Battered Woman Syndrome Research Articles

Battered Woman Syndrome

The construct of Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) has been conceptualized as a subcategory of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is composed of the following symptoms: (a) re-experiencing the battering as if it were reoccurring even when it is not, (b) attempts to avoid the psychological impact of battering by avoiding activities, people, and emotions, (c) hyperarousal or hypervigilance, (d) disrupted interpersonal relationships, (e) body image distortion or other somatic concerns, and (f) sexuality and intimacy issues. This article presents empirical data derived from administering the Battered Woman Syndrome Questionnaire (BWSQ) to women of four countries--United States, Spain, Greece, and Russia. The data support a theory of BWS.

Theoretical consideration of female sexual predator serial killers in the United States

Sexual predators represent the embodiment of the cultural definition of serial killing. In considering the female sexual predator serial killer, a review of the limited literature found a clear distinction between women acting alone versus in partnership. Several theories offered to explain the behavior of women in teams include shared psychotic disorder, Stockholm syndrome, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), battered woman syndrome, and gender role socialization. Analysis of each with specific case examples found that gender role socialization appeared to be the most inclusive, explaining the participation of women in teams, as well as providing insight into both the criminal justice system and overall societal responses to female serial killers, as well as violent women more generally. The analysis concludes by describing the implications of the above speculations within the realms of prevention, treatment, and research, specifically concluding that women can commit willful violence and that low base rates should not impede attempts to understand and prevent such violence.

L’homicide conjugal féminin, de Marie-Josephte Corriveau (1763) à Angélique Lyn Lavallée (1990) : meurtre ou légitime défense ?

In this article, the author examines the socio-legal relevance of the « battered woman syndrome » (BWS) in the cases of women who kill their violent partners in Canada. The legal recognition of domestic violence in these situations, in its historical context, is examined by focusing on the Supreme Court of Canada decision in the case of Angélique Lyn Lavallée in 1990. This landmark decison is used as pivotal in this discussion in order to shed light into the reasoning behind the subsequent legal decisions. The ideas proposed in this article are part of a more general exploration of the representations of femininity and their inscription in law. In discussing female conjugal homicide, the gendered nature of law and order, the pathologization of women, the « syndromisation» phenomenon and the médicalisation of violence, the author offers some insights in thinking legal strategies but more fundamentally in the social debate to continue.

Sexualized violence against women and children: a psychology and law perspective

Cling, Introduction. Part 1. Sexualized Violence against Women. Cling, Rape and Rape Trauma Syndrome. Kaser-Boyd, Battered Woman Syndrome: Clinical Features, Evaluation and Expert Testimony. Hempel, Battered Women Who Strike Back: Using Expert Testimony on Battering and Its Effects in Homicide Trials. Rosenfeld, Cling, Stalking. O'Connor, Vallabhajosula, Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: A Legal and Psychological Framework. Part 2. Sexualized Violence against Children. Olafson, Child Sexual Abuse. Brown, Memories of Childhood Abuse: Recovered, Discovered, and Otherwise. Part 3. Perpetrators of Sexualized Violence against Women and Children. Murphy, Management and Treatment of the Adult Sexual Offender. Terry, Cling, Megan's Law: New Protections against Sex Abuse. Blackman, Maternal Violence: The Social Psychology of Mothers Who Kill. Cling, Epilogue.

The Utility of Diagnostic Language as Expert Witness Testimony: Should Syndrome Terminology Be Used in Battering Cases?

ABSTRACT With the acceptance of expert witness testimony on the battered woman syndrome in the late 1970s, courts recognized that inherent in such physical violations are psychological deprivations as well. These detriments, which have become of great interest to the psychological community in learning about and making accurate diagnoses, can be used as evidence in cases where a battered woman kills her husband and claims self-defense. This article examines the utility of employing the battered woman syndrome and assesses how diagnostic language can affect the admissibility of expert evidence in battering cases. It provides an analysis of the battered woman syndrome and other disorders with symptoms characteristic of the reactions battered women experience. I conclude that diagnostic constructs should not be used in battering cases within the self-defense context because they create unnecessary stereotypes in which all women may not fit and often exclude relevant testimony that could help assist the fact finder in determining the ultimate issues. Rather, it is the case-specific and idiosyncratic reactions, without a diagnostic label, that will allow the factfinder to understand the perceptions the defendant had at the time she killed her mate.

The Impact of Expert Testimony in Trials of Battered Women Who Kill

Participants (N = 195) were presented with a criminal homicide trial involving a battered woman who had killed her abuser. Within the trial, the presence of expert testimony (battered woman syndrome, social/agency, no expert testimony) was systematically varied. Overall, participants, drawn from both Australia (n = 99) and Canada (n = 96), were more favourable to the woman's claim of self-defence if they had been provided with expert testimony. The results indicated that, compared to the no expert control condition, the participants provided with expert testimony (either form) were more lenient in their verdict decisions, with this effect most pronounced for Canadian men. Compared to the no expert control condition, the presence of the testimony, either form, also resulted in a belief that the woman's options were far more limited. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The Impact of Expert Testimony in Trials of Battered Women Who Kill

Participants (N = 195) were presented with a criminal homicide trial involving a battered woman who had killed her abuser. Within the trial, the presence of expert testimony (battered woman syndrome, social/agency, no expert testimony) was systematically varied. Overall, participants, drawn from both Australia (n=99) and Canada (n=96), were more favourable to the woman’s claim of self-defence if they had been provided with expert testimony. The results indicated that, compared to the no expert control condition, the participants provided with expert testimony (either form) were more lenient in their verdict decisions, with this effect most pronounced for Canadian men and Australian women. Compared to the no expert control condition, the presence of the testimony, either form, also resulted in a belief that the woman’s options were far more limited. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Rethinking battered woman syndrome evidence: The impact of alternative forms of expert testimony on mock jurors' decisions.

Participants (N = 172) were presented with a criminal homicide trial involving a battered woman who had killed her abuser. Within the trial stimulus, the imminence of the batterer’s threat was systematically manipulated such that participants were presented with either a case in which the woman killed her abuser during a direct confrontation or while he lay sleeping. Within these two conditions, the presence of expert testimony pertaining to battered women (battered woman syndrome, social/agency, none) was systematically varied. Results indicated that the imminence of the batterer’s threat influenced the participants’ judgments, but the impact of this variable on judgments interacted with the presence of the expert testimony. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Battered woman syndrome testimony in Canada: its development and lingering issues.

This article examines the status of battered woman syndrome (BWS) testimony in Canadian courts and assesses the impact of the leading decision, Regina (R.) v. Lavallee. Acknowledging the test of reasonableness in criminal trials was constructed on a male model, the Supreme Court in Lavallee corrected the gendered interpretation of women in abusive relationships by admitting the BWS evidence. Feminist legal scholars questioned whether Lavallee had succeeded in dispelling the stereotypes around battered women. These concerns were partially addressed in R. v. Malott, but some tough issues remain: applying the reasonableness test to women of color and the narrow base of BWS evidence. Some directions are discussed: discarding BWS testimony, framing a redefined and expanded BWS testimony, introducing a new defense based on self-preservation, and adopting an alternative interpretative frame such as "coercive control." The strengthening of BWS testimony would call for the judges' referencing of latest empirical research on battered women.

“We Don't have Time for Social Change”

This article explores how the acceptance of the battered woman syndrome as the explanation for why abusive relationships continue can be understood as a cultural compromise. The syndrome's portrayal of battered women as passive victims resulted in an exclusive definition of who “counts” as a victim. It further emphasized many abused women's weaknesses rather than their resourcefulness and overlooked the plights of a great variety of women in need of help. More important, it placed emphasis on individualized solutions for domestic violence rather than addressing structural inequalities in American society. These issues ultimately led to a critique by other advocates of the battered woman syndrome as an inadequate and flawed explanation for domestic violence. Yet despite its weaknesses, the syndrome allowed advocates the chance to appeal to the larger public and, ultimately, begin the process of alleviating structural inequalities.

A Dynamic Assessment of the Battered Woman Syndrome and Its Legal Relevance

ABSTRACT Battered women who kill their partners in self-defense often enter the courtroom facing a variety of obstacles. Although the term “battered woman syndrome” was introduced to the public ambit in the 1970s to promote awareness of minority rights, an immediate evaluation of the effects that courts often adopt as characteristic of the syndrome is necessary to determine if society is really trying to understand the variety of effects that battered women undergo. Evidence and testimony in criminal cases concerning “the cycle of violence” and “learned helplessness” have often been presented in the courtroom in an attempt to establish that the behavior of alleged battered victims falls within the parameters of the battered woman syndrome. However, since the conception and adoption of these two concepts by many courts, researchers have associated other psychological factors to battered women. In a modern society in which women, and minorities alike, are able to reach out and at a time when knowledge of the psychological effects of violence is increasingly becoming known, is vital to the epistemology of battering to admit expert testimony that is relevant and characteristic of each individual battered woman. This article examines some of the psychological and legal issues of battered women who kill their partners in self-defense, particularly those issues that pertain to the admissibility of expert testimony on the self-defense issue.

Undermining Reasonableness: Expert Testimony in a Case Involving a Battered Woman who Kills

Student participants ( N = 316) viewed a videotaped simulated case involving a woman who had entered a self-defense plea in the shooting death of her abusive husband. As successful claims of self-defense rest on the portrayal of a defendant who has responded reasonably to his/her situation, the implications of various forms of expert testimony in constructing this narrative were examined. Jurors were presented with either expert testimony regarding the battered woman syndrome (BWS), the BWS framed within post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) nomenclature, or a no-expert control condition. As the BWS classification may support a stereotypical victim, the degree to which the defendant fit the stereotype in terms of her access to a social support network (family, friends, employment outside of the home) was varied within the expert testimony conditions to reflect either a high or low degree of stereotype fit. Although jury verdicts failed to differ across expert testimony and stereotype fit conditions, perceptions of her credibility and mental stability did. Although affording jurors a framework from which the defendant's experiences as a battered woman may be acknowledged, this portrayal, as advanced within PTSD nomenclature, endorsed a pathological characterization of the defendant. Implications of this discourse for battered women within the context of self-defense are discussed.

The Words Change, But the Melody Lingers

Acceptance of expert testimony on the battered woman syndrome in criminal and civil cases has established expectations about “real” battered women that reinforce conventional notions of femininity. Despite well-documented and publicized analyses of the status of the syndrome as no longer reflecting the range of knowledge relevant to battered women in legal settings, the expectations of helplessness promoted by the syndrome persist. In this article, specific cases are discussed in which the characteristics described in the syndrome are contrasted with the assertiveness, strength, and strategic decision making expressed by female defendants who had been battered. The negative consequences of the persistence of the battered woman syndrome in court are also described.

Understanding the Battered Woman Who Kills her Violent Partner — The Admissibility of Expert Evidence of Domestic Violence in Australia

This article aims to challenge the traditional way in which evidence of the accused's personal history is presented and constructed in cases where battered women kill and rely on self-defence. Although an accused (and other witnesses) may provide an account of the history of violence and her lack of alternatives other than the use of force, the potential message of reasonable necessity that this evidence might convey is usually not realised. It is contended that the current evidentiary framework of “battered woman syndrome” (BWS) relied on for the presentation of “expert evidence” to educate judges and juries in cases where women kill their violent partners works against the efforts of defence counsel to make apparent the reality of the accused's situation. In this article, a fundamental shift from BWS evidence (with or without accompanying social framework evidence) to the reception of social framework evidence in its own right is proposed. This conceptual change aims to open the way for the legal system to think more creatively about the relevance of specific evidence relating to the personal experiences of the accused that is presented in cases where women kill their violent partners.

Rational Actors, Self-Defense, and Duress: Making Sense, Not Syndromes, Out of the Battered Woman

Current advocacy on behalf of battered women accused of criminal offenses focuses on the now familiar battered woman syndrome theory. Although the battered woman syndrome theory has enjoyed broad support when asserted by defendants claiming self-defense, the earnestness of the theory's judicial acceptance is questionable. First, in light of both empirical and analytical flaws in the battered woman syndrome theory, the overwhelming judicial acceptance of the theory is inconsistent with courts' growing tendency to scrutinize scientific evidence. Second, courts have been reluctant to extend the battered woman syndrome theory to the defense of duress, where the theory would excuse battered women who commit crimes with their batterers against innocent parties. That the syndrome theory has been controversial in duress cases, and yet widely accepted in the self-defense context, despite its analytical and scientific flaws, suggests that the battered woman syndrome has been used in the self-defense context to help sympathetic actors. This paper recommends an alternative approach to understanding the conduct of battered women. The self-defense claims of justified battered women have failed not because battered women are qualitatively different than other actors, but because current self-defense rules are imperfect generally and do not encompass all necessary uses of defensive force. An alternative approach to these cases would treat battered women as rational actors and ask whether their use of defensive force was necessary. Unlike the prevailing approach to the battered woman cases, the recommended rational actor approach preserves the importance of objective standards when justifying defensive force. Moreover, an emphasis upon objective standards when applying criminal defenses reconciles the existing tension between the treatment of battered women in the duress and self-defense contexts. Viewed as rational actors and not psychologically impaired, battered women who defend themselves against their batterers have stronger normative claims that their conduct was necessary than battered women who appease their batterers by victimizing third parties.

The Success of the Battered Woman Syndrome: An Analysis of How Cultural Arguments Succeed

This paper examines how certain cultural arguments gain the authority necessary to explain the social problem of domestic violence. I begin by demonstrating the existence of competing explanations for the question of why abusive relationships continue. I find that a certain kind of explanation, multiple victimization arguments that emphasize the numerous ways battered women are victimized, are most common. Through an analysis of social science citations, news papers, and legislative and judicial decisions, I conclude that one multiple victimization argument in particular, Lenore Walker's battered woman syndrome (Walker, 1979, The Battered Woman. New York: Harper & Row; Walker, 1984, The Battered Woman Syndrome. New York: Springer), has become the most recognized explanation for why abusive relationships continue. The syndrome was best able to meet the criteria necessary for gaining cultural authority put forth by Schudson (1989, Theory and Society 18:153–180): retrievability, rhetorical force, resonance, resolution, and institutional retention. In recent years, however, this authority has been threatened as social and cultural conditions have changed, leaving competing understandings of the domestic violence issue to challenge Walker's claims.

The Indigent Defendant's Toolbox: Debating the Addition of the Battered Woman Syndrome Expert

Scholars have long debated the role of poverty in the receipt of justice.2 Courts have similarly wrestled with adjudication involving destitute legal actors, beginning as early as 1959. In Burns v Ohio,3 the Supreme Court ruled that indigent defendants had the right to file notice of appeal without first paying a fee.4 Burns sparked an entire progeny of cases surrounding indigent defendants' access to legal tools; courts soon added to the state-subsidized list rights including: (a) a trial transcript for use in appeal;5 (b) assistance of counsel at trial;6 (c) assistance of counsel on first direct appeal;7 and (d) effectiveness of counsel at both trial and appellate levels.8 While states are not required to provide all the assistance that a wealthy litigant may purchase,9 the government is responsible for providing meaningful access to justice, which requires the basic tools of an adequate defense and appeal.' But what constitutes a basic legal tool? In 1985, the Court included among such tools the right to a competent psychiatric expert when a defendant's sanity is in ques-

'Battered woman syndrome' and the defence of provocation: two women with something more in common

'Battered woman syndrome' and the defence of provocation: two women with something more in common

Female homicide offenders in India1

The study explores the patterns and causes of female homicide offending in domestic versus nondomestic situations by incarcerated women in India, analyzes circumstances behind such crimes, and compares them against cross‐national and U.S.‐based perspectives. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 74 female murderers serving life sentences in two state correctional institutions in one of the southern states of India. The results show that many of the domestic murders were committed in order to end cycles of domestic abuse, while a majority of nondomestic murders were committed with family members or accomplices in support of family unity. In either case, these murders reflect the subordinate social position of women in India. The patterns and causes found in this study were similar to those in many cross‐national studies on homicides by females. Recommendations include changing the social and economic status of women, as well as the legal recognition of battered women syndrome as a defense.

'Battered woman syndrome' and the defence of provocation: two women with something more in common

Psychiatric evidence may be admissible in cases where provocation is a defence against a charge of murder. It is admissible if it assists the understanding of the defendant's characteristics insofar as they affect the perceived gravity of the provocation. It may shed light on characteristics that put the defence out of reach of some defendants. The leading cases of Ahluwalia {1992}, Humphreys {1995} and Thornton {1996} are used to illustrate how psychiatric evidence is relevant to homicide cases involving the 'battered woman syndrome' (BWS). Two unreported cases are used to illustrate further how psychiatric evidence may support the defence of provocation in BWS cases. It is suggested that such cases require an analysis of the abuse and its effects, elucidation of the defendant's characteristics, attention to the role of intoxication and identification of a real link between the characteristics and what would appear to have been provocative words or behaviour.