I was listening to this ep of Criminal about a woman who spent 17 years in prison for killing a man who was choking her and saying he was going to kill her. A man had abused her for years. This woman, like so many abused women, had gone to the police repeatedly to report abuse. So the system failed to protect her from being abused and then punished her when she tried, on her own, to protect herself.

Everyday in America about 3 women are murdered by boyfriends or husbands and over half of those women are murdered with a gun. 

At Least A Third Of All Women Murdered In The U.S. Are Killed By Male Partners

Domestic (Intimate Partner) Violence Fast Facts

This woman received more time for failing to protect her children from an abuser than the abuser received for abusing the children

Though women commit murder far less often than men, they typically receive longer sentences for killing their male partners than do men who kill female partners, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Studies have found that in 85 percent of domestic homicide cases, police were called by the abused woman at least once before the killing occurred.