Leaving Doesn't Mean Living: Analyzing the Case of Angela Vaughn, Criminalized Survivors of Gender-based Violence, and International Human Rights Law

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Citation: Vol. 51 No. 2
• Publication year: 2023

Leaving Doesn't Mean Living: Analyzing the Case of Angela Vaughn, Criminalized Survivors of Gender-Based Violence, and International Human Rights Law

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Ellie Williams^*

Table of Contents

I. Introduction........................................................................................588

II. Background on Gender-Based Violence, the Criminal Justice System, and the Criminalization of Survivors.......590

A. Gender-Based Violence.....................................................590
B. The Criminal Justice System..............................................594
C. Criminalized Survivors......................................................594

III. Legal Framework.............................................................................603

A. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.........................................604
B. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.......607
C. Universal Declaration of Human Rights...........................609

IV. Angela Vaughn's Case....................................................................609

A. Angela Vaughn's History of Abuse....................................610
B. Angela Vaughn's Relationship with Ronald Grant...........612
C. Ronald Grant's Death: October 24, 2003.........................614

V. Analysis...............................................................................................616

A. Violations of CEDAW........................................................616
B. Violations of the ICCPR....................................................621
C. Violations of the UDHR.....................................................621

VI. Conclusion.........................................................................................626

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I. Introduction

"Where was my protection? And now I'm sentenced for murder? I would have been better off if I had let him kill me."¹ A chilling quote by Angela Vaughn demonstrates the tragic experience that many survivors of domestic violence face when they act to protect themselves from their abusive partners. Angela Vaughn is a mother, a daughter, and a friend who now faces a lengthy prison sentence as a result of the criminalization of her survival of domestic violence.² Vaughn lived in constant fear of her live-in boyfriend Ronald Grant's physically abusive behavior, control tactics, and threats.³ Perhaps most importantly, Vaughn's intimate understanding of Grant and the dynamics of their relationship led her to believe that her life was in danger on October 24, 2003.⁴ As a result, Vaughn acted to save her life by firing a single shot, killing Grant.⁵ Now, Vaughn is a criminalized survivor of domestic violence, serving a thirty-year sentence after a jury found her guilty of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.⁶ In essence, Vaughn is serving an unjustly long sentence for protecting herself and her children.⁷

Angela Vaughn's story represents one of many where survivors of domestic violence are facing lengthy sentences for protecting themselves from an abusive person or in response to abuse.⁸ Domestic violence is defined as "a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner."⁹ It can involve abuse of other household or family members beyond intimate partners as well.¹⁰ Abusers use tactics such as "physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological

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actions or threats of actions [to] influence"¹¹ the people they abuse.¹² Domestic violence happens to people of all "race[s], age[s], sexual orientation[s], religion[s], [and] gender[s]."¹³ It also affects people of all socioeconomic groups and levels of education.¹⁴ Many survivors of domestic violence, specifically women—Tracey Grissom in Alabama, Charise Douglas in Georgia, and Tiffany Carroll in South Carolina¹⁵ —are still incarcerated for acting to protect themselves. These survivors must wait for long periods of time before their cases are resolved and face long sentences for acting in direct response to the abuse they experienced.¹⁶ Though there are many types of acts for which survivors are criminalized, this Note will focus on actions taken in self-defense against an abusive person, often resulting in charges like assault and murder.

Section II of this Note will provide background information on gender-based violence, the American criminal justice system (with a particular focus on challenges faced by women and by survivors of interpersonal violence), and the criminalization of survivors. Section Ill will provide the international legal landscape that is pertinent to this issue. Section IV will then analyze Angela Vaughn's case and apply international human rights law to demonstrate the errors that have been and could continue to be committed in her case. Lastly, Section V will conclude this Note by providing recommendations to the State of South Carolina and, more broadly, to American criminal justice entities for how they can provide better outcomes for criminalized survivors through improved legislation, trial practices, and sentencing practices.

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II. Background on Gender-Based Violence, the Criminal Justice System, and the Criminalization of Survivors

A. Gender-Based Violence

Two significant issues—gender-based violence and the role of gender in the context of the criminal justice system—feed into the issue of the criminalization of survivors of domestic violence. Gender-based violence is endemic in the United States.¹⁷ According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, "nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner" in America, meaning that more than ten million individuals are abused each year.¹⁸ Additionally, one in four women and one in nine men in America experience severe physical violence, contact sexual violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.¹⁹ With regard to sexual violence, on average, an American experiences sexual assault every sixty-eight seconds.²⁰ Additionally, one in six women and one in thirty-three men in America "have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime."²¹ Though this widespread problem affects people of all demographic groups, these statistics demonstrate that these types of violence disproportionately affect women.²²

Experiencing abuse and trauma can lead to severe long-term impacts such as anxiety, depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), substance abuse challenges, self-injury, suicide, and other mental health and interpersonal challenges.²³ Trauma causes the brain to process memories or experiences in a way that often leads trauma survivors to live in a constant state of hypervigilance or fear.²⁴ PTSD and related trauma triggers (" . . . . a stimulus

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that causes memories or reactions to severe or sustained trauma"²⁵ ) often cause people who have experienced trauma to react to something normal or non-threatening as if their body is in danger and fearful of such danger.²⁶ Additionally, the brain associates certain sights, sounds, smells, and other stimuli with traumatic experiences.²⁷ Experiencing or being exposed to one of these stimuli can cause trauma triggers for the person who experienced trauma, leading their body to react to the stimulus as if it is presently in danger.²⁸ Thus, experiencing various trauma triggers can lead a person's body to experience a "flight, fight[,] freeze response[]" and react as if they are experiencing trauma.²⁹ In addition, people develop various mental health disorders as a result of experiencing trauma.³⁰ Moreover, many survivors end up in poverty or without housing as a result of their need to leave abusive situations, as they lack resources due to their abusive partners' controlling behavior and tactics.³¹

Domestic violence between intimate partners, in particular, presents unique challenges to survivors. Domestic violence is rooted in the abuser's desire to exert power and control over their partner.³² Because of this, domestic abusers will utilize a variety of tactics to maintain control in the relationship.³³ Physical and sexual abuse are used for a variety of reasons, including instilling fear in the survivor.³⁴ Additionally, this physical and sexual abuse is often accompanied by emotional and psychological abuse that leads the survivor to believe that no one else will ever love them or that they deserve this type of treatment.³⁵ Abusive people use gaslighting techniques, making their partners doubt or question their own reality or what they know to be true.³⁶ Abusers also isolate survivors from friends and family, control where their partners go, and control the family's employment and finances.³⁷ These abuse tactics and many more are used to maintain power and control in the relationship. Abusers' exertion of power and control over survivors makes it difficult

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for survivors to document the abuse, seek help, or report the abuse.³⁸ The lack of documentation and evidence makes it challenging for survivors to pursue civil or criminal legal remedies against their abusers. Additionally, the hormones and neurotransmitters that the brain releases in response to trauma inhibit the production and retention of memories.³⁹ Thus, it is difficult for the brain to remember a traumatic event in its entirety and in chronological order.⁴⁰ "A victim's prior physiological response to a traumatic experience may make them seem like they cannot get their story straight, or in chronological order. When in reality, it is actually that they cannot account for their memory of the event in chronological order."⁴¹ Moreover, victims commonly only remember certain aspects of the event (often the most traumatic aspects) and forget other aspects.⁴²

Because of the multifaceted issues that accompany abusive relationships, survivors face significant challenges and barriers when trying to leave an...