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Battered Woman Syndrome and Self-Defense - A Legal and Empirical Dissent

NCJ Number
105600
Journal
Virginia Law Review Volume: 72 Issue: 3 Dated: (April 1986) Pages: 619-647
Author(s)
D L Faigman
Date Published
1986
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This article questions the validity of the research on battered woman syndrome and argues that in self-defense homicide cases, courts should not admit expert testimony based on this research.
Abstract
Battered women defendants who have killed their abusing husbands rely on Lenore Walker's 'cycle theory' to show that although the defensive act may have occurred during a period of relative calm, the defendant reasonably believed at the time of the killing that the husband was an imminent threat. defendants also use Walker's extension of the psychological theory of learned helplessness to explain the incapacity of the battered woman to leave the abusive relationship. Walker's 'cycle theory' suffers from significant methodological and interpretive flaws that undermine its explanation of why an abused woman attacks her husband at a time when she is not being seriously threatened by him. Similarly, Walker's application of learned helplessness to battered women's situation does not account for the actual behavior of many women who remain in a battering relationship. The mechanical application of the traditional self-defense standard, however, is unduly harsh because it fails to appreciate the forces operative in a battering relationship. The court should admit into evidence relevant and reliable empirical findings, particularly those pertaining to the economic and social factors that force women to remain in abusive relationships. The jury should also be allowed to hear testimony on the decedent's prior history of violence toward the defendant. 143 footnotes.

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