Psychological self-defense: A proposed justification for battered women who kill.

This article explores the complicated relationship between the duty to retreat in self-defense law and violence against women. It first provides an overview of self-defense law in the United States, with particular emphasis on the duty to retreat, before discussing the feminists’ position regarding self-defense law in the context of battered women who kill abusers, along with the so-called “no-retreat” rules. It then traces the history of no-retreat in U.S. law and argues that it is a complex doctrine, both liberationist and discriminatory. It also examines the tension in feminist theorizing on retreat by focusing on recent stand-your-ground controversies. The article concludes by proposing distributional analysis as a framework for feminists and other theorists to resolve the persistent tensions between the duty to retreat and gender justice.

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Stereotypes About Battered Women and Victim’s Self-Defense: Legal Implications

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/08862605211055154 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 088626052110551

Author(s):

Carmen Delgado-Alvarez ◽

Andrés Sanchez-Prada

Keyword(s):

Battered Women ◽

Gender Stereotypes ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Professional Training ◽

Law Students ◽

Battered Woman ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Self Defense ◽

Spanish Universities ◽

And Gender

Recent research on the practices of justice operators with women victims of intimate partner violence has evidenced the existence of gender stereotypes and gender-blind practices in the Spanish legal system (Albertín et al., 2020; García Jiménez et al., 2019, 2020), as well as the graves consequences that such practices imply for these women. In this context, the present study explored the existence of a battered woman stereotype and its variation when the victim defends herself from the abuser. An opportunity sample of 505 undergraduates of Law, Psychology and other studies from two Spanish universities assessed some personality characteristics of a woman after watching a 1-minute-long silent video. The participants were randomly assigned to one of three observation conditions (“control”, “victim” or “self-defense victim”), which differed in the previous information given about the target woman. The Principal Components Analysis reduced the information from the questionnaire to three dimensions: “brittleness” (α = .91), “positive” (α = .786), and “hostile” (α = .809). The MANOVA confirmed the battered woman stereotype and its modification when the victim reacts against the abuser in self-defense: in this case the attribution of brittleness decreases and the attribution of hostility increases. The type of academic training showed significant effects on the stereotype, this being more negative among Law students than among Psychology ones. Law students perceive the target woman in the “victim” condition more hostile and manipulator. As for the “self-defense” condition, Law students attribute less brittleness to the victim, and perceive her more manipulator and dangerous. The effect of the observer's gender on the stereotype is consistent with the previous literature. Implications for professional training and judicial practices are discussed.

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The Punishment of Dixie Shanahan: Is There Justice for Battered Women Who Kill?

Kansas Law Review ◽

10.17161/1808.19991 ◽

2007 ◽

Keyword(s):

Battered Women ◽

Women Who Kill

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Telling tales: Gender discrimination, gender construction and battered women who kill

Feminist Legal Studies ◽

10.1007/bf01104112 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 185-206 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Donald Nicolson

Keyword(s):

Battered Women ◽

Gender Discrimination ◽

Gender Construction ◽

Women Who Kill

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Battered woman syndrome and PTSD in women who kill their abusing partner: a study in medical jurisprudence

BJPsych Open ◽

10.1192/bjo.2021.708 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (S1) ◽

pp. S266-S266

Author(s):

Sharmilaa Lagunathan

Keyword(s):

Battered Women ◽

Medical Condition ◽

Battered Woman ◽

Law Reform ◽

Rapid Review ◽

Abused Women ◽

Battered Woman Syndrome ◽

Women Who Kill ◽

Partial Defences ◽

Diminished Responsibility

AimsThe aim of the study was to identify any symptoms or features of Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) or Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that may be associated with, or explain, abused women killing their abuser; and the extent to which such identified symptoms or features have been deemed, or are potentially relevant, to past and now reformed partial defences to murder in English law. Hence two sub-studies were completed.MethodThe first sub-study identified mental symptoms of BWS or PTSD apparent in battered women who kill their abuser; achieved by identifying relevant research papers, through applying a ‘rapid review’ approach to three databases: PubMed, PsychInfo and PsychArticles. The second sub-study identified by legal research reported Court of Appeal (CA) judgments on women appealing their conviction of the murder of their abusive partner. It then analysed the legal approach taken towards evidence of the effects of abuse upon these women before and after relevant statutory law reform (although no CA cases were identified post-reform).ResultThe first sub-study identified and reviewed six symptoms or features, within three quantitative and three qualitative studies, that appeared to be associated with, or described by, abused women killing their abuser. These included helplessness, symptoms associated with PTSD, plus fear, isolation, experience of escalation of violence and cycle of violence. From the CA cases the perpetrators of killings that occurred prior to 04.10.2010 (the date of law reform) were usually successful in having their conviction overturned based upon diminished responsibility; but not provocation, because of the requirement of ‘sudden loss of self control’. ‘Loss of control’, which replaced provocation, appears highly likely to be capable of reducing murder to manslaughter based upon symptoms of BWS, or PTSD. However, the amended defence of diminished responsibility is likely to exclude evidence of BWS, but allow evidence of PTSD, because of its requirement of the defendant suffering from ‘a recognised medical condition’.ConclusionThis study demonstrated particular symptoms or features of BWS or PTSD associated with abused women killing their abusers plus their very different relevance to two partial defences to murder, pre and post law reform.

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