In Be Good, Sweet Maid: The Trials of Dorothy Joudrie (1999), Audrey Andrews recounts the life and trial of Dorothy Joudrie, a so-called wealthy socialite who was arrested in Calgary in 1995 for attempting to murder her estranged husband after decades of domestic abuse. Andrews tells Joudrie’s story in the form of a semi-auto/biographical text that quotes other scholarly and creative literary works in an intertextual dialogue about violence against women, post-World War II gender socialization, and the “battered women syndrome” defence. This thesis takes this highly referential dialogue as its starting point, and then extends Andrews’ cultural work by tracing a genealogy of colonialism in Canadian domestic violence laws with the help of selected intertexts – including Yvonne Johnson’s Stolen Life: Journey of a Cree Woman (1998), the trial of Angelique Lavallee, and Lorena Bobbitt’s infamous case. First, I source the epigraphs that Andrews strategically places at the start of each chapter and discern the layer of meaning that these external texts bring to Joudrie’s story in order to raise questions about how Andrews rearticulates the work of others and the politics of such a rearticulation. Second, I similarly frame Joudrie’s 1995 trial as a referential and intertextual discourse based in precedent established by the Supreme Court in 1990 when it ruled that expert testimony on the “battered woman syndrome” was admissible in the R. v. Lavallee case (Shaffer 1). This allows me to consider a consequence of the ruling often overlooked in feminist literature: due to the fact that the original defendant, Angelique Lavallee, was a Métis woman whose identity was erased in the courtroom and in case law, subsequent trials employing the “battered woman syndrome” defence repeat settler relations entrenched in colonial violence. Third, I expose how representations can fail by thinking through what Stephen Couser calls the auto/bio/ethics of life writing, which reveals the limits of Canadian laws and literatures. Ultimately, this discussion generates questions about who is considered human under the law and how life writing might re-imagine the “reasonable” human in more just and compassionate ways. / Thesis (Master, Gender Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-07-28 10:28:24.988

Despite growing awareness of the severity of domestic violence, the lives of battered women are too often misconstrued by the Canadian public and the judicial system. The author argues that stereotypes of victimized battered women emanating from the courts and feminist theory may both prevent women who kill their partner from making valid claims of self-defence and generally undermine women's fight against oppression. The author reviews the doctrine of the battered woman syndrome and its application in the context of self-defence to illustrate how the courts' treatment of the doctrine conveys a narrow and incomplete depiction of battered women. An alternative theoretical framework based on battered women's partial agency is proposed as a means to address feminist theory's simplified representation of battered women. Various law and policy reform initiatives in the criminal justice system are explored to assess how the law may validate and promote battered women's partial agency.

Bakgrund: Kvinnors brottslighet utgör endast en minimal del av brottsligheten som existerar,eftersom det i regel är män som begår brott. Detta speglas av brist på kunskap om kvinnligaförövare. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att belysa det studerade ämnet och på så sätt ökauppmärksamheten i samhället för kvinnliga mördare. Metod: En systematisk litteraturstudieutfördes om de gemensamma faktorer kvinnliga mördare har. Resultat: Kvinnor mördar somsvar på mäns våld i en relation, oftast i självförsvar. Ett flertal av de kvinnliga förövarnadödar en intim partner, i en nödsakad situation, som ett alternativ till att inte själv blimördade. De tenderar att lida av psykisk ohälsa, mörda i det gemensamma hemmet ochanvända kniv som mordvapen. Slutsats: Kärnan i ett proaktivt tillvägagångssätt är detförebyggande arbetet innan det dödliga våldet blir ett alternativ. Med kunskapen i hand är detav stor vikt att inledningsvis fokusera på partnervåld. Det är uppenbart att den kvinnligaförövaren agerar i rädsla och i självförsvar, vilket gör dem till egna beskyddare närrättsväsendet misslyckas. / Background: Crime committed by women constitutes a minimal part of the overall crimerate. Generally, men are the ones committing majority of crimes. This is reflected by a lack ofknowledge of female perpetrators. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to highlight thesubject studied and thus increase the overall attitude towards female murderers in order toclear up the confusion when solving these cases. Method: A systematic literature study wasconducted to investigate the common denominators among the female perpetrators. Result:Women commit murders in response to men's violence, usually in a relationship and inself-defense. The majority of the female perpetrators kill their intimate partner in fair of notbeing the victim of murder them selves, the motive strictly self-defense. The femaleperpetrators hold some common denominators; mental illness, the crime happen in thecommon home and a knife is usually the murder weapon of choice. Conclusion: The essenceof proactive approach is the preventative work ahead of the crime committed. With theknowledge at hand, law enforcement need to focus on partner violence. It is obvious that theperpetrator act in fear and in self-defense, making them their own protectors when the lawenforcement fails them.

The South Africa criminal law allows the battered woman to raise a battered woman syndrome defence in the context of non-pathological criminal incapacity. However, there is a need of expert evidence to support such defence for it to succeed in the court of law. Hence, this paper scrutinizes the task of expert evidence in support of the battered woman syndrome in order to reach the extent of its effectiveness. Nevertheless, such evidence is not indispensable but without it, the court hardly gets persuaded resulting into the failure of the defence. The meaning of battered woman syndrome is articulated in the paper as well as the fact that battered woman syndrome defence falls under the defence of non-pathological criminal incapacity. The origin and development of the non-pathological criminal incapacity has also been discussed by comparing it with pathological criminal incapacity which emanates from mental illness while the former does not originate from a mental illness. Psychiatrist are in a better position to understand the latter while psychologists are in a better position to understand the former, hence it is advisable if the court pays more attention or attach more weight to the evidence given by the psychologists if this defence is to succeed and have a brilliant future. Moreover, the possible defences available to the battered woman have been mentioned as well as the cases that used non-pathological criminal incapacity as a defence particularly with regard to the battered woman syndrome defence. Both cases that were successful and unsuccessful have been elaborated. However, the cases that failed with the defence are in large numbers than the successful ones. Although expert evidence is essential to support the battered woman syndrome defence, it is unjustly and unfairly applied on the battered woman who is an accused person in the court leading to the failure of the defence .In short the use of expert evidence has failed in its application as the two professions, law and medicine has failed to make this defence work as they have not reached an agreement concerning the battered woman syndrome defence. In addition, the paper looks at the obstacles linked with the battered woman syndrome defence as well as offering suggestions to be put in place in order to make the use of expert evidence achievable. This can only be done if both the lawyers and mental health professionals come to terms with each other where they are able to understand the battered woman syndrome and the actions which led to the situation where battered woman finds herself as an accused person. Finally, the paper concludes that expert evidence has failed tremendously in its application leading to the failure of the battered woman syndrome defence in the context of non-pathological criminal incapacity. Consequently a lot still needs to be done to protect the women who face numerous obstacles; both personal and legal as they do not face justice in court and everyone must take part to put an end to battering of women which is inhuman and morally wrong. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Public Law / unrestricted

No description available.

Dr. Lenore Walker developed battered woman syndrome to address the issue of domestic violence and to give battered women a defense in situations in which they kill their abusive partners when they are not overtly threatening them. Self-defense law is based on male on male combat. Women are less able to protect themselves in an attack by a man, and so they may preemptively attack their sleeping partners to avoid a situation in which they cannot adequately protect themselves. Battered woman syndrome explains why these battered women act in a way that is irrational to a non-battered person. Walker's theory of learned helplessness explains why the woman does not leave the abusive relationship, and the cycle of violence theory explains why she perceives an imminent threat. Battered woman syndrome is problematic in its legal application because of problems with its scientific validity and reliability. It also furthers gender stereotypes and blurs the line between a justification and an excuse defense. While, Dr. Walker's intentions were good, battered woman syndrome is inadequate. Women's difference from men still have to be acknowledged in cases in which battered women kill their husband's, but social agency framework is a more effective way to acknowledge gender differences. This framework takes into account social circumstances that would explain a woman's actions rather than including pathology. This would explain why the woman did not leave an abusive relationship. To avoid the pathology of BWS while explaining why the woman felt an imminent threat, the defense can turn to a pattern of abuse that helps her reasonably recognize when violence is likely.

In light of the existing literature and research conducted in the area of domestic violence, several recurrent symptoms continue to surface as a result of both physical and non-physical abuse. Two of the most prevalent psychological symptoms requiring intervention tend to be depression and low self-esteem. Therefore, it is the intention of this study to empirically examine the type of abuse female victims of domestic violence experience and its link to their psychological distress. Specifically, it is hypothesized that victims of non-physical abuse will be more likely to experience low self-esteem than depression. Victims of physical abuse will have a greater prevalence of depression than low self-esteem.

Kvinnor begår färre våldsbrott än män, och endast en tiondel av alla mord begås av kvinnor. Detta speglas i att relativt lite forskning om kvinnor som begår dödligt våld har genomförts. När kvinnor dödar är det ofta en nuvarande, eller före detta, intim partner som faller offer. Men varför dödar kvinnor en person som de tidigare valt att spendera sitt liv med? Finns det några likheter mellan dessa kvinnor? Denna systematiska litteraturstudie visar att en majoritet av de kvinnor som tar livet av sin partner, gör det efter att ha utsatts för fysiskt och psykiskt våld av sin partner under lång tid. Tidigare partnervåld, och den överhängande risken att utsättas för ännu en episod av grovt våld, leder till att dessa kvinnor lever med ständig skräck, rädsla och ångest. Många av dessa kvinnor upplever även en känsla av isolation, vilket förstärks av att mannen ofta förbjuder dem att arbeta utanför hemmet. Kvinnor som dödar sin partner gör det ofta i, vad de själva anser är, självförsvar. Många av dessa kvinnor menar att de dödade sin partner för att de var tvungna. Hade de inte gjort det hade de själva förmodligen blivit mördade. / Women commit fewer violent crimes than men, with only one tenth of all murders committed by females. This is reflected in the fact that relatively little research has been conducted about women who kill. When women kill, the victim is often a current or former intimate partner. But why do some women kill an individual whom they have previously chosen to spend their life with? Are there any similarities between these women? This systematic literature review shows that a majority of women who take the life of an intimate partner, do it after having been subjected to physical and psychological violence by their partner for a long period of time. Former partner violence, and the imminent risk of being subjected to yet another episode of serious violence, leads to these women living with constant fear, horror and anxiety. Many of these women also experience a sense of isolation, which is reinforced by the fact they their partner often forbids them to work outside of the home. Women who kill their intimate partner often do so in, what they feel is, self-defence. Many of these women say that they killed their partner because they had to. Had they not killed him, they themselves would probably have been murdered.

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In the submitted thesis I focus on domestic violence issues. In the theoretical part, I outline these issues based on a bibliographic research; I specify a basic classification of domestic violence, its development, and the current situation in the Czech Republic. Further, I deal with an analysis of the victim and offender personalities and present a valid legislative framework. Last but not least, I present a list of selected organisations providing support for the persons at risk of domestic violence and principles of their work with such victims. In the empirical part I focus on an analysis of the methods of work and cooperation among selected supporting organisations and this based on interviews with their representatives. After reviewing all the obtained information, I present a proposal aimed at an improvement of the work with domestic violence victims. At the same time, I propose a task that is to be developed as a project by secondary school students within primary prevention; the project is aimed at familiarization of students with the correct and adequate procedures applied by workers from the organisations providing support for domestic violence victims.