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Abstract: Fair outcomes in the criminal justice system for women who defensively kill their abusive partners continue to be elusive despite decades of feminist advocacy and law reform. In this article we analyse legal and policy developments that have been achieved for women who kill their abusers over more than three decades, focusing on Australia, Canada and New Zealand. We revisit our previous critical analyses of Battered Women Syndrome (BWS), a form of expert evidence introduced by defence lawyers, intended to improve women’s access to legal defences. Developments in conceptualising men’s violence against women and its effects, such as coercive control and social entrapment, have rendered BWS outmoded, but BWS continues to be used across jurisdictions with mixed effects. We examine key legal reforms, most notably to self-defence, drawing on selected cases and legislation. Outcomes for women do not correspond neatly to the reforms. We identify factors that may help explain the limited impact of such measures, including a continued reliance on inadequate models of intimate partner violence (IPV) and on psychological expertise to the exclusion of other forms of knowledge, and mandatory sentencing in some jurisdictions. We also point to some promising developments, such as legislated jury directions recognising social entrapment and the introduction of evidence at trial from experts in social entrapment.
Keywords: Battered woman syndrome; defences, homicide; self-defence; coercive control; social entrapment; intimate partner violence
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