ipl-logo

Battered Women Syndrome Essay

1913 Words8 Pages

1 What is battered women syndrome?
Battered women syndrome (“BWS”) is a series of psychological and behavioural expressions evident in women who are in violent and abusive relationships. The woman is a victim of physical, sexual or psychological abuse by her partner.
Studies have shown that battered women do not usually kill their abusers during the actual abuse. If this were the case, many would have a successful chance of succeeding with private defence. Most battered women, however, kill their abusive partner when they are at their most vulnerable, such as asleep or in a drunken state.
BWS allows the courts to understand through expert evidence, the findings of psychologists, as to why these battered women do not leave their partner or call the police. They call it learned helplessness where the woman is tyrannised into thinking that there is no escape from their situation.
2 Battered women syndrome regarding criminal incapacity
2 1 Non-pathological criminal incapacity
Battered women have used non-pathological criminal incapacity as a defence to killing their abusers. Non-pathological criminal incapacity is the instance in which the accused alleges that they were unable to direct their conduct with insight to what was right and wrong. This conduct is due to a …show more content…

He remarked that courts should not accept non-pathological criminal incapacity as a defence as there is no difference between non-pathological criminal incapacity resulting from stress or provocation and the defence of sane automatism. If one chose to accept the defence, one must approach with extreme caution. Expert evidence is vital to the defence and the court must take into account what happened before and after the incident. Policy considerations should be referred to rather than legal principles. He questioned whether the defence should be done away with or whether it should be kept for deserving

Show More
Related
1199 Words | 5 Pages

Battered woman syndrome is described as “a physical and psychological condition of a woman who has undergone emotional, physical, or sexual abuse from a counterpart” (Khana and Sachdeva, (2015, p.8). Heavenfire and Falardeau’s relationship was plagued with violence. Several witnesses for the prosecution and defence noted seeing bruising on Heavenfire on multiple occasions. A particular witness, Linda Newton, a counselor at a vocational college “saw bruising on her face on at least five occastions” (Sheehy, 2014, p.134).

Read More
1013 Words | 5 Pages

* * * I feel that it would be impossible to ensure that there were the safeguards in place to protect society from your possible actions.” (victim parent, 2002). As empathetic starts, citizens will side with the victims of the defendant’s crimes because they belief the defendant’s crimes were out of evil and cruel torture and deserves all the punishment he can get and not get a break and let back to society where he has the ability to commit potential

Read More
547 Words | 3 Pages

Those matters are for the trier of fact alone. Id. In this criminal case a mental health expert is prepared to offer an opinion on the whether the defendant was insane

Read More
756 Words | 4 Pages

There are cases like Kenneth’s where evidence has backed up his reasoning for the crime he never attended to commit. Whereas the case involving the two girls was pre-meditated and intentionally supposed to end in murder. With examples

Read More
610 Words | 3 Pages

Mr. Johnston tried to evade the crime scene and struck the officer during the process. Mr. Johnston was connected to a sting of church burglaries. Mr. Johnston was arrested with possession of drugs and a knife. The court’s purpose of the forensic evaluation is to determine if Mr. Johnston is competent to stand trial; intellectual status, and risk. This evaluation will start with assessing his psychological behavior through a clinical interview and mental status evaluation to shape the diagnostic impression.

Read More
1587 Words | 7 Pages

In order for a person to be found guilty of a crime, two elements must be present which are the actus reus (guilty act) and the mens rea (guilty mind). The first part of this essay seeks to consider the liability for homicide offences and also assess whether Jason, Welch, Ellis and Stevens have any potential defences based on the crimes they committed. P360 Will Jason be held liable for the death of pinky? Pinky suffered harm from Jason’s act, in a situation like this, we would need to look at s. 18, s. 20 and s. 47 of the offences against the person act 1861.

Read More
1034 Words | 5 Pages

Intima partner abuse is divided into two forms yelling and throwing; striking and hitting. Kathy experienced both. First it starts with the yelling and throwing things and as rage filled Whitman it became severe and the striking and hitting began. At some Point of time Kathy feared for her life. The battered women syndrome involves one of physical, sexual or serious psychological abuse.

Read More
1523 Words | 7 Pages

(Busby, 2022). This compared with the Irresistible Impulse Test, which states “the defendant will be found not guilty by reason of insanity if they can show that as a result of mental disease or defect, they could not resist the impulse to commit the crime of which they are accused, due to an inability to control their actions”

Read More
495 Words | 2 Pages

A person’s function, not their diagnosis, determines their competency and responsibility. This is crucial when deciding whether or not to acquit someone. For example, a person can be diagnosed with severe borderline personality disorder, but still be able to function normally. How much and how normal a person functions, influences a jury’s decision more than their clinical diagnosis. Because if they function normally, despite their diagnosis, they are competent to stand trial and they are responsible for their alleged crime or

Read More
927 Words | 4 Pages

It is possible to commit an act of indecency recklessly and it is shown in the judgment of two cases. In R v Mueller , the Court of Criminal Appeal affirmed Fitzgerald v Kennard and applied the reckless non-advertent concept to indecent assault. In this case, the appellant was charged with five counts of assault with act of indecency and was convicted of three counts. The complainant suffered from Asperger’s syndrome and schizophrenia.

Read More
1294 Words | 6 Pages

The potential of off shore wind farms have been recognized just recently in the world as an energy source. For thousands of years people have used wind power in ships, pumping water, and much more. Beginning of the 21st century, the demand of electricity started to increased and renewable energy such as wind power has been the answer to many industries. More people are able to see the potential of wind power in the United States due to the fact that it doesn’t cause any pollution, which is one of the major problems for the environment. However, many manufacturing industries argue that wind farms require heavy investments on wind turbines and could cause a threat to the wildlife.

Read More
1232 Words | 5 Pages

Universally, domestic violence is referred to abusive behavior that is used by the intimate partner to control or power over the other intimate power. This can be in the forms of psychological, sexual, economic or emotional threats or actions that will influence your partner (Kindschi,2013).Domestic violence studies provides that psychopathology, which happens when in violent environment in child development can make the argument of domestic violence progress of being a generational legacy (Kindschi,2013).I chose to write about the Feminist Theory to explain why people commit domestic violence. It believes that the root causes of domestic violence is the outcome of living in a society that condones aggressive behavior by men, while women

Read More
1617 Words | 7 Pages

Many women are experiencing controlling and violent environment which should be about intimacy, love and care. In relation to this social justice issue, domestic violence all these theories can be applied effectively to assist in a practitioner’s work. Psychodynamic is a micro leveled practice involving more individualized work investigating the user’s unconscious behaviors and mental processors. Systems theory focuses on keeping a balanced equilibrium with marriage counselling and other forms of community assistance to help the user adapt to their environment. The critical perspective, feminist theory, works alongside the user in order to help identify social injustices and assists to empower and educate them.

Read More
1083 Words | 5 Pages

The decision in R v Caldwell was reached through interpretation of Criminal Offences Act 1971 . The interpretation of this act was that recklessness was lacking foresight for their act and resulting consequences. This meant that recklessness was established as an objective test. The reasonable person would have seen the risk that the defendant did not, due to their intoxication, so the conviction for aggravated criminal damage was upheld. Whilst seen as unfair and rigid, the test was universal and accounted for no factors or bias due to its strict nature.

Read More
1004 Words | 5 Pages

Intimate Partner Violence Fatalities: Prevention and Intervention Intimate partner violence is considered the most life-threatening and distressing family issue on a societal platform (Hamilton, Jaffe, & Campbell, 2013). The term family is utilized loosely as familial depictions vary, but to be certain the family has two partners that can be diversified roles and gender. By definition intimate partner violence illustrates a pattern of behaviors that are deliberate and intended to gain power and control over another person (Hamilton, Jaffe, & Campbell, 2013). Intimate partner violence does not need to be necessarily violent actions, but can be verbal threats, isolation, neglect, and disempowering tactics. The series of behaviors and violence can hastily escalate and the probability of homicide increases in those relationship dynamics.

Read More

More about Battered Women Syndrome Essay

Related Topics

Open Document