Jul 11, 2007 12:11 am US/Central
Good Question: Are There 'Battered Husbands?'
by Ben Tracy
(WCCO)
Minnesota state lawmaker on trial for abusing his wife said she's the one who hit him. Rep. Mark Olson is accused of repeatedly knocking her down in a fight last fall. However, the Republican's lawyer said his wife made him an abused and frightened husband.
"I think it's possible but probably pretty rare," said one man in Minneapolis.
"It is unusual," said Beverly Balos who teaches domestic violence law at the University of Minnesota. "It's not unusual for a defendant in a domestic assault case to claim self-defense, but to claim he was battered is."
The defense mentioned there may be a "battered husband" defense in their case.
It's a term first coined in the 1970s and involves the same emotional, verbal and/or physical abuse we think of when women are the victims.
"Battering means that you are the target of a pattern of actions by your partner that will lead to power and control over you and that power and control is manifested through violence," said Balos.
The defense is used to convince a jury that a violent response to that abuse is reasonable.
"It first arose when women in self-defense killed their abusive husbands," said Balos.
"A woman could batter a man just as easily as a man could batter a woman," said one woman in the Twin Cities.
However, many of those work on domestic violence issues said that's not true and that "battered husband syndrome" is more excuse than reality.
"Now that doesn't mean it never happens but its not a widespread social problem," said Balos.
Men do get abused and don't often report it. The federal government said 35 percent of all domestic abuse victims are men, but most of those men also abuse their partners.
"It will be interesting to see what the jury does," said Balos.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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