How many battered women are in prison (generally, or specifically, for killing their batterers)?
Specific information about the number of battered women who are in California’s state prisons for killing their abusive partner is not currently available. However, in California alone there are over 10,000 women in state prison, and we know from research that a majority of them have histories of being abused as children and/or adults (see Barbara Bloom, Meda Chesney Lind & Barbara Owen. 1994. Women in California Prisons: Hidden Victims of the War on Drugs. Center on Juvenile Crime and Criminal Justice Report. San Francisco, CA. p. 3). Thus, we believe that perhaps thousands of women in California’s prisons are survivors of domestic violence, many for crimes that are directly related to their experiences of domestic violence, although a much smaller number of them are eligible for habeas corpus relief under the current law.
