Death, but is it murder? The role of stereotypes and cultural perceptions in the wrongful convictions of women.

• Author: Lewis, Andrea L.
• Position: Wrongful Convictions: Understanding and Addressing Criminal Injustice

1. INTRODUCTION

   Six days after her three-year-old son died in a house fire, Kristine Bunch was arrested for starting the fire and intentionally killing him. (1) Bunch spent seventeen years in prison after being convicted of murder and arson under the theory she locked the child in a bedroom and lit the room on fire. (2) Tragically, evidence eventually showed there was no arson and Bunch was innocent. (3) After Sabrina Butler spent more than five years on death row in Mississippi, she also was found innocent of killing her son, who actually died from a genetic medical condition. (4) Before she was exonerated in 2008, Audrey Edmunds spent eleven years in prison after the death of a seven-month-old baby in her care. (5) Edmunds's case was one of the first to be reversed based on the arguably questionable science behind shaken baby syndrome, after experts testified that no evidence supported the State's theory that she shook the baby. (6)

   As with many wrongfully convicted women, these women became suspects because they were mothers or caregivers. Also, like most wrongfully convicted women, these women were traumatized and lost years of their lives over "crimes" which, evidence has shown, did not occur. Consider that sixty-four percent of exonerated women were wrongfully convicted even though no crime had occurred. (7) In contrast, 23.2% of exonerated men were wrongfully convicted for crimes that never happened. (8) That disparity is a clear indication that something different happens in the wrongful convictions of women than when men are wrongfully convicted. The differences between the wrongful convictions of men and the wrongful convictions of women warrant serious study.

2. PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE

   This article will highlight characteristics of women who have been wrongfully convicted of harming or killing children, especially when no crime has occurred. The article discusses how stereotypes play a unique role in those wrongful convictions. Specifically, we will examine how stereotypes and the cultural perception of women as nurturers, mothers, and protectors of children likely contribute to the wrongful convictions of women.

   In Part III, we will provide general information and statistics related to women's wrongful convictions. Part IV will discuss how stereotypes may cause these convictions. In Part V, we will discuss the types of circumstances that lead to women being erroneously charged with and convicted of crimes that never occurred. Part VI will address how stereotypes in no-crime cases make the wrongful convictions of women particularly complex to resolve. In conclusion, the article will promote further study of the wrongful convictions of women and make policy recommendations to reduce those wrongful convictions.

3. OVERVIEW AND STATISTICS

   1. Relevant Definitions

      Wrongful convictions scholars utilize different terms to refer to and define the terms "exonerations" and "exonerees." For example, Huff and colleagues describe wrongfully convicted individuals as "convicted innocents," and define that term as "people who have been arrested on criminal charges ... who have either pleaded guilty to the charge or have been tried and found guilty; and who, notwithstanding plea or verdict, are in fact innocent." (9) These authors exclude from their focus individuals who were held "for considerable periods of time" but had the charges dropped before trial because they were actually innocent; however, they still consider those individuals "convicted innocents." (10) In contrast, Samuel Gross, editor and cofounder of the National Registry of Exonerations (National Registry), and a leading scholar in the field, defines exoneration as "an official act declaring a defendant not guilty of a crime for which he or she had previously been convicted," thereby making the defendant an "exoneree." (11) Gross considers exonerations to result from four sources: (1) pardons or similar executive actions which freed prisoners based on actual innocence, (2) convictions vacated after new evidence of innocence emerged, (3) acquittals in retrials granted on the basis that the defendant was not involved in the crime, and (4) posthumous acknowledgements that a person was actually innocent. (12) For purposes of this article, we use Gross's definition of exoneration.

      We recognize that several organizations maintain separate tallies of exonerations. (13) Here, we have gathered our data from the National Registry, a joint project between the University of Michigan and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. (14) Thus, when we refer to wrongfully convicted women, unless otherwise noted, we refer to women listed in the National Registry.

   2. Statistics

      Since 1989, 1567 individuals in the United States have been exonerated. (15) One hundred thirty-nine, or 8.9%, of the exonerees are women. (16) Ninety-seven of those women have been exonerated since the year 2000. (17) Clearly, women are only recently gaining more attention in the world of wrongful convictions. (18) We anticipate that the number of wrongfully convicted women is higher than the current statistics reflect. We say this in part because not all individuals who are wrongfully convicted have the legal means or resources to challenge their convictions past the direct appeals process, even if new evidence of innocence does arise. (19) As we will address in Part VI, this can be particularly true in cases where women are convicted of a crime that never occurred. (20)

      Some similarities exist between the types of crimes for which male and female exonerees were convicted. The most common crimes for which female exonerees were convicted were murder (forty-nine), child sex abuse (twenty-six), (21) drug crimes (twenty-two), manslaughter (eight), and child abuse (five). (22) The most common crimes for which male exonerees were convicted were murder (618), sexual assault (270), child sex abuse (150), drug crimes (ninety-three), and robbery (eighty-seven). (23) Nonetheless, while the types of crimes are similar, the circumstances under which women were wrongfully convicted differ.

      About forty-five percent of all female exonerees were convicted of physically harming or killing a close family member, a loved one, or a child in their care. (24) Male exonerees were far more likely to be convicted of killing or physically harming individuals who did not fall into those categories. (25) Shockingly, in sixty-four percent of women's wrongful conviction cases, the evidence at the time of exoneration suggested that no crime took place at all. (26) In contrast, evidence showed no crime occurred in only (23). (2)% of male cases. (27)

      It has been estimated that "[m]others and step-mothers kill about half of all children murdered." (28) It is unclear whether this estimate contemplates the possibility of wrongful convictions, but considering the number of female exonerees who were falsely accused of killing their own children or others in their care, this issue certainly necessitates study and clarification. (29)

4. STEREOTYPES AFFECTING WOMEN IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

   Historically, Western society has considered a woman's role to be that of wife and mother. (30) Therefore, women are assumed to be natural caregivers with the biological bonds of love with the children they bear. (31) As noted by Caroline Rogus:

   Because there exists an ideal form of motherhood, and because this ideal imagines the nurturing and caregiving we associate with motherhood to be instinctual among women, women who give birth are automatically compared to the ideal mother. Furthermore, because this ideal is unattainable for most women, women are set up to constantly attempt and consistently fail at modeling themselves after this ideal. The ideal mother is also used to justify restrictions on women's liberties and citizenship. Thus, the presumption that the biological event of birth results in motherhood imposes society's rigid construction of ideal motherhood on women. A woman who gives birth is expected to adhere to the ideals of motherhood or face the consequences (and penalties), leaving women with children (and those without) little room to express their citizenship as individuals. (32) In addition to the assumption that women are nurturers, society typically regards women as passive, cooperative, and nonthreatening. (33) People look favorably upon women who behave consistently with these stereotypes, and shun those who do not. (34) In contrast, men accused of threatening or harming others are given a greater degree of leniency in the eyes of society. For example, the male as a "warrior," or protector, is an archetype that traditionally is seen in a positive light. (35) In Western culture, evil or violent women have been placed into the '"Female Monster' archetype, taking the form of sirens, chimeras, witches, and other grotesque figures said to reflect 'the male dread of women.'" (36) Society also has permitted men more latitude to commit "crimes of passion." (37) When men kill their children and loved ones they are considered "bad and normal," whereas women accused of the same crimes are considered "mad and abnormal." (38)

   A stereotype commonly applied to women accused of killing children is that of the flawed mother. (39) In other words, the woman is portrayed as "evil, deceptive, and callous." (40) She is a failed caretaker. (41) The media often emphasizes this dichotomy between the good mother and the bad mother: the good mother as the ultimate nurturer, and the bad mother as the ultimate destroyer. (42)

   Two types of flawed mothers are portrayed within the criminal justice system: the "mad" mother, the superior caretaker who has conformed to traditional gender roles but merely committed an irrational act because she was mentally ill; and the "bad" mother, who simply is a cold, callous woman incapable of caregiving and therefore nonfeminine. (43) The bad mother falls into the...