THE NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY, BHOPAL

LAW OF CRIMES – 1
THIRD SEMESTER
PROJECT

Battered Women Syndrome and Self Defence : Judicial

Devepolment in United States

Submitted By: Submitted To:

SIDDHARTH BHARGAVA ASST. PROF. DIVYA SALIM
2019 BALLB 55
A-2097

1
CERTIFICATE:

This is to certify that Siddharth Bhargava, who is currently pursuing her BA LLB (Hons.) at
National Law Institute University, Bhopal in accordance with the Law of Crimes-1 course, has
prepared and submitted this research paper entitled as-(Battered Women Syndrome and Self
Defence: Judicial Development in the United States). It is also certified that this is an original
research paper and has not been submitted to or published in any journal by any other university.
Date-
Signature of the student-
Signature of Research Supervisor-

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

The project has been made possible by several individuals' unconditional support. I would like to
acknowledge and extend my sincere gratitude to Miss Divya Salim for guiding me by providing
helpful insights and sharing her brilliant expertise during the creation of this paper into a coherent
whole. I would also like to thank the Gyan Mandir, NLIU, officials for helping us find the right
research material for this study.
For all the moral support and motivation, I am sincerely indebted to my parents, seniors, and
friends.
Siddharth Bhargava
2019 B.A.LL.B.55

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TABLE OF CONTENT:

 Introduction
 Statement of Problem
 Hypothesis
 Research Question
 Research Objective
 Method of Study
 Historical Inequality
 Recent Changes
 Battered Woman's Syndrome as a Defense
 The Defense of Insanity
 Expert Witness Testimony in Battered Women Syndrome’s Cases
 Ongoing Obstacles
 Cases
 Conclusion
 Literature Review
 Bibliography

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INTRODUCTION:

"Battered Woman Syndrome" as a scientifically defined pattern of psychological and

behavioural symptoms found in women living in battering relationships as a result of cumulative
abuse. A battered woman was defined as a woman "who is repeatedly subjected to any forceful
physical or psychological behaviour by a man in order to coerce her to do something he wants
her to do without concern for her rights.

“Battery”, on the other hand, refers to an act of inflicting physical harm upon the woman or her
child resulting in the physical and psychological or emotional distress.
Battered women include wives or women in any form of intimate relationship with men.
Furthermore, in order to be classified as a battered woman, the couple must go through the
battering cycle at least twice. Any woman may find herself in an abusive relationship with a man
once. If it occurs a second time, and she remains in the situation, she is defined as a battered
woman."

Battered women exhibit common personality traits, such as low self-esteem, traditional beliefs
about the home, the family and the female sex role; emotional dependence upon the dominant
male; the tendency to accept responsibility for the batterer's actions; and false hopes that the
relationship will improve.
More graphically, the battered woman syndrome is characterized by the so-called "cycle of
violence," which has three phases: (1) the tension-building phase; (2) the acute battering
incident; and (3) the tranquil, loving (or, at least, nonviolent) phase.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM:

Domestic violence occurs in all countries, rich or poor, developed or developing, with no regard
to caste, creed, colour, social status, wealth, urban or rural residence, or the ages of victim and
aggressor. Even after a no. of cases has been reported, there are still many unreported cases of
violence in the society, this would mean that many are still suffering in silence. Many people

5
still consider domestic violence to be a private matter and they believe that what happens in the
home should stay in the home.

HYPOTHESIS:

Taking the law in one’s own hand, is that the last option left with the perpetrator; is it justifiable
or not and if it is then to which extent?

RESEARCH QUESTION:

 What are the requisites in order that the defence of Battered Woman Syndrome can be
successfully invoked?
 How will it affect the Criminal Liability of the Accused?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE:

This research emphasized the actions of abused women, what they do, rather than examine why
a woman stays in an abusive relationship, the researcher looked at how she actively ends the
relationship. The women who have left the abusive relationship and are able to share that
knowledge with women who are looking for ways to escape the violence.

METHOD OF STUDY:

This project is largely based on the doctrinal method of data collection.

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HISTORICAL INEQUALITY:

From the earliest starting point of time women were viewed as substandard compared to men.
Assessment of the historical backdrop of western progress uncovers laws approving men's
utilization of brutality against ladies to rebuke and control them. In Roman occasions, a spouse
was allowed to utilize sensible physical power, including darkening her eyes or breaking her nose,
in training his better half. The English guideline of coverture set up that a married woman couldn't
possess the property liberated from her significant other's case or control. Indeed, women
themselves were viewed as property. English assault laws looked at rape as wrongdoing against
the spouse, father or life partner of the person in question. Rape cases were considered
appropriately discarded if the male "proprietor" of the casualty was made up for the harm to his
"property". Marital rape was unfathomable, as wives couldn't legitimately decline their husbands'
conjugal rights. A sixteenth-century Russian code admirably forewarned spouses not to strike their
wives on the face or ear since they would be woefully hindered should the wife become visually
impaired, hard of hearing, or in any case debilitated. In numerous pieces of Europe, a man could
execute his better half without punishment well into the 1600s. On the other hand, a wife who
slaughtered her better half was punished as though she had submitted treachery since her
demonstration of homicide was viewed as practically equivalent to killing the ruler.1

In the United States, one in every three ladies has been hurt by aggressive behaviour at home. As
per the US Institute on Domestic Violence, in the United States, 85 per cent of abusive behaviour
at home casualties are ladies; 5.3 million ladies are mishandled every year; and in excess of 1,000
ladies are executed by their companions, spouses, or boyfriends every year. As per a study
delivered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in April 2018, 27.3 per cent
of US ladies had encountered at any rate one demonstration of physical violence, sexual savagery,
or stalking from their intimate partner during their lives. As per the report delivered by the National
Network to End Domestic Violence, because of the constraints of assets, a few casualties of
abusive behaviour at home in the United States actually can't get convenient and successful help.2

1
Ford, Thomas E.; Boxer, Christie F.; Armstrong, Jacob; Edel, Jessica R. (February 2008). "More than 'Just a Joke':
The Prejudice-Releasing Function of Sexist Humor". Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 34 (2): 159–170.
2
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201911/27/WS5dddd317a310cf3e3557a446.html

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RECENT CHANGES:

These legalized injustices recorded a social state of mind that, despite being in place for decades,
was not easily erased. The majority of states have made it a felony for a man to rape his wife only
in the last fifteen years. Some states require the violation to be accompanied by physical injury.
Our views of women and their status with respect to men remain the true legacy of these laws and
practices. The wifely duties of a woman in many parts of our culture require sexual
submissiveness.

It is no surprise that the king of the castle and the breadwinner will be a man allowed to rape his
wife. The conventional supporting roles of housewife and mother were restricted to women. It was
anticipated that occupations for females would be in teaching and nursing. Not long ago, in the
boardroom, the police department or the building site, a woman could not be found. Few women
might aspire to be doctors or lawyers or any occupation that may take too much time and interfere
with the duties of being mothers and wives. The stereotype of a "good woman" who was passive
and submissive was also not suited to these careers.

Bound up in these views was the understanding that a private family matter was what happened
between a man and a woman behind closed doors. It was behind closed doors that there was daily
harassment of women. Although the basic responsibility of the government to its people is its duty
to protect them from harm, there was an exception for the husband who would beat his wife. Police
forces have only recently started aggressively arresting wife beaters, less out of consideration for
women than out of litigation focused on an equal rights claim for failure to protect them.3

In this fact, battered women realized that they could expect little safety from the men who beat
them. Many of them died as a consequence, but some fought back and killed their abusers in the
face of imminent death. Then they discovered a legal system that punished them with a lightening
pace and efficacy that had never been given to defend them. Not surprisingly, for the woman who
fought back, the prejudices that pervaded a society in which female beating was tolerated had no

3
"Nettie and Florence Cronise, Ohio's first female lawyers, honored in Tiffin – Story"

8
tolerance. Their defense was based on the notion of insanity on rare occasions where women were
victorious in court.4 Perhaps the most prominent case was that of Francine Hughes, whose tragedy
was vividly depicted in the 1984 television film "The Burning Bed."

Thirteen years before, when she married James "Mickey" Hughes, her nightmare had begun. They
split after a torturous marriage marked by physical , verbal and emotional violence. But the
violence continued, and Mickey beat Francine in front of her children on the night of the 1977
murder, tore up textbooks from her secretarial classes, then forced her to have sex with him and
threatened to kill her. Francine acted instantly, placing her children in the car, then pouring petrol
around the bed of Mickey and lighting a match. She drove to the Ingham County Jail to turn herself
in as the house went up in flames. Her husband was dead from smoke inhalation by the time
firefighters entered the building. They arrested Francine and charged him with murder.5

Francine did not realize it, but in what is now known as the battered women's movement, which
aimed to draw attention to the plight of women who were brutalized by their husbands, she was
about to become a central figure, but rarely taken seriously by the justice system of America. The
movement created a system of life-saving shelters by turning the national attention received by
tragic cases like Francine's into ways to help women like her, laying the foundation for a modern
awareness of domestic violence.

BATTERED WOMEN’S SYNDROME AS A DEFENCE:

A movement committed to equality for women and a body of study that could describe the
perspectives of battered women within the notion of reasonableness provided the confluence of
currents in the social stream of the 70's. Such was the birth of what has become known as "The
Protection of the Battered Woman." In the sense of her history as a battered woman, this defense
is actually nothing more than a woman's use of self defense.

4
Pickard, Toni, Phil Goldman, Renate M. Mohr, and Rosemary Cairns-Way. 2002. Dimension of criminal law. 3rd
edition. Toronto: Emond Montgomery.pg. 885
5
https://www.history.com/news/burning-bed-syndrome-francine-hughes-domestic-abuse

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Women who kill their batterers may assert that in self-defense the killing was committed. Self-
defense is considered by the law as an act of justification. This means that someone who kills in
self-defense is not considered morally guilty by the legal system; it concludes that the action was
correct under the instances. The self-defense claim requires battered female defendants to show
that their actions meet the legal standards for a self-defense claim.

Sec. 3 of RA (Republic Act) 9262 defines Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS)6 as a "scientifically
defined pattern of psychological and behavioural symptoms found in women living in battering
relationships as a result of cumulative abuse." It covers all forms of abuse (physical, emotional,
psychological, and verbal) for as long as these result to a “pattern of psychological and behavioural
symptoms.” In the United States, in the landmark case of United States vs. Kelly (1984)7, decided
by the New Jersey Supreme Court, BWS was accepted as early as 1984. The Court described BWS
as "a set of common features that occur in women who are physically and psychologically abused
by the dominant male figure in their lives over and over a prolonged period of time." The court
also quoted the "symptoms" of the syndrome and common personality features such as low self-
esteem, conventional attitudes about the position of the home, family, and female sex, immense
feelings of remorse that their relationships are failing, and the tendency to take responsibility for
the actions of the batterer.

The law of the state in which the killing occurred defines the legal standard for a self-defence
claim. In terms of four traditional requirements, most states define self-defence. First, the
defendant must have thought at the time of the act that he or she was in imminent danger of
unlawful bodily harm. Second, to react to the threatened hazard, the defendant must have used a
reasonable amount of force. Thirdly, he or she may not have been the perpetrator. Fourth, the
defendant must have had no chance to retreat safely under some circumstances. This simply means
that if people are unable to rely on the law in reaction to abuse from others, they should use
appropriate force to defend themselves from physical harm.

6
Consolidated Report on Compliance Monitoring Re: RA 9262 (AVAWC).
7
State v. Kelly, 478 A.2d 364 (1984).

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In certain situations in which women kill their batterers, these common standards of self-defence
are not met. In most cases, for example, battered women who kill their perpetrators do not strike
during a direct confrontation, but rather when an external observer does not appear to be an
"immediate" threat. During a break in the violence or during the sleep of the batterers, battered
women can kill their mates. Battered women could use a knife or gun when the attacker was
unarmed. Furthermore, while most states do not require the victim to withdraw when assaulted, in
their relationship with the batterers, there is typically a long history and trend of violence when
battered women kill their abusers. This raises the issue of why battered women are not leaving
violent relationships sooner.8

Another contentious BWS application concerns its usage to support the claim of the battered
woman defendant that her use of deadly force was reasonable. The history of violence and, in
particular, the essence of that violence, may be recognized by courts in certain states as essential
considerations for recognizing the reasonableness of the defendant's belief in the need to use
deadly force. In other jurisdictions, rather than the ordinary reasonable person, the relevant
comparison for assessing the behaviour of the defendant is "a reasonable battered woman" These
courts have reacted to the concern of scholars who note that conventional criminal law uses the
"ordinary man" as its reference point in determining what is "fair," in which the attack usually
happens during a single violent episode and the attacker is frequently a stranger to the victim. This
comparison point fails to adequately capture the circumstances of the battered woman. The
violence faced by the battered woman is continuous rather than a stranger and at the hands of an
intimate partner. In addition, the woman is not generally equal to the batterer on physical grounds,
thereby illustrating why the force used by the woman against her husband usually requires the use
of a lethal weapon.9

8
Ewing, Charles P. Battered Women Who Kill: Psychological Self-Defense as Legal Justification. Lexington, MA:
Lexington Books, 1987.

9
Gerdes, Louise, ed. Battered Woman. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1999.

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THE DEFENCE OF INSANITY:

In certain cases, the defense of insanity may be asserted by battered women who kill their abusers.
In comparison to the defense of self-defense, in which battered women say that they acted in
response to a rational perception of risk, battered women who say an insanity defense allege that
their mental capacity was compromised at the time of the criminal act. Instead of a defense of
justification, this insanity defense is legally referred to as “defense of excuse.' An excuse defense
applies to cases in which the defendant does not dispute that she committed the crime, but simply
claims that, as in the case of a claim of insanity, she is not liable for it, usually on the basis of lack
of volition over her free will.10

At the time of the criminal act, the defense of insanity requires a defendant to have a serious mental
condition. In addition, the legal definition for insanity is a narrow one in most jurisdictions,
requiring that the psychiatric illness of the defendant affected her mental ability to such a degree
that she could not comprehend the essence and effects of what she was doing or did not realize
that what she was doing was wrong. In cases of spousal murder, this argument is used far less often
than the self-defense assertion, but when the legal insanity diagnosis is presented as an argument,
expert evidence may be presented to justify how BWS and its related symptoms could have
prevented the victim from understanding right from wrong or appreciating the implications of her
conduct at the time of the criminal act.

EXPERT WITNESS TESTIMONY IN BATTERED WOMEN SYNDROME’S

CASES:

Both the prosecution and the defense may produce evidence of BWS in a variety of ways in cases
of spousal homicide. As a battered woman, the defendant can testify about her experiences, and
both the prosecution and the defense can call witnesses on their behalf to testify. The use of expert
witness evidence is one of the most relevant kinds of evidence in cases of spousal homicide. Expert

10
Ogle, Robbin S., and Susan Jacobs. Self Defense and Battered Women Who Kill: A New Framework. Westport,
CT: Praeger Publishers, 2002.

12
testimony is legally characterized as evidence of the opinion of someone who in some research,
occupation, or business has unique expertise or knowledge that is not common to the average
person and is possessed by the expert because of special study or experience. The specialist
commonly used is a psychologist or psychiatrist in cases of spousal homicide where the defense
asserts a theory of self-defense or insanity. In cases of spousal homicide, both the prosecution and
the defense will introduce expert witness evidence on battering and its consequences. To support
the claims of insanity or self-defense, the defense uses expert witness testimony. In conjunction
with the sentencing stages of a trial, it may also use expert witness testimony as a mitigating factor
to reduce the sentence the defendant will receive. In cases of spousal homicide, the prosecutor can
use expert witness evidence to clarify such matters as the lack of cooperation or false confession
of battered women. The expert witness can not decide the ultimate problems, such as whether
thinking that she was in imminent danger was rational for the battered woman. Rather, the object
of expert witness testimony is to offer an alternate viewpoint for the judge or jury to view the
actions of a woman. In particular , the role of the expert witness is to provide information related
to inferences they may have to make about the state of mind of the woman at the time of the killing,
such as why she might have considered herself to be in an immediate danger situation, even though
at the time of the killing she was not under direct assault.11

Ibn-Tamas v. United States, in 1979, was the first case to consider the use of expert witness
evidence on BWS. Ibn-Tamas married a husband who frequently beat her and who had a history
of violence against women. Her husband beat her while she was pregnant; she shot and killed him
in response. She was charged in the second degree with murder and pleaded self-defense. A
psychologist testified on her behalf at the BWS trial. The trial judge declined to let the evidence
be heard, saying that there was no trial for the victim / husband. The appeals court in Washington
, DC, overturned the decision and declared that an expert should testify where the subject matter
exceeds the average layman's comprehension. After the Ibn-Tamas case, research suggests that the
essence of the knowledge that the expert conveys can vary in the degree to which it directly
examines the defendant 's conduct. The laws in various states and the court's understanding of

11
Parrish, Janet. Trend Analysis: Expert Testimony on Battering and Its Effects in Criminal Cases. National
Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women, for the National Association of Women Judges for the projec t
‘‘Family Violence and the Courts: Exploring Expert Testimony on Battered Women’’ (no. A-93-018.DEF), 1994.

13
certain laws related to the introduction of expert witness testimony clarify much of this difference.
In some cases, the court can order the specialist to clarify the general research results about battered
women and to give a professional opinion about whether the condition is demonstrated by the
woman about trial. Usually, at the time of the killing, the specialist is not allowed to give an opinion
on the views of the woman. However, in other cases, the specialist was only permitted to give
proof of general study results on battered women, without giving an opinion on whether the
defendant fits the profile of a battered woman. In certain cases , the courts can refuse to accept
proof of such an opinion.

ONGOING OBSTACLES:

In self-defense situations, their apparent use of unnecessary force in response to a threat or attack
and the timeliness of their response to a threat of damage or real harm have been critical handicaps
for women. In certain situations, the use of a knife or gun in response to an unarmed attack or the
use of force by a woman after a death threat without assault is involved. The force or danger by
the attacker must be immediate in most jurisdictions. The word "imminent" applies to a period of
time that is not specific: it can be an immediate threat or anything that may arise at any moment.
The situation in which a woman shoots a sleeping man or one with a turned back did not seem to
satisfy the imminence criterion.

The other major obstacle to achieving a self-defense argument is that misconceptions about the
causes and consequences of intimate partner abuse can be harboured by the lay public from which
jurors are selected. Jurors may assume that relationship violence serves the needs of each of the
spouses or that if she really objected to the harassment, the female defendant might have left her
abuser. Beliefs such as these will make it hard for jurors to understand how a woman could have
an imminent fear experience. Although the law does not require the defendant in most states to try
to escape from the situation or to leave the relationship sooner, the inability of the woman to do so
may still affect the assessments of the reasonableness of her conduct by the juror. Jurors'
assumptions about intimate partner violence and the lack of fit between the conduct of the victim
and the current self-defense laws will make it difficult for the defense to conclude that the
behaviour of the victim was fair in killing her abuser.

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CASES:
 U.S. v. Dominique Stephens

FACTS:

An emergency call was made by Dominique Stephens on June 17, 2009, saying she had shot her
husband. She gave her address, and her call was responded to by law enforcement. The responding
officer was Detective Hughes. Once in the bedroom, Detective Hughes saw Donovan Stephens,
Dominique 's husband, face down and covered with a blanket full of three bullet holes and stains
of blood. The presumption that Donovan was dead was made by Detective Hughes, and Dominique
was arrested. Since revoking her right to remain silent, Dominique was questioned since signing a
written statement by Detective Hughes and charged with first-degree murder.12

Dominique claimed that in self-defense, she shot her husband. She claimed to have been the object
of her husband's emotional and physical violence over the course of their marriage, adding that he
nearly killed her the last time he beat her. Since she suffered from Battered Woman Syndrome,
she felt she had no other choice but to kill her husband. A individual must undergo at least two
periods before being branded a "battered woman" in order to suffer from Battered Woman
Syndrome. One being afraid of their lives is a hallmark of Battered Woman Syndrome. Dominique
Stephens, as she shot her husband, felt like she was in immediate danger.

ISSUES:

1. First Degree Murder: "Whoever kills another intentionally, either by deliberate and
premeditated intent or by means of poison, being of sound mind and discretion, is guilty of
first degree murder."
2. Murder of the Second Degree: "(a) Whoever kills another with intent, except as given in
Sec. 22-2401, is guilty of murder of the second degree." (b) Second-degree murder in the
District of Columbia is a lesser-included first-degree murder charge, and the suspect can

12
“UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. KELLIE M. DOMINIQUE” United States v. Dominique, CRIMINAL
ACTION 15-112-SDD-RLB.

15
 be found guilty of the obviously included second-degree murder charge under an
indictment alleging first-degree murder.'
3. Heat of Passion: "In response to adequate provocation, voluntary manslaughter requires a
person to kill in a sudden and extreme heat of passion." Heat of passion is generally defined
as rage, but it is broad enough to include fear, envy, and panic.
4. She must explain why she didn't leave him, why she did not call the police, and so on and
so forth. The context and reasonableness of the wife's act, what drove her to do such a
thing, why she perceived the threat to her life. Will it come under the ambit of self-
defence or Battered Women Syndrome considering the fact that the wife didn't act when
there was an imminent threat to her life.

DECISION:

Detective Dana Hughes suggested that reports of complaints submitted by residents of the
defendant describing fights and screams emanating from Mrs Stephens' house had been found.
That the complainant had been subjected by her deceased husband to continuous physical violence
and that she called Tony Williams, the former director of the women's shelter, in December 2008,
saying that she was scared of her husband and had nowhere to go. According to a statement made
by a witness, the defendant felt "helpless" and fearful for the lives of her two children, as the
deceased had to threaten the children. An expert witness testified that as a result of being beaten
by her husband, the defendant had been to the hospital at least 10 times and that the defendant
displayed signs of being choked the last time, in addition to having a fractured rib.

During the course of their marriage, she continued to be the victim of emotional and physical
violence by her husband. She also claimed that she was suffering from Battered Woman Syndrome
and that she had shot her husband because she had a rational assumption that her life was in
imminent danger even though her husband was asleep. Her argument that she suffered from
Battered Woman Syndrome and comparisons to previous cases made the decision process of the
court much clearer when she was found not guilty of First Degree Murder by the court.
Mrs. Stephens was accused of possession of weapons and sentenced to two years in jail and a fine
of $500.

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  State v. Kelly, 478 A.2d 364 (1984)

FACTS:

Over the course of seven years of marriage, the complainant was reportedly subjected to brutal
beatings by her husband, often as much as once a week. Her husband beat her up on the street the
day of the stabbing after she pleaded for money to buy groceries. Passers-by split them, but her
husband caught up with her again afterward. Thinking her husband had come back to kill her, the
defendant reached for a pair of scissors in her purse and stabbed him. At trial, she presented the
testimony of an expert witness who would state that her fear of her survival was rational because
she suffered from the condition of a battered woman's syndrome. The witness was dismissed by
the trial court as irrelevant.

ISSUES:

Was expert testimony that the defendant suffered from battered-woman 's syndrome pertinent to
her state of mind at the time of the stabbing?

DECISION:

The Supreme Court of New Jersey held that expert testimony relating to battered women's
syndrome was important to show the honesty and reasonableness of the defendant's conviction
that deadly force was appropriate to protect herself from serious harm and therefore to support
her argument for self-defense; and that such testimony fulfilled the requirements governing the
admissibility of expert testimony. The Court overturned the conviction of the defendant and
ordered a fresh trial.13

13
State v. Kelly, 478 A.2d 364 (1984), Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey.

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  Ibn-Tamas v. United States

FACTS:

Dr. Yusef Ibn-Tamas and his wife, Appellant Beverly Ibn-Tamas, got married in September
1972. The marriage was hampered by frequent violent episodes separated by relatively
harmonious stretches. It was alleged that Dr. Ibn-Tamas regularly injured his wife physically
during their marriage. Mrs. Ibn-Tamas shot and killed her husband on the morning of February
23, 1976, following a violent battle. She was charged with second-degree murder and second-
degree murder while being armed. The expert testimony offered by a certain Dr. Walker on the
issue of battered women was found as evidence at trial to be inadmissible. Ms. Ibn-Tamas was
eventually sentenced. On appeal, she argued that by withdrawing the expert evidence given on
the issue of battered women, the trial court had made an error.

ISSUES:

Has the trial court made a mistake in finding that the testimony of Dr. Walker is inadmissible as
evidence?

DECISION:

In order to determine the admissibility of expert evidence on the issue of battered women, the
appellate court remanded the case. The court found that the expert did not express an opinion on
the ultimate issue of whether the appellant honestly and fairly believed that when she shot her
husband she was in danger and that the evidence may have helped the jury determine the
credibility of the appellant. The court was therefore unable to decide whether the credentials of
the expert were appropriate for the form of psychological testimony presented or whether the
state of scientific knowledge was appropriate to authorize an expert witness.14

14
Ibn-Tamas v. United States - 407 A.2d 626 (D.C. 1979).

18
LITERATURE REVIEW:

 Battered Woman Syndrome as a Legal Defense: History, Effectiveness and

Implications – by Brenda L. Russell
The use of the battered woman syndrome defence in the courts is controversial, particularly
when women turn to homicide in response to a partner's abuse. Scholars worry that the
syndrome has created a standard to which all battered women are compared. This book
provides a comprehensive examination of the evolution of the syndrome, its effectiveness
in court, and the contributions made by psychologists and legal scholars to aid our
understanding of the use of battered woman syndrome evidence in trials of abused women
who kill. Of particular interest is the influence of history, gender roles, and stereotypes in
the evaluation of defendants who claim to suffer from the syndrome.

 The Battered Woman Syndrome, Fourth Edition – by Lenore E. A. Walker

With its focus on the connection between health and mental health symptoms, this seminal,
groundbreaking work continues to forge new directions in the field of domestic violence.
Describing a condition that is the basis for the battered woman defense--cited in cases of
physically and psychologically abused women who have killed their abusers--it continues
to be used as a defense to explain premeditated assault or murder.

19
CONCLUSION:

Beyond the pale of bigotry, in the world of decent people, the terrible reality of our ignorance and
failure to quell the tide of abuse against women is often too horrible to consider. For a battered
woman, the reality of life is indeed beyond the average person's knowledge. Testimony from
experts is required. The interpretation of the reality requires an acknowledgement of responsibility
for the violence between us. It could be easier to ignore the truth of the woman's tale than to deal
with it.
BWS has earned broad acceptance as a defense in cases of spousal homicide, but it remains a
contentious topic. Battered women who claim self-defense are more likely to be effective in using
BWS in circumstances of direct conflict with the batterer to substantiate their arguments. Jurors
are more likely to doubt the argument of self-defense in some cases. The defense of insanity is less
likely to be used by battered women who murder their husbands so they could claim that they did
not know what they were doing at the time or that what they were doing was wrong. Finally, the
use of BWS-related expert witness evidence will allow the jury better consider the dynamics of
domestic violence and its effect on battered women. Some scientists and legal experts, however,
remain doubtful about BWS's admissibility as evidence at trial. These critics question whether
BWS is a "condition" that can be reliably identified in women who, as reasons for spousal
homicide, cite their battering experiences.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

REFERENCES:

 Browne, Angela. When Battered Women Kill. New York: Free Press, 1987.
 Downs, Donald A. More than Victims: Battered Women, the Syndrome Society, and the
Law. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
 Ewing, Charles P. Battered Women Who Kill: Psychological Self-Defense as Legal
Justification. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1987.
 Gerdes, Louise, ed. Battered Woman. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1999.
 Leonard, Elizabeth D. Convicted Survivors: The Imprisonment of Battered Women Who
Kill. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.
 Morrissey, Belinda. When Women Kill: Questions of Agency and Subjectivity. New
York: Routledge, 2002.
 Ogle, Robbin S., and Susan Jacobs. Self Defense and Battered Women Who Kill: A New
Framework. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2002.
 Stewart, Mary W. Ordinary Violence: Everyday Assaults against Women. Westport, CT:
Bergin and Garvey, 2002.
 Walker, Lenore E. The Battered Woman. New York: Harper & Row, 1979.
 Terrifying Love: Why Battered Women Kill and How Society Responds. New York:
HarperCollins, 1990.
 The Battered Woman Syndrome. New York: Springer Publishing, 2000.

WEBSITES:

 The "Battered Woman's Defense" Its History and Future - FindLaw

 Francine Hughes Killed Her Abusive Husband—And Changed U.S. Views on Domestic
Violence - HISTORY

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