A Critical Analysis of the Burning Bed

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The year is 1977, on the terrifying night of March the 9th , Francine Hughes , played by actress Farrah Fawcett in the Movie “The Burning Bed”, instructed her four children to remain in the care while she entered the house and poured gasoline on he drunk abusive husband who was in bed, set him on fire. Subsequently, she turned herself to the police and confessed to the crime. She was later charged and prosecuted. She pleaded guilty by reason of temporary insanity. At trial, she revealed she had been abused by her husband Mickey Hughes, played by Paul Lemat, for the past 12 years. She was able to convince the jury about the nightmare, the repeated abuses she had to endure throughout the course of her rocky marriage with Mickey. Se was found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity and was acquitted. Francine Hughes case sets a legal precedent to how domestic violence cases are to be handled in all future cases of domestic violence. Law Enforcement and Social Services Agencies were so unsympathetic towards victims of domestic violence that at times women feel ashamed and even scared to report occurrence of abuses they experience form their abusers. Francine Hughes, with this acquittal, has become a symbol in the fight against domestic violence. Today we observe different agencies synchronizing their efforts to take preventive measures to fight against this evident fact. Social services have created programs like shelters for battered women. We also have different not-for- profit organizations in existence because of funding that the government and the private sector have provided to create awareness. In addition to all the women movement growing on across the country, women feels the urge the fight for the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. On other hand, the problem has remained prevalent according to the domestic violence resource center

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