Battered Women and Self-Defense: Myths and Misconceptions in Current Reform Proposals
Description
A widespread perception exists that contemporary criminal law doctrine cannot accommodate the self-defense claims of battered women who kill abusive men. That perception dominates not only the media, but also current reform discussions both in scholarly literature and in many state legislatures. In response to the dominant belief that traditional self-defense doctrine is inapplicable to these cases, proposals for radical redefinition of various elements of self-defense jurisprudence have been advanced. This Article demonstrates that the belief is wrong and that proposed redefinitions of legal rules will provide neither the necessary nor the sufficient condition for changing the courtroom climate in which battered women's homicide cases are tried.
