Resignifications and subversive transformations: Judith Butler’s queer theory and women who kill

This article provides an empirical study of a number of cases dealing with women who kill their abusive partners and the construction of the battered woman syndrome in order to identity the possibilities for transformation within the legal system. Drawing upon the work of Judith Butler, the article will argue that the unstable nature of social terms and the nature of social power provides the potential for resignifying and subversively transforming the gender identities constructed and perpetuated by the law. In addition to outlining the defences for murder and engaging in a close examination of the cases, the article will also provide a critical analysis of Judith Butler’s approach to subject formation. Dr Anna Carline LLB (Hons), LLM, PhD. Law Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University.     

Rechte der EU-Grundrechte-Charta als verfassungsgesetzlich gew?hrleistete Rechte

Die von der EU-Grundrechte-Charta (GRC) garantierten Rechte k?nnen vor dem VfGH als verfassungsgesetzlich gew?hrleistete Rechte geltend gemacht werden und bilden einen Prüfungsma?stab in Verfahren der generellen Normenkontrolle. Das Unterbleiben einer mündlichen Verhandlung vor dem AsylGH in F?llen, in denen der Sachverhalt aus der Aktenlage in Verbindung mit der Beschwerde gekl?rt erscheint oder sich aus den Ermittlungen zweifelsfrei ergibt, dass das Vorbringen tatsachenwidrig ist, steht im Einklang mit Art 47 Abs 2 GRC, wenn zuvor bereits ein Verwaltungsverfahren stattgefunden hat, in dessen Rahmen Parteiengeh?r gew?hrt wurde.     

Negativer Kompetenzkonflikt zwischen VwGH und Unabhängigem Umweltsenat; Aufhebung des Beschlusses des VwGH

Der Anwendung der in § 40 Abs 1 UVP-G 2000 und § 5 USG vorgesehenen Beschr?nkung der Zust?ndigkeit des Unabh?ngigen Umweltsenates auf Angelegenheiten des ersten und zweiten Abschnittes des UVP-G 2000 steht kein unmittelbar anwendbares Unionsrecht entgegen. Der als Gericht iSd Art 6 Abs 1 MRK sowie Art 47 Abs 2 GRC zu qualifizierende VwGH hat seine Zust?ndigkeit in der Sache daher zu Unrecht abgelehnt, sodass der die Beschwerde zurückweisende Beschluss des VwGH vom VfGH aufzuheben war.     

Women Who Kill Their Abusive Partners: from Sameness to Gender Construction

Since the early 1990s there has been a plethora of academic commentary on the criminal law’s treatment of women who kill their abusive partners. More recently, the debate has been re-opened due to the Law Commission’s proposals on Partial Defences to Murder. This article aims to critically analyse the approach adopted by the academic commentary and to place in within a feminist theory framework. In addition the article argues that the work of queer theorist Judith Butler enables the analysis of the law’s treatment to be developed further.Law Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University. I would like to thank Dr Jamie Murray and Dr Lorie Charlesworth for their help and support in the writing of this article.     

Of Frames, Cons and Affects: Constructing and Responding to Prostitution and Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation

This article provides a critical analysis of the manner in which prostitution and trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation was ??framed?? by official discourses in order to support the reforms in England and Wales contained within the Policing and Crime Act 2009. Drawing upon the recent work of Judith Butler, emphasis will be placed on how the schema of the vulnerable prostitute was fundamental to invoking emotional affects, which justified certain political effects, especially the move towards criminalising the purchase of sexual services. However, on closer analysis the article will uncover an agenda influenced by law and order/morality, immigration and a ??fear of the enemy??. Furthermore, it will be argued that New Labour??s framing of the problematic enabled the State to avoid dealing with the more difficult, but more urgent, issues of the differential distribution of wealth, precarity and the engendering of an ethical and global responsibility for the other.     

Improving Children’s Interviewing Methods? The Effects of Drawing and Practice on Children’s Memories for an Event

In the present experiment, we were interested in the effects of drawings and practice on children’s memory performance. Younger (6/7-year-olds; n = 37) and older (11/12-year-olds; n = 44) children were presented with two videos that differed in complexity. Half of the children had to practice recalling an experienced event (i.e., last holiday) before remembering the two videos. The other half was not presented with such practice. Then, all children had to tell what they could still recollect about the first video. For the second video, all children were allowed to draw and tell during the recollection of the event. As expected, we found that for the complex video, making a drawing increased the completeness of children’s statements, but also reduced the accuracy of their statements. Although we found that including practice reduced the completeness of statements, it did not negatively impact the accuracy of children’s memory reports. Taken together, our results imply that interviewers should be cautious in using drawings as an interviewing method as it might elevate the production of incorrect information.     

“How an Ordinary Jury Makes Sense of it is a Mystery”: Barristers’ Perspectives on Rape,Consent and the Sexual Offences Act 2003

The Sexual Offences Act 2003 introduced significant reforms to the offence of rape, amid concerns regarding the low reporting and conviction rates for rape. One of the key aims of the Act was to improve the law relating to consent, in order to assist a jury in their decision making process. In addition, disquiet had been expressed with regards to the subjective nature of the mens rea of rape. Consequently, the 2003 Act reformulated the law so as to introduce an objective test. This article discusses the findings of a qualitative research project undertaken with 14 Barristers in the North West of England, in order to investigate counsels’ opinions regarding the 2003 reforms. Drawing upon data collected from semi-structured interviews, the article examines barristers’ perspectives with regards to the definition of consent, the ‘consent presumptions’, and the reformulated mens rea. In conclusion, it will be argued that while the barristers were not overly optimistic about the reforms introduced by the 2003 Act, they were also opposed to further reform to the substantive law and increased jury directions. Barristers argued that the law relating to rape should remain as simple as possible.     

Constructing the Subject of Prostitution: A Butlerian Reading of the Regulation of Sex Work

The Policing and Crime Act 2009 introduced radical reforms relating to the regulation of sex work. In particular, section 14 criminalised paying for sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force. This article will provide a close and critical reading of the official texts relating to this new offence through a discourse theory developed from the work of Judith Butler. Drawing upon Butler’s insights, it will be argued that the official texts relating to section 14 problematically construct the subject of prostitution in a way which maintains and perpetuates certain partial and idealised identities. However, it will be argued that the law will inevitably fail and that more inclusive and productive measures need to be adopted in order to deal effectively with prostitution.