Fact Sheets

Parole | J. Lo's Enough (offsite link) | Battered Woman Syndrome
Did you know that...? | Incarcerated Survivors

Statistics on Parole and Battered Women

• The number of battered women in California prisons assisted by California Coalition for Battered Women in Prison in petitioning Governor Wilson for clemency in 1992: 34
• The number of petitioners who never received a response from Governor Wilson: 24
• The number of petitions who never received a response from Governor Davis: 24

• Nearly all (80%) of the women in California’s prisons have experienced some form of abuse either in childhood or as adults. Over half (60%) reported physical abuse as an adult, primarily perpetrated by spouses or partners.1
• Of the 45 women on death row in 1993, almost half (approximately 49%) had a history of abuse and were there for killing an abusive spouse or lover.
• Out of 223 reviewed appellate opinions of cases where battered women killed their abusers, 75% involved confrontations, meaning the woman was being assaulted or abused at the time of the killing.
• Threats of physical injury, mutilation, or death were common among a study of 100 battered women who killed their batterers between 1978-1986. In 41 cases, it was reported that the batterer had threatened to kill the woman at some point in the relationship. Thirty-nine women had been threatened or assaulted at least once with a weapon.
• Two studies suggest that battered women who kill are either being convicted or taking a plea at a rate between 72% and 78% nationally.
• Women usually kill men, not women, and women charged with homicide have the least extensive prior criminal records of any people convicted of crimes.
• Several hundred women in California are serving time for killing their batterers. Hundreds, if not thousands, more are serving time for domestic violence-related crimes.