I don't think it would have been a feel-good gesture. That woman probably comes from a milieu where she has been told all her life that she is inferior, and needs a man in order to be complete, even if he beats the stuffing out of her. And if she marries him, she'll raise her children the same way.
I used to handle protection order cases for Legal Aid pro bono but most of the women eventually go back to their abuser, and I got tired of it. What would I do in their situation, if I had small children, and not much in the way of job skills? I don't know.
Once they are in that situation, there is a calculus involved. If there is a better man in the wings, they'll go with him. If there is family to go to, they'll go there. But most wife-beaters are not murderers, they're just angry jerks (I have other nouns in mind but this will do), and often, the wife is no saint, either, so it's not irrational to go back and hope for the best.
Wifebeating is rarer in the circles that judges come from, but not unheard-of. So, it's refreshing to me when a judge has scruples, and hasn't been beaten down by cynicism. In the time it takes to find another marriage celebrant, the woman may actually think about what the judge said and, maybe, the man might, too. |
