Trend Toward More Lenient Sentencing of Domestic Violence Survivors Who Kill Their Husbands

An earlier blog entry discussed whether courts in China would consider past abuse as a mitigating factor in the sentencing of domestic violence victims who kill their abusive husbands. An article published by the Yanchao City Paper directly addresses this topic. In the article, Wu Changzhen (巫昌祯), professor of law at the China University of Politics and Law, observes that, prior to the year 2000, the majority of domestic violence victims who killed their husbands were sentenced to death. Professor Wu, however, believes that the sentencing of such offenders has gone from “harsh” to “lenient” over the last few years. Professor Wu personally acted as an advocate in a mariticide (the killing of a spouse, especially a husband) case involving a domestic violence victim, Li Ying (李颖). (Ms. Li faced the additional disadvantage that her abusive husband was a police officer.) The trial court hearing Ms. Li’s case initially sentenced her to the death. On appeal, Professor Wu and Ms. Li’s legal counsel, Liu Xiuzhen (刘秀珍), presented evidence of Ms. Li’s abuse at the hands of her husband. Based on this past abuse, the appellate court decided that Ms. Li’s punishment was “excessively heavy” (偏重) and reduced her sentence to fifteen years imprisonment. (Ms. Li, in fact, served less than 11 years due to two reductions in her sentence for good behavior.)

Ms. Li’s case appears to be a sign of progress in the judicial treatment of mariticide cases involving domestic violence. Our optimism, however, should be tempered by three factors: First, Ms. Li’s appeal may not have been as successful were it not for the extraordinary assistance of Professor Wu. Unfortunately, most domestic violence survivors lack access to such zealous and well-connected advocates. Second, the sentencing of domestic violence victims in mariticide cases is far from uniform. As Ms. Liu points out in the article, when faced with a case like Ms. Li’s, some courts will issue a sentence of three years imprisonment, while other courts might sentence the perpetrator to death. Third, efforts to promote judicial leniency toward women like Ms. Li may be hampered by legal experts who see such reduced sentencing as promoting criminal behavior. Ultimately, the better solution is to provide battered women with improved legal protections (e.g., protection orders) so that they do not feel compelled to kill their husbands in the first place.