Cilem Karabulut did not mince words when she admitted to murdering her 33 year old husband, Hasan Karabulut. “I killed my husband because he constantly beat me and feared he would lead me to prostitution, drug crime, and that he could kill me,” the Hurriyet, a Turkish daily, quoted her as saying.

Karabulut was arrested Thursday, according to reports released Friday. In an article by the Agence France-Presse (AFP), the 28 year old killed her husband out of “honor,” saying, “Why do women always have to be killed? Men can also be killed. I killed for honor.”

Karabulut’s adamant attitude was apparent by a personal fashion statement when she wore a T-shirt that donned an English message that said, “Dear Past, thanks for all the lessons. Dear Future, I am ready,” when she was arrested.

And so continues the saga of yet another woman physically, psychologically and violently affected by some super-patriarchal, ill-guided sense of dominance. It doesn’t seem to end.

According to a study conducted by the Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE) organization, “39 percent of ever-married women have experienced physical violence, 15 percent have experienced sexual violence, and 44 percent have experienced psychological violence" in Turkey. This survey gathered information from 12,795 of 14,854 women ages 15 to 59 years old that responded.

Furthermore, according to the same survey, women are more likely to endure physical, sexual, and/ or emotional violence from an “intimate partner” than from relatives or anyone else who isn’t an “intimate partner.”

And it’s not like Turkey doesn’t have laws that help—or at least try to help—protect women from these sorts of domestic violence cases, either. The same study by WAVE states, “Protection from domestic violence in Turkey is specified under the 1998 Family Protection Law 4320.”

But the problem with Law 4320 is that its punishments are so pathetically insignificant. The following are the punishments that can be administered to someone found guilty of domestic violence in Turkey “if a spouse or child or another member of the family living under the same roof is subject to abuse”:

1. Not to use violence or threatening behavior against the other spouse or children (or another member of the family living under the same roof);
2. To leave the dwelling shared with the spouse or children if there are any and not to approach the dwelling occupied by the spouse and children or their place of work;
3. Not to damage the property of the spouse or children (or of others living under the same roof);
4. Not to cause distress to the spouse or children (or others living under the same roof) using means of communication;
5. To surrender a weapon or other similar instruments to the police;
6. Not to arrive at the shared dwelling while under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicating substances nor use such substances in the shared dwelling.

Let’s break each of these punishments down:

1. Don’t do what you just did;
2. You can’t live in the same place as the person or people you just abused;
3. Don’t damage the abused person’s or people’s stuff;
4. Don’t verbally harass the person or people you abused;
5. Give up anything you might use to harm the person or people you abused;
6. Stay away from the home of the person or people you abused when you’re hammered.

And by the way, these punishments cannot exceed six months.

Let’s compare this to the United States (Note: I am not saying that the United States’ policy on domestic violence is perfect; it’s just for comparison.) In 1994, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was passed which allocated $1.6 billion for investigations and prosecutions of violent crimes against women.

Also, to give an example of the penalties in the U.S., let’s take a look at Florida's: In the Sunshine State, someone found guilty of a domestic violence offense must serve a minimum of one year on probation. During probation, the individual must attend a batterers’ intervention program. If a person is convicted of a domestic violence offense that involves intentional infliction of bodily harm to another person, the defendant must serve a minimum of five days in the county jail.

On paper, a law to deter domestic violence seems like a reasonable start in Turkey; but in practice, in this case, it’s a little more concerning. Furthermore, national criminal statistics on reported domestic violence are not available to the public, which makes it difficult to know if women in Turkey are actually receiving the legal assistance they need.

What’s also concerning is that data on medical assistance related to domestic violence is not collected in Turkey. Perhaps the lack of official collection of domestic violence and domestic violence-related medical issues data subtly addresses how low of a priority these home incidents are in Turkey.

To put this sort of negligence into numbers, the murder of women increased by 1,400 percent between 2002 and 2009, peaking at 1,011 murdered in 2007, according to the Turkish justice ministry per Highcharts.com.

So what happens when your government and your justice system can’t protect you? Honor killings, that’s what. But Karabulut’s killing isn’t your “typical honorable kill." Many honor killings typically refer to male-on-female violence. In a piece on honor killings in Turkey by Molly Moore of Cornell University, she references a father killing his 13-year-old daughter after she “brought nothing but dishonor to his family.” He subsequently ordered his daughter-in-law to clean up the mess, and for his two sons to dispose of the body.

Karabulut probably doesn’t have a sixth sense about women murder occurrences in her country, but, instead, recognized the lack of action and repercussions in her government. What happens to Karabulut if her husband had only received one of those punishments almost equivalent to a kindergarten time-out? Do you really think a man who habitually pummels his wife, a man who is willing to submit his wife to a life of prostitution is going to stop after a six-month, hardly-enforced hiatus? I don’t think so. But it’s more than a government thing; it’s a societal thing, too. It’s gone too far when everyday citizens are killing each other in the name of honor.