April 11, 2008
Murdered Pregnant Women: The Racial Divide
CBSNews.com Reports: Despite High-Profile Cases In The Media, Maternal Homicide Victims Tend To Be Young And Often, Black
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Murdered moms:(left to right) LaToyia Figueroa, murdered in 2005; Jessie Davis; Jimella Tunstall, a female acquaintance slashed her womb in 2006; Laci Peterson, murdered by her husband Scott Peterson in 2002; Evelyn Hernandez, found in San Francisco Bay at the same time as Laci Peterson in 2002; Jenna Nielsen, murdered in June, case unsolved; Lori Kay Hacking, murdered in 2004, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, stalked and murdered by Lisa Montgomery; Lisa Underwood, murdered by her husband in 2005. (CBS/AP)
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LCpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach and Cpl. Cesar Laurean. (CBS/AP)
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Jessie Davis and Bobby Lee Cutts. (AP)
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Play CBS Video Video Missing Marine Captured Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, the alleged killer of a pregnant marine, was found in Mexico where authorities caught him after a three-month manhunt. Jeff Glor reports.
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Timeline Marine Murder Key dates in the case of a murdered, pregnant Marine and the search for the fellow Marine wanted by the FBI.
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Photo Essay Ohio Mom Mystery Police found Jessie Davis' body and charged her boyfriend with murder.
When Laci Peterson became the symbol of maternal homicide in the mass media and in the law books (the Violence Against Unborn Children Act is also known as the Laci and Connor's Law), it put a white face on the horrendous crime of maternal homicide. In reality, that face is actually young, and often, black.
Reality has been further complicated lately with two more high-profile cases of white pregnant women being killed by their boyfriends: Maria Lauterbach, a pregnant Marine whose body was found alongside her fetus' charred remains; and the guilty verdict against Bobby Cutts, a former Ohio police officer convicted of killing his pregnant girlfriend and disposing of her body in the woods. Both stories dominated the airwaves earlier this year.
Lauterbach's accused killer, also a Marine, was captured Thursday in Mexico after a three-month manhunt.
Left behind in much of the media attention is a slew of similar cases involving black women.
Her killer was her on-and-off boyfriend, Roger McDowell, who was also the father of her 8-year-old daughter. An hour later, he confessed to the police but plead not guilty to murder charges.
Wright was three months pregnant with McDowell's child.
Cases of maternal homicide involving minority women are underreported and underpublicized.
According to the CDC, black women have a maternal homicide risk about seven times that of white women. Black women ages 25-29 are about 11 times more likely as white women in that age group to be murdered while pregnant or in the year after childbirth.
Experts say that a fear and mistrust of the police may lead to black women keeping silent about their suffering.
Fast Fact
These women may be afraid that by calling the police, they may be endangering their partner. The CDC estimates that 4-8 percent of pregnant women in the U.S. are abused by an intimate partner.
"An abused wife or girlfriend may be hesitant to call 911 for fear that he'll be treated violently or even killed by the police," says Theryn Kigvamasud'Vashti, co-director of Communities Against Rape and Abuse in Seattle.
Mandatory arrest laws used in some states require police to make an arrest during any domestic dispute call. And if the batterer presents the situation to make it look like the wife is the initiator of the violence, she could be the one arrested. If she has children, she may fear losing them to social services.
The Bush administration's welfare reform policies spent $300 million on programs to encourage marriage among low-income couples. These programs have indirectly impacted violence in the black community, says Kigvamasud'Vasht. "That money would have been better spent on education for these women so that they could support themselves without their abusive partner."
Young Moms: A Means Of Control
According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 324,000 women each year experience intimate partner violence during their pregnancy. Of these women, 30 percent say the first incident occurs during pregnancy. If a woman is in an abusive or controlling relationship, a pregnancy can make a relationship all the more volatile.
"The woman is more vulnerable to abuse during a pregnancy," says Katherine Von Wormer, professor of social work at the University of Northern Iowa. "She is less likely to be interested in sex. And it may be a time of high stress, economically and otherwise."
The CDC estimates that 4-8 percent of pregnant women in the U.S. are abused by an intimate partner.
For men who want to be "in control" of a relationship, an unwanted pregnancy can lead to anger and violence.
Then there are abusers who use pregnancy as a means to control their girlfriends, to keep them in a vulnerable and dependent condition.
A recent, disturbing study of 61 poor teenaged Boston-area girls of various ethnic backgrounds in abusive relationships published in the journal Ambulatory Pediatrics revealed that 26 percent had reported that their partners were actively trying to get them pregnant against their will. The girls reported that their partners manipulated their birth control or told them that they wanted them to become pregnant.
"You think of forced sex as an aspect of abusive relationships, but this takes that abuse a step further to reproductive control of a young woman's body," said study co-author and pediatrician Elizabeth Miller, M.D.
While a pregnant woman who is older might have the financial resources or support network to seek help, a younger woman may not.
“A young woman who is poor, underage and may be receiving welfare may be less likely to leave an abusive relationship,” says Eboni Colbert, co-director of Communities Against Rape and Abuse. “She may be a ward of the state, she may have no legal guardian. A young woman like that has fewer resources than a woman in her twenties or thirties.”
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- To say that blacks are still only reacting in anger to slavery and have no other reason is amazing - pfd572
Black americans are not reacting to slavery idiot...it''s the assasinations of MLK, Malcolm X, and other leaders of the black civil rights movement that go unpunished. It''s a whole century of abusing/manipulating the law, minimal education of black history to the masses, and the complete removal of property,land,and pride as a means to control a group of people. - Reply to this comment
- Some comments on random posts: I wonder if some people''s opinions and point of view is developed only through tv, movies and slanted literature and by personal observations and experiences. To say women are the oppressors in society isn''t just just ridiculous, it speaks to the commenter being a multiple loser in relationships-could it be because of similar misogynist attitudes in those relationships? To say that blacks are still only reacting in anger to slavery and have no other reason is amazing. As recently as the Korean War the military was segregated and as recently as the 70''s certain ethnic groups were limited to menial jobs in the military, Jim Crow laws were in effect into the 70''s, police agencies still use racial profiling for traffic stops, etc. Welfare is an equal opportunity benefit that is abused, whites, blacks, hispanics, etc. all have a percentage of losers on the rolls. All this being said, racism and bigotry is not color blind. Narrow-minded, bigoted racists come in every color and race. The group of minorities that blame everything negative that does or doesn''t happen to them on the white man and doesn''t even try is as real as the white racist who blames all the woes on people of color/minorities.
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- Parents who deny their child could be an abuser just make it another continuing cycle. The child''s violence is viewed by THEIR children (your grandchildren) and its repeated, and repeated and repeated.
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- ranger1948: TWO sons unfairly accused of abuse? Not the best odds. Sounds like a pattern, not in your favor however. Of course they will have a parent on their side, but making excuses and hiding from facts isn''t in their or your grandchild''s best interests. It may have just been a run of bad luck for your family, but.... Question: did you ever even consider they may have done the crime? Where you there at the time the incidents happened. Or are you a parent in denial, kind of like ''my sons, right or wrong''?
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- neo267: straight from a clueless man''s mouth. MOST abusers, male or female, are attentive, charming, personable, well-liked, as well as manipulative, have low esteem for themselves as well as others or are true sociopaths. Its once they have emotional control over the woman that they become abusive. It usually starts with verbal attacks, then escalates to violence. The males threatens to harm family if she tries to leave, is still the charming guy in front of family and friends , through the threats and intimidation has made the woman too fearful or numb to leave or report abuse, becomes even more violent when a break is attempted - to the point of stalking. All of these reasons, and more, are why woman are caught off guard and don''t to anything when the abuse first starts. Now, please do not make narrow-minded, uninformed remarks just for the shock value or because you have a chip on your shoulder. Thanks.
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- RANGER1948,GET A FREAKIN LIFE.MAYBE YOUR SON DID REALLY HIT HER.JUST BECAUSE U GET HIT THAT DOESNT MEAN A BRUISE AUTOMATICALLY POPS UP.AND Y ARE U TALKING ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE LIKE WE R A FREAKIN SPECIES WEIRDO...IF YALL WHITE COPS(NOT RACIST JUST EMPHASIZING)WOULD STOPPING WHOOPIN OUR BUTTS THEN WE WOULDNT BE SCARED.CAUSE AND EFFECT.WE R NOT THE ONLY ONES AND DID U NOT C BLACK PEOPLE ON TV PROMOTING GOR BLACKS 2 TAKE A STAND.WHITE PEOPLE DO BAD STUFF TOO.AND IF YOU R SCARED,GET A NEW JOB.IGNORANCE
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- ITS NOT WORTH TRYING TO SAVE YOUR SPOUSE IF THEY DONT HAVE ENOUGH RESPECT FOR YOU NOT TO PUT THEIR HANDS ON YOU AND TREAT YOU THE WAY YOU WANT TO BE TREATED.WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT THEM IF THEY DONT CARE ABOUT YOU?OR-WHY SHOULD THEY CARE ABOUT YOU IF YOU DONT CARE ABOUT YOU ENOUGH TO WANT BETTER FOR YOURSELF?????THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX LADIES.ONCE YOU HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED TO ABUSE, U CAN SAY YOU HAVE NOWHERE ELSE TO GO BESIDES UP
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- johnSwitz
Why did you have to go and break truth hurts bubble ? - Reply to this comment
- fireason
I would have to agree with dogsoul. Women call the cops all the time claiming spousal abuse when nothing happened. My sons wife did so just to have himn arrested and kept out of the house so she could get cusrtody of theuir son. She had no marks on her and waited 24 hours before filing a complaint. We have been fighting for 10 to get custody because the child is only a paycheck to her. The boy hates living with his mother and we do not talk against her. My youngest son just broke up with his gf and while he was packing his things she called the cops and told them he had hit her. The cops showed up saw no marks and tod her he wasn''t doing anything but leavig, at least they stayed until he finished packing so there could be no more false reports. And by the way i was raised with the attitude to respect women and never touch them in violence and i raised my sons the same way. - Reply to this comment
- ema253
I would ask you why do blacks discrimanate against whites ? It is basically the same thing and comes down to the same answer, racism. - Reply to this comment
- gypsyartist1
My point was there are a lot of crimes committed by blacks and the black community refuses to get involved as witnesses when the police show up to arrest or make a report. We need their help to prevent crime in their neighborhood. The blacks have a distrust of the police and not always without cause but it still remains if the black community stands up and tells these thugs we are not taking this anymoire and them stand behind what they say the criome rates should dop in their neighborhoods. I worked in the gheto in Las Vegas for the cable company. Policy was for us to get out of the neighborhood by 3pm because that was when the gangs started coming out. I worked all hours in that neighborhood and never had a problem, a lot of my coworkers ran into situations but i did not. I went in polite, did my job and i talked to the people to let them know what i was doing. I also took the time if there was a problem to fixit right not just jury rig it and get out as fast as i could. - Reply to this comment
- miami_21
I didn''t say i was testifying against friends. I just happened to be present during the execution of the crimes. - Reply to this comment
- downstreamjim
I just thought it would be as viable as the statement marriage causes domestic violence. - Reply to this comment
- downstreamjim
Would Patlov''s Theory be considered a statistic ? - Reply to this comment
- stecvador39
The marine corp said they had assigned her to work in another duty section and she had told them she did not fear him, and even had continued a relationship with him. How that is possible if he had raped her i am not sure but strange things do happen in this world. And as far a s the nmilitary covering up crimes i take exception to that remark. I am retired military and i never saw a complaint not taken seriously and acted upon. - Reply to this comment
- Kcain22
No offense to gay people but are you gay ? I was wondering since you hate women. Do you alshate your mother ? - Reply to this comment
- I don''t care what race they are. If you commit a crime, you pay the price. That''s the way it should be. Maybe one day it will actually be that way. I think that the way the news is reported actually continues the racial divide and someone likes it that way for some reason.
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- I don''t care about any of them. Almost all these women knew they were getting involved with scumbags. And they paid the price.
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- KCain22
What did your momma do to you that you hate all women? If women are so bad, why not just kill us all. In a few decades, there will only be aging men on the earth and pretty soon, the world won''t have any problems. Good solution to everything? Righ? - Reply to this comment
- America doesn''t care. The corporate media only care about smearing Barack Obama. The media are so scared of the black boogey man. Boo!
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