvin Painter, called ‘soul murder,’ which we would now identify as a potential form of post-traumatic stress disorder. ‘Soul murder’ could lead to a multitude of behavioral and psychological issues, including depression and loathing one’s abuser. It is interesting to see how postpartum psychosis was dealt with and understood before it was officially named as a psychological condition. 

The portrayal of women in the media also plays an important role in the public’s perception of female criminality. Intersecting identities of women also contribute to their portrayal and treatment within the criminal system. For example, in the episode “Try and Catch Me" in the show, Columbo, the main character Abigail is a frail old lady who is well-regarded in society and has significant wealth. Despite being investigated for murder, Abigail portrays herself as an elderly, innocent woman who could never have committed such an atrocious act. Here, we see the intersection of her gender, age, race, and social class all play into the investigation. The detective is very kind throughout the investigation, and it is unlikely she would have been treated this well if she did not have the advantages of her race and social class. Further, she used her age and gender to make it seem as though she was incapable of committing such a horrific act. This helped me consider the ways in which our biases and expectations play into our judgments about people, like incarcerated individuals. 

While taking this class, I am very excited to explore the future of crime. We have begun discussing the intersection of motherhood and crime in our readings on the sexual exploitation of enslaved women and I am interested to see how a form of sexual exploitation still occurs today through the denial of abortion rights. Additionally, I am interested in how different women are policed in different ways, like in the different trial outcomes for Nelly, Letty, and Celia. Lastly, I am fascinated by the intersection of psychology and incarceration. I look forward to exploring this avenue and seeing how claims of “insanity” play a role in the discussion of women and crime. I cannot wait for our class discussions on these differing areas of female criminality and to further my understanding of the world of women and crime.