An anticipated resentencing hearing for Erik and Lyle Menendez has sparked debate about the state of scientific knowledge on the effects of child abuse 30 years ago, when the brothers were convicted of the shotgun slayings of their parents.
The idea that scientific conclusions about child abuse were faulty at that time underpinned some of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón’s reasoning last month when he recommended resentencing the Menendez brothers. The brothers have been imprisoned without the possibility of parole for about 35 years for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez.
“Since the original prosecution of the Menendez brothers more than nearly three decades ago, our office has gained a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding sexual violence,” Gascón said in an Oct. 24 statement. “We recognize that it is a widespread issue impacting individuals of all gender identities, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to support all victims as they navigate the long-lasting effects of such trauma.”
He said the decision followed a review by the district attorney’s Resentencing Unit of some new evidence presented by defense attorneys. The unit also heard from the brothers’ family members, analyzed their conduct while in prison and reviewed rehabilitation efforts.
When considering potential resentencing cases, prosecutors look at the age of the inmate, since juvenile brains may not fully understand risks; pre-conviction psychological trauma or physical abuse; length of time served; evidence of rehabilitation; and the inmate’s plans to make positive contributions to society, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The new evidence in the Menendez case, including a 1988 letter from Erik Menendez to a cousin that details the alleged abuse he received from his father, was presented in a habeas corpus petition last year.
Carlos Cuevas, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University, said scientific knowledge about the traumatic impacts of child abuse and the neuropsychology of trauma has increased over the past three decades. In addition, people in general are more open to discussing the issue today, Cuevas said.
“A big piece of this has been more so the awareness of the issue, the awareness of abuse particularly around young boys and young men,” he told the Southern California Record. “... “In the forensic setting, there’s been increased consideration of things like abuse and trauma as potential mitigating factors in prosecutions.”
In the 1990s, people received information on child abuse from television and newspaper stories, which highlighted the more extreme incidents and did not reflect the norm, according to Cuevas. Such media reports can skew perceptions about child abuse, he said.
The violence associated with the Menendez brothers’ case may have also shaped people’s views both in and out of the courtroom, according to Cuevas.
“Because their crime was so heinous, I don’t know that there was a willingness to discuss their victimization given that the thing they had been charged with was such a horrible crime,” he said.
People continue to struggle with the idea that perpetrators of crimes can also be victims of previous abuse, according to Cuevas. Both can coexist, but people have difficulty accepting this, he said, adding that judges in the 1990s likely had less knowledge about the effects of child abuse and this may have affected decisions on the admissibility of scientific opinions on abuses during childhood or youth.
The Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys, which endorsed the district attorney’s challenger in the Nov. 5 election, has criticized Gascón’s Menendez resentencing decision, saying that the district attorney often prioritized celebrity cases over the rights of crime victims. But a spokesman for the association said the issue of whether scientific conclusions on mental health during the brothers’ original sentencing were flawed would be based on health records that the association does not have access to.
“It would be irresponsible for us to opine on the matter when we have no ability to undertake a detailed review of the evidence,” the spokesman said.
A recent Scientific American opinion article argued that researchers and psychologists in the 1990s did not understand the mental health effects child-abuse victims could suffer or the relationships between childhood abuse and violence.