"NOW WE HAVE NOTHING"
A Report exploring the impact of maternal imprisonment on children whose mothers have killed an abusive partner
by
'He was being very naughty kicking the back door. So I told him that if he continued all his naughty mischief the police would catch him and put him in jail. He stopped immediately and asked if they could put him with his mother.'
So said a grandmother caring for a six-year old boy whose mother is imprisoned for killing her abusive partner. His mother is currently serving a 21-year jail sentence for killing her abusive partner. This case study is one of five presented in our report, "Now we have nothing". As each case study shows, long-term imprisonment for the women who kill an abusive partner is not in these children’s best interests. To substantiate this, the report explains and demonstrates the complex and serious consequences for children who live in the context of domestic violence, whose fathers are killed by their mothers, and who subsequently lose their mothers to long-term imprisonment. The practical and emotional consequences for these children are extreme and include being thrust into new life circumstances where, in most cases, their basic human rights are further violated. The report provides a range of recommendations within South Africa’s policy and legal framework which, if adopted, could help to improve the lives of such children.
Contact the authors, Kailash Bhana and Tessa Hochfield, or the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation for further information.