A Feminist Critique of Self-Defense and Provocation in Battered Women's Cases in England and Wales

This paper critically examines the law of self-defense and provocation in cases where battered women kill their partners. It is argued that neither self-defense nor provocation adequately recognizes the situation most battered women find themselves in, and the present criteria for both defenses reflects this inadequacy. Legal advocates and supporters of battered women who kill have thus sought to find alternative strategies for battered women's defense cases. One of these has been the introduction of expert evidence on the battered woman syndrome. This paper will consider the implications of introducing the battered woman syndrome into the English legal system.