NCJ Number
139948
Journal
Current Issues in Criminal Justice Volume: 3 Issue: 3 Dated: special issue (March 1992) Pages: 356-361
Date Published
1992
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article addresses some of the issues feminists have expressed about the battered woman syndrome (BWS) and its use as grounds for self-defense in cases where women kill their battering partners.
Abstract
Some of the key issues include the concept of learned helplessness, which is presumed to reinforce stereotypes about women's passivity and irrationality; the "medicalizing" of women's experiences; the use of expert witnesses; and the failure of BWS to be successful in all court appearances or to apply to all women who have lived in a battering situation. The author argues that most of these perceptions are based on a misunderstanding of the cycle of violence, learned helplessness, and BWS and that BWS does not portray women as sick but rather as perpetrating a justifiable act of homicide. She concludes that Australian defendants should have the opportunity to use BWS as means of exoneration and to broaden narrow interpretations of self-defense. 10 footnotes