Research Report - Gender Disparities in Sentencing Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo Case PDF

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Gender Disparities in Sentencing
Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo Case ...

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Gender Disparities in Sentencing

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Gender Disparities in Sentencing: Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka Case Richelle Moss

Prof. Calum Cunningham COMM-3048: Communications for Police, Law, & Security Fanshawe College

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This paper offers a look into the early 1990’s case and trial of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. These gruesome murders and sexual assaults took place in, and around the area of Scarborough, ON. Both, Bernardo and Homolka were involved in these deaths, but the duo came out of their trials with very different sentences. Presented in this paper will include an overview of the events that occurred leading up to the arrest of the couple, the trial and sentencing given, and ‘battered woman syndrome’ as a defense in criminal cases. Homolka used ‘battered woman syndrome’ as a defense in explaining her participation in these crimes. She stated that she was only involved out of fear and was initially unwilling. Although, when police were later presented with evidence, it was found that she was much more involved then she initially let off. I found this trial unfair and believe that if further investigation was done prior to the plea deal, then sentences would be relatively similar, opposed to the huge difference.

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Gender Disparities in Sentencing: Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka Case

When the term “gender inequality” is heard, many tend to assume it is being used in regards to the rights of women. Which can include the past discriminatory ways of gender-based jobs, wage gaps and even something as simple as gender-based roles. However, that is not always the case. Males are often discriminated upon for various reasons due to their gender, with one of the main ones being in criminal sentencing. Men are generally seen as the more violent of the two genders because of this stereotype. After analyzing the Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka case, I believe that there are many different aspects in which one may have viewed the trial. Both, Bernardo and Homolka were involved in these horrific rapes and killings, however the perpetrators came out of their trial’s with very different sentences.

Overview CBC displayed a timeline of the couple’s actions before, during and after these crimes. Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo met at a hotel in Toronto. Karla was attending a veterinary convention when she ran into Paul Bernardo at their hotel. Over the next little while, the two encouraged one another's inappropriate behaviour. It began with Bernardo’s secret life. In the late 1980’s, he had sexually assaulted at least 14 women in the city of Scarborough. Someone called about him looking familiar to a sketch shown on the news, he was then asked to come in for questioning and to provide DNA samples. At first, Homolka has no idea about any of these horrible encounters many women had with Bernardo. Homolka slowly became involved with his strange fantasies when Bernardo became interested in her younger sister Tammy and her virginity. Paul Bernardo had convinced Karla to steal animal tranquilizer’s and other potent

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animal medications from the veterinary office where she worked. They later spiked her sister’s dinner with these drugs causing her to pass out. Bernardo raped Tammy for about a minute before she woke up. On another occasion, they drugged Tammy with a much larger dose of animal tranquilizer for the same purpose of sexual assault. This caused Tammy to pass out, choke on her vomit and die. The couple told police that they had tried to revive her, but failed. Her death was ruled an accident. Months later, Bernardo picked up a young female hitchhiker brought her home with him to sexually assault. He later dropped her off on a backstreet. Together they then abduct 14-year old Leslie Mahaffy from outside of her home, eventually raping and murdering the young girl. Roughly a year later, the duo sees Kristen French in a church parking lot. After abducting, raping and murdering her, her hair is cut off and her naked body is left in a ditch. Around this time, everything begins to fall apart for the two. Bernardo assaultes his wife Homolka, which left her no choice but to leave their house and file charges against him. Bernardo’s DNA samples were also being tested in regards to the Scarborough case. When all of the evidence was collected from the crime scenes, Paul Bernardo was arrested which later lead to Karla Homolka being arrested.

Figure 1 – Key events in the Bernardo/Homolka case May 1987 – Paul Bernardo, “The Scarborough Rapist” had raped his first victim. Bernardo would later admit to the sexual assault of at least 14 women in the Southern Ontario area. Oct 17th 1987 - Karla Homolka (17), meets Paul Bernardo (23), at a hotel restaurant in Scarborough, Ont. July 1990 – Bernardo and Homolka served Karla’s sister a spaghetti dinner spiked with Valium stolen from Karla's workplace. Bernardo rapes Tammy for about a minute before she starts to wake up. Nov 20, 1990 – Bernardo provides DNA samples to Toronto police as part of their Scarborough Rapist investigation Dec. 23, 1990 – Bernardo and Karla Homolka drug Tammy Homolka with animal tranquilizers Karla stole from her work. Tammy is raped while she's unconscious. Tammy later chokes on

Gender Disparities in Sentencing her own vomit and dies. Bernardo tells police he tried to revive her, but failed, and her death is ruled an accident. January 1991 – Bernardo picks up a young female hitchhiker, brings her back to the Homolka home and rapes her, later dropping her off. June 14, 1991 – Bernardo kidnaps 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy from outside her house. With Homolka, he rapes and murders her. June 29, 1991 – Bernardo and Homolka get married. Mahaffy's dismembered body is found encased in concrete in Lake Gibson near St. Catharines. April 16, 1992 – Bernardo, with the assistance of Homolka, kidnaps Kristen French from a church parking lot. After raping, torturing and killing her, they leave her body naked in a ditch, her hair cut off. Her body is found later that week. December 1992 – The Centre of Forensic Sciences begins DNA testing of the samples Bernardo provided in 1990. January 1993 –After Bernardo beats Homolka with a flashlight, leaving her with two black eyes, she leaves their home and files charges against him. Feb. 17, 1993 – Bernardo is arrested. It was later find that officers in charge violated Bernardo's charter of rights by not allowing him to call a lawyer despite his repeated requests, making his initial eight-hour interrogation void. Feb 19, 1993 – A search warrant is executed in the Bernardo home, however police fail to find video recordings of the horrific rapes. May 6, 1993 – Ken Murray, Bernardo's lawyer, gains access to Bernardo's home. Murray retrieves the videotapes and maintains possession for 16 months. July 1993 – Homolka pleads guilty to two counts of manslaughter and receives a 12-year jail sentence. Her pleas and the statement of facts agreed to by her lawyer and the Crown are both covered by a publication ban ordered by the judge to ensure a fair trial for Bernardo. September 1994 – Ken Murray quits as Bernardo's lawyer and hands Bernardo's videotapes over to John Rosen. Rosen turns the videos over to police later in the month Sept 1-15th, 1995 – Bernardo is found guilty of all nine charges against him, including two counts of first-degree murder for killing French and Mahaffy. – sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for 25 years. January 1997 – Ken Murray is charged with obstruction of justice and possession of child pornography for failing to turn over the Bernardo tapes. Later acquitted of charges March-Sept 2000 – The Ontario Court of Appeal dismisses Bernardo's request for a new trial. The Supreme Court of Canada denies Bernardo's leave to appeal his murder convictions. July 4th 2005 - Karla Homolka is released from prison (with several restrictions) after serving her 12-year sentence. She later has a child. June 25, 2008 – Anthony Hanemaayer, convicted in connection with an attack more than 20 years previous, is acquitted by Ontario's top court. (Key events in the Bernardo/Homolka case, 2010)

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Sentencing Procedure In 1993, Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo were both arrested. In this investigation, Homolka had said that Bernardo had abused her and she simply aided in these violent crimes as she was in fear for her life. As a result of this, she was given a plea deal. The deal consisted of her pleading guilty in exchange of a lesser charge. She was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a short, 12-year sentence. Whereas, in 1995, Bernardo was convicted of many offences. This resulted in him being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for at least 25 years. He was also labelled a “dangerous offender”, making his chances of parole very unlikely.

‘Battered Woman Syndrome’ As said by Peter Jaffe, on United Press International News, 'battered women's syndrome’ is described as a psychological condition which refers to women who have been psychologically, physically or sexually abused over time. (UPI, 1995, p. 1) A large portion of the reasoning for Karla Homolka’s plea bargain was her argument regarding the abuse she endured. She argued that as a severely battered woman, she had no choice but to be an accomplice to these horrific rape’s and murder’s. She wasn’t only in fear for her life, but Bernardo had threatened to inform her family of the horrible crimes that she had helped him commit. An abused woman is not very likely to discuss this matter with anyone relatively close to her about the abuse she is enduring at home. In most cases, she will marry the abuser and stay in the relationship out of embarrassment and fear. When analyzing Battered Women’s Syndrome, the research concluded that “using three specific theories around which the data were organized: learned helplessness, cycle of violence, and signs and symptoms of psychological distress that constitute BWS.” (Walker, 2006, pg. 146) As Chapman (2013) explains, “the difficulty with a defense such as brainwashing is that it

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cannot adequately be put in a perfect box: this defense needs a more individualized approach.” This statement discusses Battered Women Syndrome being utilized as a defense in court and the requirement of proving this, rather than taking the perpetrator’s immediate word. (p. 36)

Walker, L.A. (2006) pg. 150

Above are some statistics from the New York Academy of Sciences showing a cross-national comparison of the post-traumatic-stress disorder symptoms experienced by battered women. All four groups indefinitely meet the criteria for PTSD. As shown in Figure 2, all of the women say they have more avoidance symptoms than anxiety and hyperarousal. Although, a change in differences may occur when the entire sample is analyzed and compared to the additional collected data.

Overall, when being sentenced your gender has a great deal to do with the outcome. As research suggests: “the greatest disparity among the sexes occurs at the ‘‘in/out decision’’—whether criminal sentences entail incarceration or some non-incarcerative sanction, such as probation.

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Research findings typically show that females are between 12 percent and 23 percent less likely than males to receive prison or jail time” (Rodriguez, 2006, pg. 319). Homolka was released from prison back in 2005 and has changed her identity. Whereas, Bernardo will most likely be in prison for the rest of his life. Although, Homolka had a valid argument with the abuse she endured, she was still very involved in these gruesome crimes. I do not believe Homolka was given a fair sentence, I think she should have gotten a similar sentence as her partner received. Before any plea deals were brought to the table, I believe that the case should have been further investigated.

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A severely battered woman can become an accomplice to... (1995, August 03). Retrieved from https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/08/03/A-severely-battered-woman-can-become-anaccomplice-to/8053807422400/ Chapman, F. E. (2013). Intangible Captivity: The Potential for a New Canadian Criminal Defense of Brainwashing and Its Implications for the Battered Woman. Berkeley Journal Of Gender, Law & Justice, 28(1), 30-76. Fernando Rodriguez, S., Curry, T. R., & Lee, G. (2006). Gender Differences in Criminal Sentencing: Do Effects Vary Across Violent, Property, and Drug Offenses? Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell), 87(2), 318-339. doi:10.1111/j.15406237.2006.00383.x Karla (2006). (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2018, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424938/ Key events in the Bernardo/Homolka case | CBC News. (2010, June 17). Retrieved April 10, 2018, from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/key-events-in-the-bernardo-homolka-case1.933128 WALKER, L. A. (2006). Battered Woman Syndrome. Annals Of The New York Academy Of Sciences, 1087(1), 142-157. doi:10.1196/annals.1385.023...