Battered Woman Syndrome Research Articles

Mujeres abusadas que matan

This paper analyzes the exclusion of responsibility in cases of battered women who kill their abusive partners in self-defence, emphasizing the theoretical and practical difficulties from a gender lens. I investigate self-defence simultaneously from a double perspective: the perspective of intimate partner violence, and the perspective of Canadian law. I reflect on alternative solu-tions in cases where there was a deferred self-defence, seeking a more equitative response from institutions. Self-defence protects whoever kills another person to defend herself or a third party. Even though this legal figure seems unquestionable, it is actually an ambiguous area in criminal law. Women who are abused for extended periods of time, who one day kill their abu-sers, generally do not do so during a context of physical confrontation. In this paper, instead of merely restricting my analysis to the events that occurred on the day of the abuser’s death, I will go back in time to scrutinize in detail the cycle of systematic violence and the “battered woman syndrome”, as well as the theory of “coercive control” in the Canadian context. I draw from the famous Canadian case Rust v. Lavallee (1990). I problematize some of the requirements for self-defence, emphasizing their inability to respond to the realities of battered women. This research shows a problematic disconnect between the current legal framework and the realities of violence against women.

Misunderstanding Judy Norman: Theory As Cause and Consequence

Judy Norman’s claim of self-defense is among the best-known and most widely-debated cases in criminal law scholarship. See Norman v. State, 366 S.E.2d 586 (N.C. App. 1988) (granting new trial to allow instruction on self-defense); Norman v. State, 378 S.E.2d 8 (N.C. 1989) (denying instruction on self-defense). The fact that she shot her husband while he slept has been widely understood to prove a lack of imminent threat that would justify self-defense. The sharp contrast between the extreme violence and danger Judy faced and the denial of the self-defense instruction invoked extensive debates among legal scholars about justification and the use of deadly force. This article reconstructs the facts and evidence in Norman from the transcript and public records. The appellate opinions included most of the important facts, but the transcript adds details important to applying subsequent social science. Factual and theoretical errors in legal scholarship become apparent from a careful review. Misconceptions about battered women caused some of those mistakes, but the main problem has been the attachment of legal scholars to an outdated and simplified concept of Lenore Walker’s “battered woman syndrome” theory and to persistent misunderstandings about “learned helplessness,” a component of that theory. These misconceptions colored both scholars’ reading of Norman and their analysis of self-defense doctrine. Battered woman syndrome and learned helplessness are terms of art. “Battered woman syndrome” has a different meaning in psychology than in law, where it became a generic term for expert evidence whether or not the expert applied Walker’s theory. “Learned helplessness” is not a literal term and should not be misunderstood as to mean impairment in a defendant. For decades, social scientists have applied other frameworks to understanding the impact of battering, especially “survivor theory” and “coercive control.” From the mid-1990s, the term “intimate partner violence and its effects” replaced battered woman syndrome and learned helplessness, but syndrome terminology persisted and retained disproportionate influence in legal contexts. This article illustrates the influence of the “syndrome” framework by examining mistakes scholars have made about the Norman case. Factual errors include turning an afternoon nap into a “midnight” shooting, mistakenly implying that Norman had many hours to find safety. Scholars missed the looming threat of exceptionally violent sex trafficking that Judy Norman described from the witness stand. Many missed the escalation and crisis that led her family to believe the lethal threats made by her husband; they saw her as passive instead of urgently seeking help despite evidence that Judy and some of her family members tried desperately to gain some measure of safety. Scholars also assumed that Lenore Walker’s “battered woman syndrome” was crucial to Judy Norman’s defense, even though the expert witness in the Norman trial applied a “coercive control” framework, not Walker’s syndrome approach. Among social scientists and in some legal usage, “intimate partner violence and its effects” has replaced syndrome terminology. To identify the best contributions in the extensive theoretical debates, we should reread those texts, replacing battered woman syndrome with “intimate partner violence” and replacing learned helplessness with “. . . and its effects.” Freed from stereotypes about helplessness, we can identify the best thought and policy in the debates and evaluate new questions that emerge. From that perspective, this article criticizes the argument that sleep creates a per se rule against justified use of self-defense, explores questions about imminence of threat in violent sex trafficking, and evaluates policy proposals that would change self-defense law.

“That Emotional Moment”: The Execution of Ruth Ellis in Pierrepoint (2005)

:In 1955, Ruth Ellis became the last woman hanged in Britain. A 2003 appeal, which sought to revise her murder conviction to manslaughter, was dismissed on the grounds that “battered woman syndrome” was unknown at the time of her trial. In representing her hanging in slow motion, with an exchange of POV shots between Ellis and her executioner, Pierrepoint (2005) visualizes facets of Ellis’s contested legacy: the continued refusal to recognize the suffering of women caused by abusive men and the extent to which Ellis’s conviction was shaped by prevailing cultural stereotypes which identified her as degenerate on the grounds of her appearance and lifestyle. Pierrepoint recreates Ellis’s death but suggests her legacy remains “alive,” an ongoing injustice yet to be remedied.

The Circumstances as She Believed Them to Be: Asian Migrant Women and the Importance of Context in the Courtroom

New Zealand courts are failing in their consideration and application of self-defence in situations where the defendant is an Asian migrant victim of IPV. Self-defence requires an assessment of the circumstances as the defendant believed them to be. Asian migrant women experience myriad forms of oppression that compound and intersect. They face distinctive barriers to leaving abuse that are not experienced by non-immigrant, Pākehā women. This paper argues that where the defendant is an Asian migrant IPV victim, a thorough understanding of the cultural factors and institutional inequity they face is crucial to a correct application of the law of self-defence. R v Wang is an example of the courts ignoring salient contextual factors and failing to understand the defendant’s circumstance when considering self-defence. This paper considers the use of Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) expert evidence and concludes that it provides a pyrrhic victory at best to Asian migrant defendants who are IPV victims. R v Zhou illustrates how BWS fails to accurately communicate the lived experiences of Asian migrant defendants to the court and risks further perpetuating racist stereotypes about Asian cultures and Asian migrant women.

Why Psychosexual Disorders Equally Important in India

Human sexuality is a complex with multidimensional aspects such as biological, psychological, social, and cultural. Cultural factors influence their development as prevalence rates of these disorders vary in different communities. The nature of problems and their psychological consequences make it difficult to assess the exact prevalence of these dysfunctions, even more difficult in developing countries like India. In India, care for people is not proper as large number of patients suffering from psychosexual problems visit unauthorized “sex clinics” rather than an authorized hospital setting. Specialists like dermatologists are often consulted for these problems in their routine practice as common belief shared by them is that these problems are caused by dysfunctions in their sex organs. So they are hesitant to go to sexual clinics and psychiatrists for the same in the first place. The question that arises is where does sexual medicine stand, as asked by many in the past too but remains unanswered in terms of general medicine and psychiatry. Thus, the need of the hour is to identify these cases in early stages, which can prevent a lot of other disorders occurring due to them such as homicide, suicide, domestic violence, battered wife syndrome, etc. in society. The advance in psychosexual medicine is much needed. Despite the importance of these disorders and sensitivity, in India, there is scarcity of data about the burden of sexual health disorders from community-based studies, unlike Western countries.

Not Today, Old Man

‘Not Today, Old Man’ was written to the journal’s call-out theme ‘Tropical Gothic’. Informed by these ideas and a long tradition of women’s writing from Austen to Atwood, ‘Not Today, Old Man’ interrogates the relationship between women and violence.Throughout most of the twentieth century, ongoing abuse of women in a domestic environment was not considered a mitigating factor in violent action performed against the perpetrator, or indeed ‘self-defence’, unless taken at the time of attack. Unable to physically shield themselves from their abusers, and without a legal defence should they seek to protect themselves outside the temporal boundary of a violent attack, women were in a sense imprisoned within these relationships. In the comparatively rare instance that a woman was the perpetrator of domestic violence, ‘Battered Woman Syndrome’ was not available for defence in the context of Australian provocation law until the end of the twentieth century (see R v Kontinnen 1991; R v Runjanjic 1992). It is worth considering that in this same era, a man making unwelcome sexual advances to another man was considered reasonable grounds for ‘self-defence’ (R v Green 1997).The landscape in ‘Not Today, Old Man’ is predominantly set in the tropics, but the story also alludes to the diversity of countryside and climate within Australia, both in the text itself and through allusions to authors like Gerald Murnane. The dark undertones of the piece are embedded in the depiction of these landscapes and the images they evoke. The oppressive heat, humidity, and comparatively low population of Australia’s tropical regions lends itself to gothic exploration. This dark undertone was modelled on writers like David Malouf, whose fiction and poetry have been significant in endowing Australia with a sense of mythology associated with its Northern environments. As Malouf has explained, re-mythologizing the postcolonial Australian landscape gives its diverse inhabitants a renewed, ‘symbolised place’ to ‘exist in’ (cited in Mulligan & Hill, 2001, p.110).

Battered woman syndrome

The aim of this article is to examine the current state of the battered woman syndrome (BWS) defence in Canada and propose an update to the list of factors considered by experts evaluating the applicability of the defence to individual cases. The history and current legal definition of the defence are presented, and theories relating to BWS are summarized. Factors required of expert testimony in BWS cases are presented; cases relevant to the development of the defence that highlight these assessment factors are discussed. In a subsequent section, limitations of the defence and the role of the expert are explored. The PTSD Checklist (used in clinician diagnosis) is summarized before an updated, BWS-specific expert checklist is proposed. The updated checklist proposes six elements to be considered by an expert assessing a BWS case: 1. environmental factors, 2. attempts to leave or alter the situation, 3. risk factors of the abuser, 4. risk factors of the victim, 5. triggers for violence, and 6. contrary evidence. It is hoped that using this checklist will help experts to cover all the essential elements they must consider in order to conclude that a woman satisfies the criteria for BWS. In particular, this updated checklist will help experts to prepare comprehensive testimony that addresses the five issues defined by Justice Wilson as the expert’s duty to assess. In addition, this checklist will help experts present a firm foundation for a defence regarding the critical question of why the night of the offence was different from all other nights.

Battered Woman Syndrome, Diminished Responsibility and Women Who Kill: Insights from Scottish Case Law

Using Scotland as a case study, this article maps the development of Battered Woman Syndrome in law. It looks to the potential space for development that has been created by the recent case of Graham v HM Advocate, concluding that such a more would be an important step and one with significant implications for domestic abuse policy and the treatment of female accused more widely.

Battered Woman Syndrome Questionnaire (BWSQ) Subscales: Development, Reliability, and Validity

ABSTRACTThe current study describes the development and evaluation of the reliability and validity of four components of a comprehensive assessment designed for the purpose of identifying women who manifest symptoms due to an intimate partner violence (IPV) relationship: The Battered Woman Syndrome Questionnaire (BWSQ). More specifically, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the factor structure, validity, temporal stability and internal consistency of four instruments for measuring current functioning of IPV survivors; (a) Interpersonal relationship (BWSQ-IR), (b) Sexual Dysfunction (BWSQ-SD), (c) Body Image (BWSQ-BI), and (d) Post-Traumatic Stress Checklist (BWSQ-PTSC). Overall, results indicate the BWSQ subscales have good temporal stability and internal consistency. Exploratory factor analysis of the four subscales indicate that each has a unidimensional factor structure. Internal consistency was high for each of the subscales. A two-way mixed effects model, intraclass correlation was used to demonstrate a high degree of test-retest reliability. Convergent and discriminant validity was demonstrated by comparing each subscale with the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (AAS), the Derogatis Interview of Sexual Functioning – Sexual Response (DISF-SR), the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (OBCS) and the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI). The four instruments demonstrate sound psychometric properties as standalone measures as well as subscales of the BWSQ.

Battered Women Syndrome: Need for Judicial Objectivity

When the victims of wife-beating are subjected to excessive violence, a syndrome occurs, which during a criminal procedure can be pleaded as BWS (Battered Women Syndrome). It is also referred to as Battered Spouse Syndrome. However; the condition is most common among women than that of men. Wife battering is the most common and least reported crimes in all types of society. Some never mention about it and bear the violence while some others seek help from the law. But there also exists a different group of battered women who kill their abusive partner without any remorse. Some scholars have claimed that is a normal reaction from a woman who has been subjected to acute battering and that they should be given defense by law while some others have opposed to this notion of Battered Woman Syndrome. BWS, as a very new concept to the legal and judicial system of Nepal, still has a lot of gaps to be filled. This paper will analyze the concept and practical implications of Battered Woman Syndrome alongside the legal and judicial trend in case of Nepal. Further, this paper will establish why Battered Women Syndrome cannot blatantly be given as a defense in all cases and yet should be considered by the judiciary. In the end, the paper puts forth the necessity of new law/legal provisions in making the judicial decisions objective and justiciable in case of battered women.

Domestic Violence Asylum and the Perpetuation of the Victimization Narrative

Pitiful. Helpless. Powerless. The words often used to describe survivors of domestic violence conjure a vivid and specific image of a woman lacking both strength and agency. These (mis)conceptions stem from the theories of “Battered Woman Syndrome” and “learned helplessness,” developed in 1979 by psychologist Lenore Walker, who hypothesized that intimate partner abuse ultimately causes a woman to resign herself to her fate and cease efforts to free herself from violence or dangerous situations. Although widely criticized, learned helplessness has permeated the legal establishment, for example, serving as the foundation for mandatory arrest and “no drop” policies in the criminal sphere of domestic violence law. Legal scholars have examined the problematic impacts of both the theory of learned helplessness itself and its effect on survivors in the criminal and civil justice systems. This article adds to that important conversation by exploring the previously unexamined area of learned helplessness’ impact on immigration, specifically asylum, law. Through a series of cases from 1996 to 2014, it is now established that a woman may receive asylum protection if she can establish that she is “unable to leave” a violent domestic relationship. This formulation fits squarely within Walker’s framework, as it requires a victim to advance a narrative of helplessness if she is to obtain refuge in the United States. Furtherance of the notion of Battered Woman Syndrome in asylum law is troubling for a number of reasons, namely, as this piece details, in the harms that can result when survivors of domestic violence are required to conform to a specific “stock story” (including injury to both those who fit the stereotype and those who do not). Additionally, continued adherence to and reliance on learned helplessness poses challenges for client-centered lawyering, perpetuates the tendency of victim-blaming, ignores the realities of the dangers of separation violence, and furthers the damaging dichotomy of “worthy” and “unworthy” immigrants. By identifying these concerns and proposing alternative bases for protection that would encompass not just pitiable and vulnerable victims of domestic violence, but strong, empowered and capable fighters against domestic abuse, this article seeks to critique, rebut and prevent the infiltration of static and stereotypical images of battered women in the realm of immigration law.

Battered Woman Syndrome: Prospect of Situating It within Criminal Law in India

While most of the common law countries have already undergone a social change towards making their criminal laws more gender-sensitive by accommodating the experiences of battered women, the situation in India is quite different. The Indian courts have recognised Battered Woman Syndrome only very recently in three cases, much differently than courts of other jurisdictions. While in other countries Battered Woman Syndrome has been adduced by the advocates of battered women to support defence pleas, the Indian Courts have resorted to it only to explain the effects of battering relationship. The fact that Battered Woman Syndrome has only been recognised in such small number of cases proves the resistance of the Indian criminal law towards women’s accounts of experiences. Against this background, this research paper attempts to explore the possibility of situating Battered Woman Syndrome within criminal law in India to cut into the male-centric structure by addressing the concerns of battered women who, accused of homicide or attempt to commit homicide, kill their abusers in ‘kill-or-be killed’ situations. This study also includes a critical appraisal of the existing defences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 along with an assessment of the need for introducing a new justificatory defence to accommodate the cases of battered women.

Assessment of Intimate Partner Violence and the Battered Woman Syndrome

Forensic experts are often retained to conduct an evaluation of the mental state at the time of the offense of women charged with assaulting or killing spouses or partners. Many of these women report histories of intimate partner violence and a cluster of psychiatric/psychological symptoms that researchers have termed the battered woman syndrome (BWS). The clinical picture is similar to posttraumatic stress disorder. Expert testimony on BWS has become more accepted in the legal system during the past 30 years. Testimony can be mitigating and, at times, sufficient for the trier of fact to conclude that the defendant acted in self-defense. This article reviews research on BWS and describes the forensic expert's role in these cases. In addition to assessing mental state at the time of the offense, the expert often dispels myths associated with BWS and describes how each defendant did or did not fit the stereotype of the battered woman. [ Psychiatr Ann . 2017;47(12):593–597.]

Factors Influencing Help Seeking Among Battered Women I Spousal Relationships In Nakuruwest Sub County, Kenya

Family stability is the heart to a stable society. Wife battering has been recognized as a hindrance to this stability because it not only negatively affects the women who are its primary victims but also their children who depict the continuity of any society. This paper was motivated by the fact that even though wife battering has for long been recognized as not only a health hazard but also a grave violation of human rights, it continues to be prevalent in many families. Nakuru West Sub-County was purposively selected because though the vice occurs in many families in the area, very few cases are reported in the area thus making it necessary to identify factors influencing help seeking choices among battered women. The study was guided by two theories; Battered Women Syndrome Theory and Survivor Theory. Snowball and purposive sampling methods were used to identify the sample size required. A qualitative research methodology employing an Interview Schedule, Focus Group Discussions and Key Informants Guides was employed as the tools of data collection and data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS version 17) was used for analysis. The study found that majority (80.0%) of the battered women do not always seek help. The respondents argued that a variety of factors prevent help seeking including concern for children, protecting family, mistrust ,fear, culture, personal believes just to mention but a few. This study recommends social solutions to wife battering because findings conclude that it is a social problem. The study also recommends that policies to curb battering be more stringent in order to deal with the menace thereby empowering women who are key pillars to family welfare and by extension stable society.

Battered Wife Syndrome: Legal Proceedings in Thailand

ABSTRACTThis article aims at analyzing the legal situation and restriction of laws concerning protection of the wife murdering their husband as a result of having battered wife syndrome so as to develop a guideline on the appropriate legal proceedings against the wife having battered wife syndrome, who murders her own husband, in summary leading to the revision of laws and regulations on performing duties of concerned government agencies for an efficient solution.

Women Accused of Homicide: The Impact of Race, Relationship to Victim, and Prior Physical Abuse

This study analyzes data collected from a Public Defender’s office in a Mid-Atlantic city, which represents females accused of homicide (N = 48) and defended between the years 1994-2011. Further, this study includes qualitative interviews of the Public Defenders who work in the Homicide Division of this jurisdiction and who defended the women accused of these murders in the courts. Results show that most cases involved intra-racial homicides of current or former intimate partners. Women who killed a boyfriend or husband and women who were diagnosed with battered woman syndrome (BWS) received lighter sentences. Interviews with Public Defenders highlighted the importance of the relationship between victims and offenders in the handling of homicide cases by the court.

Reformulating the Use of Battered Woman Syndrome Testimonies in Canadian Law

This article examines the use of battered woman syndrome (BWS) expert testimonies in Canadian case law, regarding cases involving murder or attempted murder of abusive partners by women in violent intimate relationships. The purpose of this article is to contribute to literature about the use of BWS evidence in Canadian jurisprudence with connections to social work. The author provides a historical overview of the use of BWS testimonies in Canada and presents case examples. The article explores the benefits of BWS testimonies, its limitations, recommendations for reformulating its use, and implications for social work practice.

An exploration of Thai public perceptions of defenses in cases of women who kill their domestically violent spouses

The present study investigated the issue of domestic violence in Thailand and in particular the reactions of the Thai populace (male versus female) to a battered woman who killed her abusive spouse, as well as how such reactions could be influenced by the presentation of expert testimony related to the battered woman syndrome. Cluster sampling conducted within the Bangkok metropolitan area in Thailand yielded a sample of 1190 participants who voluntarily filled in the study’s questionnaire. Multi-group path analysis showed no significant gender difference in the direct influence of battered woman syndrome information on the verdict/judgment rendered and suggests that the provision of such information in spousal homicide trials within the Thai context may not be efficacious in influencing the participants’ verdict judgments. Results however did indicate an indirect effect of the battered woman syndrome information on the verdict/judgment rendered being mediated by the defense strategy of self-defense. This finding indicated that the battered woman syndrome information presented aided the participants in contextualizing the defendant’s killing in a frame of self-defense, rather than inappropriately applying a form of “reasonableness” in their verdict/judgment. These findings are discussed in relation to their implications for the presentation of battered woman syndrome information in trials of Thai battered women who killed their abusive spouses.

Battered Women Syndrome: Applying this Legal Doctrine in the Indian Context

Over the last decade, a shift in approach towards domestic violence has taken place and several legal reforms have been directed to assist the survivors. The Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act is one of such law that has been enacted in the year 2005 to provide civil remedies to the survivors besides criminalizing domestic violence. While these legal reforms have been debated within the social as well as legal context, much furor has been created after the Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar v State of Bihar pronounced that 'Section 498A has been misused by the disgruntled wives'. However, the other side of the picture has been completely overlooked in these deliberations. This discussion fails to acknowledge the fact that in the cultural context where women's subordination is a norm and often they are socialized to silently tolerate the oppression the law does not consider several significant elements into account. For example, the history of abuse, pattern of violence and a woman’s psychological state or experience are factors in domestic violence cases which may have major impact the outcome of the criminal litigation. The courts need to dwell on same while adjudicating. Nevertheless, in the countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States, the doctrine of the Battered Woman Syndrome has gained legitimacy in psychological and legal spheres and is applied to defend those women survivors of domestic violence who are held guilty of killing their oppressors under the law. The courts in India have not applied the Battered Woman Syndrome concept until recently when the Delhi High Court in its landmark verdict while applying this doctrine held a male accused guilty of abetting suicide of his wife. This work looks at this doctrine of the Battered Women Syndrome and its applicability in the Indian context.

Forensic psychiatric aspect of battered women syndrome: The cycle of violence

Introduction Domestic violence against women is a burning problem in Russia. Forensic psychiatrists found out that domestic abuse against women is often one of the main causes of crimes of violence in women. Aims To find out clinical and social factors contributing to aggressive crimes committed by women who are victims of intrafamily violence. Methods Clinical, psychological, statistical. Details of background, psychiatric and offending history were extracted. Each item was assessed with the help of descriptive statistics. Results A cohort of 12 females was examined by forensic psychiatrists. All women were victims of violence by their husbands or partners. Domestic abuse resulted in long-term mental problems of women. Clinical assessment has revealed depression, anxiety, fear, low self-esteem, PTSD, alcohol abuse. All women had committed murders. The research has revealed two types of homicides. Women of the first subgroup displayed pathological altruistic motivation of murder of their children (4 females). Women of the second subgroup (8 females) had committed homicides of their husbands or partners. Conclusion The research shows the necessity of domestic violence prevention by legal provisions and multidisciplinary research with the participation of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers.