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

In patriarchal cultures, like the one prevalent in India, rigid, polarised and hierarchical gender roles work to establish a strong normative relationship between gender and the treatment of offenders committing violent crimes such as homicide. 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. Indian courts have recognised Battered Woman Syndrome very recently in only three cases, much differently than courts in other jurisdictions. While in other countries, Battered Woman Syndrome has been adduced by the advocates of battered women to support defence pleas, Indian Courts have resorted to it only to explain the effects of a battering relationship. The fact that Battered Woman Syndrome has only been recognised in such a small number of cases and the lack of scholarship in this particular area clearly resonates the resistance of the Indian criminal law towards women’s accounts of their experiences. Drawing on the example of the three cases, the author makes an attempt to put forth feminist legal arguments and offer a fresh perspective on the possibility of using Battered Woman Syndrome as a defence to address the concerns of battered women who end the cycle of violence by ending the lives of the abuser in a “kill or be killed” situation. Since Battered Woman Syndrome as a subject has been extensively researched in other common law countries, the present study limits itself to the Indian jurisdiction only. This paper also challenges the effectiveness of the existing defences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 in accommodating the cases of battered women, and highlights the need for the introduction of a new justificatory defence as a plausible solution.

Stereotypes About Battered Women and Victim’s Self-Defense: Legal Implications

Recent research on the practices of justice operators with women victims of intimate partner violence has evidenced the existence of gender stereotypes and gender-blind practices in the Spanish legal system (Albertín et al., 2020; García Jiménez et al., 2019, 2020), as well as the graves consequences that such practices imply for these women. In this context, the present study explored the existence of a battered woman stereotype and its variation when the victim defends herself from the abuser. An opportunity sample of 505 undergraduates of Law, Psychology and other studies from two Spanish universities assessed some personality characteristics of a woman after watching a 1-minute-long silent video. The participants were randomly assigned to one of three observation conditions (“control”, “victim” or “self-defense victim”), which differed in the previous information given about the target woman. The Principal Components Analysis reduced the information from the questionnaire to three dimensions: “brittleness” (α = .91), “positive” (α = .786), and “hostile” (α = .809). The MANOVA confirmed the battered woman stereotype and its modification when the victim reacts against the abuser in self-defense: in this case the attribution of brittleness decreases and the attribution of hostility increases. The type of academic training showed significant effects on the stereotype, this being more negative among Law students than among Psychology ones. Law students perceive the target woman in the “victim” condition more hostile and manipulator. As for the “self-defense” condition, Law students attribute less brittleness to the victim, and perceive her more manipulator and dangerous. The effect of the observer's gender on the stereotype is consistent with the previous literature. Implications for professional training and judicial practices are discussed.

متلازمة المرأة المعنفة لدى عينة من النساء العراقيات في بغداد

إن التقدم العلمي والتكنولوجيا يسَّر الكثير من الأمور على الأفراد، إلا أن ضغوط الحياة قد ازدادت، وازدادت معها الأعباء التي تقع على كاهل الفرد . وإن هناك فروقاً فردية بين الأفراد، فكل فرد يستجيب لما يتعرض له من مواقف وصعوبات بصورة تختلف عن الفرد الآخر ، فقد تظهر لدينا سلوكيات إيجابية في التعامل مع الصعوبات والخلافات الأسرية. وتظهر سلوكيات أُخرى سلبية للتعبير عن الغضب أو الانزعاج مما يتعرض ملحقاً اضراراً مادية، ومعنوية بأعز الناس عليه، زوجته وأولاده أو اخته أو حتى أمه. الدراسة الحالية تسلط الضوء على مفهوم متلازمة المرأة المعنفة Battered woman syndrome، الذي يصف الاستجابة النفسية للمرأة التي تتعرض للإساءة والتعنيف على يد الرجل ، وتعد لدى بعض الباحثين نوع من السلوك المصاحب لاضطراب ما بعد الصدمة . هدف البحث الحالي إلى: التعرف على نسبة انتشار متلازمة المرأة المعنفة . التعرف على متلازمة المرأة المعنفة لدى النساء المعنفات . وبعد معالجة البيانات احصائياً باستعمال الاختبار التائي لعينة واحدة ، ومعامل ارتباط بيرسون ووسائل احصائية أُخرى توصلت الباحثة إلى النتائج الآتية: إن نسبة انتشار متلازمة المرأة المعنفة 27.17% وهي أعلى من بقية بعض المجتمعات عند مقارنتها مع الدراسات الأُخرى . تعرض أفراد العينة إلى العنف الأمر الذي يؤدي إلى دخولها في دورة العنف . وفي ضوء هذه النتائج قدمت الباحثة مجموعة من التوصيات والمقترحات لإجراء بحوث مستقبلية.

Battered woman syndrome and PTSD in women who kill their abusing partner: a study in medical jurisprudence

AimsThe aim of the study was to identify any symptoms or features of Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) or Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that may be associated with, or explain, abused women killing their abuser; and the extent to which such identified symptoms or features have been deemed, or are potentially relevant, to past and now reformed partial defences to murder in English law. Hence two sub-studies were completed.MethodThe first sub-study identified mental symptoms of BWS or PTSD apparent in battered women who kill their abuser; achieved by identifying relevant research papers, through applying a ‘rapid review’ approach to three databases: PubMed, PsychInfo and PsychArticles. The second sub-study identified by legal research reported Court of Appeal (CA) judgments on women appealing their conviction of the murder of their abusive partner. It then analysed the legal approach taken towards evidence of the effects of abuse upon these women before and after relevant statutory law reform (although no CA cases were identified post-reform).ResultThe first sub-study identified and reviewed six symptoms or features, within three quantitative and three qualitative studies, that appeared to be associated with, or described by, abused women killing their abuser. These included helplessness, symptoms associated with PTSD, plus fear, isolation, experience of escalation of violence and cycle of violence. From the CA cases the perpetrators of killings that occurred prior to 04.10.2010 (the date of law reform) were usually successful in having their conviction overturned based upon diminished responsibility; but not provocation, because of the requirement of ‘sudden loss of self control’. ‘Loss of control’, which replaced provocation, appears highly likely to be capable of reducing murder to manslaughter based upon symptoms of BWS, or PTSD. However, the amended defence of diminished responsibility is likely to exclude evidence of BWS, but allow evidence of PTSD, because of its requirement of the defendant suffering from ‘a recognised medical condition’.ConclusionThis study demonstrated particular symptoms or features of BWS or PTSD associated with abused women killing their abusers plus their very different relevance to two partial defences to murder, pre and post law reform.

Battered woman syndrome: updating the expert checklist

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.

Diminished Capacity

Chapter 24 describes cases that have played an important role in establishing reduced culpability by criminal defendants. People v. Patterson involves mitigation defense called Extreme Emotional Distress (EED), Ibn-Tamas v. U.S. involves evidence of Battered Woman Syndrome to reduce culpability, and the final two cases, People v. Saille and Montana v. Egelhoff involve voluntary intoxication.

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.