a person

JAIL

he yells, slaps, and degrades her when

he doesnt get his way

she tried to convince

her to go back to him

they move to a new

they didnt do anything house because they
have a family

he doesnt do anything

her mom tell her that its wrong to take the children away
from the father

15 ©Leah Cleary 2017

 she thinks the parent will protect her

she goes to school their parents fought back

alcohol

he dismisses it and tries

to convince her otherwise

he hits her and makes her

clean up the mess when he
flips the table

innocent

yes. it was in self defense, as he kept

find his way to her through manipulation

15 ©Leah Cleary 2017

 RESULTS
The movie, The Burning Bed, first aired on
NBC in 1984. The brutality and terror of
domestic violence was dramatically thrust
into the national spotlight, and views of
domestic violence as a private matter
began to change.
Francine Hughes dropped out of high school
when she was 16 to marry Mickey Hughes,
then 18. They had four children together. The
brutality began early on in their marriage,
but escalated following their divorce. Mickey
returned to the home following a car
accident and refused to leave. After a
particularly brutal event, Francine called the
police, but they could not arrest Mickey
because, despite her black eyes and
bruises, they did not see him assault her. That
night, he raped her, and she burned him in
his bed while he slept. She drove herself and
her children to the police station and turned
herself in. At trial, the jury found her not guilty
by reason of temporary insanity. Hughes
would go free and eventually remarry a man
whose relationship with her children was
troubled. Hughes died in 2017 at the age of
69 from complications with pneumonia.
THE HUGHES FAMILY
Mickey’s family always asserted that there were
two sides to the story. Mickey’s brother sent
Francine Hughes threatening messages while
she was in prison. Mickey’s father and brother
both committed suicide in the years following
the event.
©Leah Cleary 2017
Laws
HG.org defines domestic violence laws as: “Domestic
violence law provides the criminal rules for punishing
those who cause emotional or physical harm to others
with whom they share a family or other close
relationship. It also deals with the civil protections
available to victims of this type of harm.” In 1984, most
state laws did not enable police to arrest for domestic
violence unless they witnessed the perpetrator
assaulting the victim. Shelters were rare, and victims
were offered very little protection. As a result of
attention brought to the issue by the movie, laws
began to change and in 1994, congress passed the
Violence Against Women Act. Despite its name, the
law provides for all victims of domestic violence, not
only women. The law criminalizes domestic battery
and rape. An expanded version of the law passed in
2000.
In Ancient Rome, husbands were allowed to
beat their wives. The practice was legally
reinforced by husbands being legally
responsible for their wives' actions. Throughout
modern history, laws have prevented women
from gaining autonomy through inheritance
and property ownership. Until 1975 in the U.S.,
a woman could not get a credit card,
mortgage, or a car loan without her husband
or father cosigning.
Hughes’s lawyer, Arjen Greydanus, would have
preferred a straightforward not guilty verdict as
opposed to the “by reason of temporary
insanity” caveat. He was afraid it would set a
dangerous precedent for future cases. He said
Francine Hughes was the worst case of domestic
abuse he had ever seen.
16