The acceptance of seriously harmful crime in the home by police officers, judges, prosecutors, legislators, and social workers teaches future perpetrators and victims that criminal behavior is tolerable when confined to the home, away from the public's prying eyes. The public is increasingly conscious of the magnitude of domestic violence and the connection between it and other serious crimes committed outside the home. Nonetheless, society lacks a true commitment to the eradication of violence within the home. The emergence of failure to protect laws, which seek to punish mothers for the acts of third parties, exemplifies this deficiency of commitment. Genuine understanding of failure to protect legislation begins with the realization that the parent the system is seeking to hold responsible and punish is usually the mother.
Society believes that the maternal instinct bestows upon women a superior ability to protect.
If a child is harmed, the public regards the mother as culpable, even if the mother is unable to restrain the source of harm. Every state, including Missouri, must enact affirmative defense provisions to protect women who are in fear for their lives and the lives of their children. Society should hold mothers accountable for their own affirmative actions, not the conduct of their husbands and boyfriends. Battered women should not be forced to protect their children alone. Both parents have a duty to shelter and feed their children and maintain basic necessities.