From One Prison to Another: The Inordinate Criminalization of Women Who Kill Abusive Partners and a Proposed U.N. Response

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law Volume 57 Issue 1 Article 16 2025 From One Prison to Another: The Inordinate Criminalization of Women Who Kill Abusive Partners and a Proposed U.N. Response Annalie Buscarino Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil Part of the Criminal Law Commons, and the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Annalie Buscarino, From One Prison to Another: The Inordinate Criminalization of Women Who Kill Abusive Partners and a Proposed U.N. Response, 57 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 513 (2025) Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol57/iss1/16 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law Vol. 57 (2025) From One Prison to Another: The Inordinate Criminalization of Women Who Kill Abusive Partners and a Proposed U.N. Response Annalie Buscarino* Abstract Paradoxically, criminal justice systems around the world punish women who kill abusive partners with inordinate sentences despite explicitly recognizing the victimization that led them to homicide. This Note examines how universally entrenched gender stereotypes lead to such overcriminalization and amount to a violation of women’s rights to equality before the law. This Note then proposes a U.N. resolution offering guidelines for criminal justice systems to craft appropriate judicial responses to women’s survival strategies. I. Introduction ........................................................... 514 II. Framing Female Criminality .................................. 517 III. Applying The Framework to Women Who Kill Abusive Partners .................................................... 519 A. Incommensurate Sentencing ........................................ 520 B. Causes of Incommensurate Sentencing.......................... 521 1. Gender Insensitive Evidentiary Rules ........................ 521 2. Androcentric Laws ..................................................... 522 * Annalie Buscarino, J.D. Candidate, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Cleveland, Ohio, May 2025; L.L.M. Human Rights Law Candidate, Middlesex University, London, U.K., (2025); B.A., Washington College, 2021; Editor-in-Chief, Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, Vol. 57. I would like to thank everyone, especially the Volume 57 staff, who helped develop this Note, and Dr. Rachel Durso for encouraging my research years and years ago. I would like to thank my family for their endless and unwavering support, without which, law school would not have been possible. I dedicate this Note to the women who inspired it in hopes of a future in which we no longer have to write for freedom. 513 Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law Vol. 57 (2025) From One Prison to Another 3. The Ineffectiveness of BWS and Insanity Defenses .... 525 4. Legal Liminality ......................................................... 528 IV. International Frameworks .................................... 529 A. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) ............... 529 1. CEDAW’s Structure .................................................. 529 2. Relevant CEDAW Provisions .................................... 530 B. U.N. Resolutions ........................................................ 533 V. Proposed Resolution .............................................. 535 A. Modified Standards of Self-Defense............................... 536 1. Imminence .................................................................. 536 2. Proportionality ........................................................... 539 B. Evidenciary Standards................................................. 539 C. Sentencing Guidelines ................................................. 540 VI. Conclusion .............................................................. 541 APPENDIX A.................................................................. 541 Proposed Resolution ......................................................... 541 Annex .............................................................................. 549 Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Inordinate Sentencing of Women who Kill Abusive Partners in Self-Defense (“2025 Model Strategies and Practical Measures”) ........................................................ 549 Preamble .......................................................................... 549 I. Guiding Principles ...................................................... 553 II. Criminal Law ............................................................. 553 III. Criminal Procedure .................................................... 554 IV. Evaluation and Research ............................................ 558 V. Training ..................................................................... 558 I. Introduction To those whose lives she touched, Nicole Addimando is a loyal friend, a talented coach, a giving sister, a selfless mother, and a beloved member of her community.1 But to the U.S. criminal justice system, Nicole Addimando is “the girlfriend who 1. See Testimonials, WE STAND WITH NIKKI, https://westand withnikki.com/testimonials [https://perma.cc/62DN-W2AH]. 514 Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law Vol. 57 (2025) From One Prison to Another pulled the trigger:”2 a murderer in the second degree for killing the man who abused her for five horrific years.3 A few months into dating, the charming and playful demeanor of Addimando’s partner, Christopher Grover, abruptly changed.4 Over the next few years, Grover, who was a black belt in taekwondo, smashed Addimando’s face into counters and door frames, burned her genitals with metal, choked her into nearunconsciousness, vaginally raped her with guns, PVC piping, and his penis, and published videos of the rapes on pornographic websites without Addimando’s consent.5 One day, as Grover issued yet another threat about how he could kill Addimando whenever he wanted to, Addimando managed to secure a gun from Grover’s possession and shot and killed him.6 Despite overwhelming evidence of Grover’s abuse towards Addimando,7 expert testimony8 and amicus briefs9 on the type of trauma and fear Addimando suffered as a result, and a recently passed law in New York that reduces sentences for defendants whose experiences with abuse significantly contributed to their 2. “20/20” Reports on Death of Gymnastics Coach and the Girlfriend Who Pulled the Trigger, LAUGHING PLACE: DISNEY NEWSDESK (Feb. 2, 2023, 9:52 AM), https://www.laughingplace.com/w/ news/2023/02/02/2020-kill-or-be-killed/ [https://p (...truncated)