Дисертації з теми "Battered women who kill"

This thesis explores the topic of Canadian-Indigenous battered women who killed their intimate abusers and seeks to better understand these women’s experiences, their treatment within the Canadian criminal justice system, and how BWS was used in their cases. A theoretical framework comprised of Indigenous Feminisms and Intersectionality was used to guide this research study and to shed light on the lived experiences of Indigenous battered women who killed their abusers. Various important Indigenous Feminist theorists such as Dian Million (2013) and Patricia Monture-Angus (1998) were drawn upon as well as advocates for Intersectionality such as Patricia Hill-Collins (2019). A qualitative thematic analysis was performed to create four overarching themes from eight cases where Indigenous battered women killed their intimate abusers.

Law's representation of women has long been a source of debate among feminists. In this thesis, I engage with this debate on a number of different levels specifically in the context of battered women who kill. Although three defences are commonly canvassed, self defence, provocation and diminished responsibility, I limit my proposal for reform to the defence of provocation. My particular proposal involves looking at the possibility of combining expert testimony on the battered woman syndrome with the substantive elements ofthat defence in Britain. In part one I begin by setting the defence of provocation in its proper doctrinal framework. Thus, in the introduction I argue that provocation is properly conceptualised as a partial excuse. Using Fletcher's theory of the individualisation of excusing conditions, I highlight the limitations of the reasonable man standard which represents the greatest obstacle at the level of the substantive law for battered women who plead provocation. The tension arises out of, on the one hand, the use of an abstract standard and, on the other, the need to include and give proper recognition to individual experiences. I build on this foundation in chapter one where I look at all ofthe problematic elements of the defence through the lens of advocates practising at the Bar in Scotland. Here I pay particular attention to advocates' attitudes towards using battered woman syndrome evidence in conjunction with provocation. In chapter two I go on to set these problems in the context of a wider feminist critique ofthe reasons for the lack of fit between law and the experiences of women generally. Negatively, feminists attack law's claim to universality and they locate bias at both the level of law's content and form. Positively, they argue that the experiences of women can only be represented properly once law takes account ofthe complexity ofwomen's subjectivity. Here I will focus on one way of describing this complexity; separation and connection. I also explore one formative influence on the doctrine of provocation, that of the man of honour, and I highlight some of the code's possibilities for battered women who kill. The next section comprises three chapters and entails a comparative analysis of the substantive law in England and Scotland on each of the three defences. I go on to suggest that the key difference between how self defence, but more importantly provocation, operates in the two jurisdictions lies in the greater potential for an individualised approach to the reasonableness requirement under English law. In the [mal section I begin in chapter six by describing how the syndrome has been used in other jurisdictions and, drawing on these experiences, I suggest how battered woman syndrome expert testimony could be used to help reinterpret the defence of provocation in Britain in a way which would help overcome many of the problems posed by the reasonableness standard. I argue that the correct classification for the syndrome is as a form of post traumatic stress disorder. Thus, conceptualised, the emphasis is placed on the abnormal nature of the stressor which corresponds with the experiences of battered women who are, most commonly, normal women placed in abnormal circumstances of violence. Finally, in chapter seven I shift the emphasis from the substantive to the evidential. Although the solution, which I explore, comes in the form of evidence, the system of evidence, acts to bar its admission. Chapter seven, therefore, focuses on two rules; the ultimate issue rule but more controversially, the knowledge and experience rule. This rule makes the admissibility of evidence on the battered woman syndrome conditional on the jury's lack of knowledge and experience. Here again, feminist criticisms expose the extent to which the experiences of battered women who kill are excluded by law as well as the reality of the extent of the jury's misunderstanding. These criticisms are not as well developed as criticisms of the reasonable man but feminists are beginning to highlight the need to open up this rule to embrace the range and diversity of women's experiences. Although the use of expert testimony on the battered woman syndrome is by no means a widely accepted reform measure I intend here to present a case for its adoption.

In self-defense cases of battered women who kill their abusive husbands, defendants have used Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) expert testimony to help justify their acts of self-defense. However, past research demonstrates that BWS is ineffective in persuading jurors because it pathologizes the defendant rather than rationalizing her behavior. Additionally, BWS highlights passive (i.e., stereotypical) features of a battered woman, and such testimony may not apply to a defendant with active (i.e., atypical) features of a battered women. The current study hypothesized that another type of expert testimony, Social-Agency Framework (SAF), will persuade jurors to render more lenient verdicts, and that the defendant’s passive or active response history will affect verdict decisions. Additionally, a meditational model predicted that the effect of mock jurors’ gender on verdict decisions will be mediated by their attitudes toward battered women. In a 3(expert testimony: BWS vs. SAF vs. control) x 2(response history: passive vs. active) x 2(gender: male vs. female) model, jury-eligible participants (expected N = 510) recruited from the website mTurk answered a survey measuring their attitudes toward battered women, read a mock trial transcript, and rendered a verdict. The results indicated non-significant findings for the effects of expert testimony and response history on verdict outcomes. A full mediation was found, indicating that gender acted as a proxy for jurors’ attitudes, influencing their verdict decisions. This study has strong legal implications that highlight the prevailing effect of attitudes and how those attitudes may override the effects of expert testimony and defendant response history.

The Daily Express reporting of battered women who kill uses framing borrowed from popular contemporary' entertainment narratives, which have included melodramatic theatre and silent film, clue-puzzle novels, film noir and reality-crime television. Its representations of the guilt or innocence of the women are shaped by these stories, which accord with the newspaper's political views and express its gender politics. It has preserved conservative, traditional ideologies of womanhood to the extent that the virgin-victim is held as a virtuous figure at both ends of the century. It has supported anti-feminist discourse by remaining a sellable product, during both main feminist social movements, whilst circulating anti-feminist and traditionally gendered images that are viewed from the male gaze. The permanence of this male gaze suggests that attempts to blame feminisation as a cause of tabloidisation are misapplied and the culprit is instead the drive to entertain for monetary gain. The newspaper's orientation towards its dual purpose of information and entertainment has demonstrated its different understandings of its own role in society (its epistemology) at different times.

Kvinnor begår färre våldsbrott än män, och endast en tiondel av alla mord begås av kvinnor. Detta speglas i att relativt lite forskning om kvinnor som begår dödligt våld har genomförts. När kvinnor dödar är det ofta en nuvarande, eller före detta, intim partner som faller offer. Men varför dödar kvinnor en person som de tidigare valt att spendera sitt liv med? Finns det några likheter mellan dessa kvinnor? Denna systematiska litteraturstudie visar att en majoritet av de kvinnor som tar livet av sin partner, gör det efter att ha utsatts för fysiskt och psykiskt våld av sin partner under lång tid. Tidigare partnervåld, och den överhängande risken att utsättas för ännu en episod av grovt våld, leder till att dessa kvinnor lever med ständig skräck, rädsla och ångest. Många av dessa kvinnor upplever även en känsla av isolation, vilket förstärks av att mannen ofta förbjuder dem att arbeta utanför hemmet. Kvinnor som dödar sin partner gör det ofta i, vad de själva anser är, självförsvar. Många av dessa kvinnor menar att de dödade sin partner för att de var tvungna. Hade de inte gjort det hade de själva förmodligen blivit mördade.
Women commit fewer violent crimes than men, with only one tenth of all murders committed by females. This is reflected in the fact that relatively little research has been conducted about women who kill. When women kill, the victim is often a current or former intimate partner. But why do some women kill an individual whom they have previously chosen to spend their life with? Are there any similarities between these women? This systematic literature review shows that a majority of women who take the life of an intimate partner, do it after having been subjected to physical and psychological violence by their partner for a long period of time. Former partner violence, and the imminent risk of being subjected to yet another episode of serious violence, leads to these women living with constant fear, horror and anxiety. Many of these women also experience a sense of isolation, which is reinforced by the fact they their partner often forbids them to work outside of the home. Women who kill their intimate partner often do so in, what they feel is, self-defence. Many of these women say that they killed their partner because they had to. Had they not killed him, they themselves would probably have been murdered.

This thesis explores the pre-trial barriers to justice women potentially face upon killing their abusers. Legally, socially and politically, increased attention has been paid to domestic aouse in the UK in recent years, but less attention has been paid to women who kill their male abusers. Elsewhere, commentators have discussed women's use of self-defence in this context, pointing to pre-trial decision making as key in terms of potentially accessing this defence. Despite this, neither self-defence nor pre-trial procedures have been the focus of any work which has examined the issue of women who kill their abusers in the UK. This thesis aims to illuminate this gap in knowledge, with a focus specifically on Scotland because of its unique legal system and requirements of self-defence in particular. This research draws on thirty qualitative interviews with criminal lawyers with experience advising women who have killed their abusive partners. It has specifically examined the difficulty women encounter in having their actions deemed justifiable through a successful application of self-defence. This has been done from the perspective of lawyers' willingness to go to trial on this basis (rather than its success at trial level, due to the high number of cases of this nature which are resolved by a guilty plea being tendered to a reduced charge of culpable homicide). What will be argued is that barriers to justice for women who kill their abusers are evident at both structural and individual levels. At a structural level, the criminal justice system itself incentivises trial avoidance, whilst criminal law understandings of self-defence are based on male conceptions of (public) violence. At the level of individuals; decision making for many lawyers is driven by an understanding of domestic abuse which is based on stereotypes and an inability to conceptualise women's actions in this context as legitimate - meaning that ultimately the social and legal context of the offence may remain hidden. The result is that legal practice serves to narrowly conceptualise female perpetrated homicides. This has very significant implications for women's engagement with pre~trial criminal justice processes, their access to self-defence and more widely, for how domestic abuse is understood by and translated to wider society.

This thesis will explore the socio-legal response(s) to women who kill. Interrogating the constructions of “woman” and “femininity” within criminal legal discourse it will argue that the agency (that is, the ability of an individual to choose to act in a particular way) of women who kill is denied, both passively and actively within criminal legal discourse. It will be argued that denying the agency of women who kill is problematic for numerous reasons, including but not limited to, the construction and reinforcement of gender discourse surrounding femininity and issues of justice both being done and being seen to be done for women who kill and for their victims. In order to address these issues, this thesis will therefore propose an agency-based model for women who kill, which will interrupt both the passive and active agency denials which currently exist for these women.

This thesis examines the criminal law's treatment of women who kill their abusive partners through a theoretical framework developed from queer theory and social justice. More specifically, in relation to queer theory, the thesis considers the work ofJudith Butler and her notions of gender as performativity, cultural intelligibility, materialisation and resignification. The model of social justice used is drawn from the work of Iris Marion Young. One particular aspect of her model of social justice is considered to be pertinent: cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism maintains that an injustice in the form of domination and oppression is committed when inferior social groups are constructed from the outside by the dominant social group and where their particular characteristics are rendered 'Other'.The thesis applies the work of these two authors to a number of criminal cases in order to analyse the following issues: the construction of a woman's identity by the legal system; the existence of differences between women - particularly racial, cultural and ethnic differences - and the possibility of achieving justice within the existing criminal law. The thesis scrutinises Court of Appeal judgments and provides a close reading of two cases: Zoora Shah, who remains convicted for murder, and Diana Butler, who was, on retrial, convicted for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.I argue that the murder/manslaughter and custody/probation distinctions are linked to the unintelligible/intelligible gender distinction. I further argue that in those cases in which a manslaughter conviction is achieved, the result can be seen to be both at once just and unjust. Whereas it may be 'legally just' when compared to cases involving men who have killed their partners, it is also 'socially unjust' due to the cultural imperialistic manner in which a woman's identity is constructed. Furthermore, the thesis highlights that, in addition to prevailing gender scripts to which women must conform, there also exists racial regulatory scripts which impact upon the construction of a woman's identity and her perceived cultural intelligibility. Attention is also paid to the instability of meaning which is considered to provide an opportunity for subversive transformation.In the conclusion the thesis forwards an overview of a proposed defence, which is based upon a reformulation of the battered woman syndrome and the defence of duress. This defence is considered to offer a more socially just outcome for womenwho kill.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2000.
Adviser: Francine Jacobs. Submitted to the Dept. of Applied Child Development. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 219-252). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

M.Sc.
The present study explores the personal narratives of three battered women who have been involved in the killing of their batterers, with regards to the processes of the perpetuation of abuse and victimising patterns in contexts of the battering - relationships, the criminal justice system and the prison system, which contribute to the co-creation of the women's sense of self and identity. The narratives unfold from a prison setting, where these three women are serving long-term sentences. The narratives are described within a social constructionist perspective. Two-tape recorded conversations of an hour and a half were held with each of the participants in this study. The conversations included a written dialogue from the women. In-depth interviews were used to guide the emerging narratives. The reflections of the researcher are linked to the analysis of the co-created narratives. The narratives suggest that the recognition of these women as victims of violence is clouded by the need for larger systems, namely, the criminal justice system and the prison system to identify the women as perpetrators of violence. The prison system parallels the battering relationship in positioning the women as victims. Suggestions around the treatment of- battered women who kill in prison, include communally validating the experiences and feelings of these women through the processes of group therapy. Re-categorising the women in prison, as battered women who kill, rather than murderers so as to recognise the context of the battered women is suggested. Community service is considered as an alternative to long term imprisonment. Community outreach programs from prison to share knowledge of battered women who kill is also suggested. Government policies, where possible, should be made accessible and government sponsored shelters should be established so as to recognise battered women who kill as victims of violence. Children of battered women who kill should be given assistance and provided with necessary treatment. Empirical research is needed in order to determine the prevalence of battered women who kill. Comparative studies are needed to determine whether these findings can be generalised to the general population of battered women who kill.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Psychology.
Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-74). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ99383

Private defence is the civilized remnant of the ancient system of private vengeance as redress for wrong done. The Romans, in permitting self-help formulated the principle moderatio inculpatae (moderation in self-defence) which the European jurists later relied upon to develop a coherent doctrine of private defence. Certain types of intentional killings were no longer regarded as unlawful and therefore are not punished as murder. South African recognizes that killing is justifiable and therefore not murder. Despite the sound rationale underlying the defence, namely the upholding of justice theory where people acting in private defence perform acts where they assist in upholding the legal order, and despite the fact that the defence is established in both criminal law legal theory and practice, there are threshold problems with this rationale which has been subject to much academic criticism. Such criticism must be seen in the context of the wider debate surrounding the circumstances in which battered women kill their abusers - normally in circumstances where the threat is not imminent and therefore the need to uphold justice is not necessary. The purpose of this enquiry is to examine the development and functioning of the defence and more particularly to do so in light of a comparison with the means currently utilized to criminalize conduct falling outside the bounds of self-defence: one of the parent systems of South African law, namely English law and the United States, where battered woman syndrome originated and a profound influence on the way in which the elements of the defence are interpreted in that jurisdiction. For instance, in American law subjective tests for self-defence have been developed such as the particularizing standard. This standard asks whether a reasonable person with the accused’s particular non-universal characteristics would have both perceived the situation as the accused perceived it and would have reacted to that perception by committing the accused’s self-defensive act. If the answer is yes, then the act is considered reasonable. It assumes that individuals freely choose how to perceive and respond to a threatening situation but also acknowledge that certain kinds of nonuniversal characteristics (such as battered woman syndrome) exercise such a powerful causal force on individuals perceptions and actions that it would violate the voluntary act requirement when holding that individual who possess such a characteristic to a standard of conduct that does not take that characteristic into account. The study concludes with an assessment of the form the defence ought to take. In South African law the defence consists of the conditions relating to an attack which includes: an attack, and protected interest and the attack must be unlawful. In respect of the conditions relating to the defence, the defence must be reasonably necessary to avert the attack and the defence must be directed against the attacker. Aspects of these elements have proved to be controversial. In particular, the condition of reasonably necessary to avert the attack has been called into question. Furthermore the requirement of imminence has been rendered especially controversial especially when viewed from the battered woman’s perspective where battered woman syndrome plays a role i.e. the woman’s internal makeup having an influence on the way she views the situation as opposed to an objective test is used to establish if the threat was imminent. While the English and American law elements of the duty to retreat, proportionality and reasonableness approximate the equivalent condition of reasonably necessary to avert the attack, the focal point of this defence in these jurisdictions has similarly been the imminence requirement and the test utilized for self-defence i.e. objective or subjective standard. Prior to evaluating the utility of these elements, the various rationales posited as a justification for the defence will be examined. It is submitted that while various rationales have been posited to form the basis of selfdefence, the autonomy theory (narrowly circumscribed) should be followed in South African law and that the traditional elements for self-defence should remain in force. Regarding the requirement that the attack be reasonably necessary, it is submitted that the traditional mechanism for distinguishing justified from unjustified self-defensive acts should remain an objective test. This is so because by taking account of the knowledge the defender has of her attacker the legal requirements of private defence will eventually be equated with those required for putative self-defence. If putative selfdefence goes to the issue of culpability, which is seen as a particular mental attitude or state of mind - South African law will be evincing a move toward a normative concept of fault. Such an approach has not proved unproblematic in South African law. Both early and modern common law as well as modern case law has expounded a coherent statement of the elements of self-defence which include imminence as a core feature. The problem is that traditional imminence rules do not cater adequately for the battered woman’s situation and for this reason theorists have advocated its abolition. The obvious problem with such a recommendation is that something must stand in its stead to distinguish legitimate cases from illegitimate cases of self-defence. In respect of the imminence requirement, the problems created by this standard cannot be solved by replacing imminence with necessity or by claiming priority for necessity or by demanding that imminence means pacifist rather than the libertarian version of necessity. These positions pose the question but do not answer it. Furthermore, if the imminence question cannot be answered by assuming one side of the necessity debate, then it cannot be answered by referring to the distinction between justification and excuse. It is submitted that “instead of viewing objectivity as not being able to account for battered woman’s situation – the opposite conclusion should be reached – that by rethinking certain situational factors as a set of relatively innocuous and perhaps necessary normative propositions then the abused woman’s situation is consistent with some very standard propositions in the law of self-defence. If the abused women is being attacked and the threat is imminent (in the traditional sense), then she should be able to avail to herself of self-defence, although it should be noted that the court should also consider the fact that the battered women placed herself in this dangerous situation. However, the court would also have to take into consideration the difficulty that the abused woman faced in extricating herself from this position. On the basis of a discussion of the various construals that inform the question of whether proportionality should form a necessary requirement for self-defence, including (i) the liberal aspiration to neutrality, (ii) constitutional norms and (iii) a duty of social solidarity to the state, it is submitted that proportionality should form an integral part of the requirements for self-defence. The test can be set out as follows: not only must the defence be necessary but also the means used by the accused for the purpose of averting the attack must be reasonable in the circumstances. This is in accordance with the autonomy theory. Therefore, would an “ordinary, intelligent and prudent person in the accused’s situation would react to establish if the self-defence claim was justifiable. However, it is submitted that not all the characteristics of the accused should be taken into account. Only those “characteristics which have the most (or direct) bearing on the accused’s situation” should be considered. Despite the rationales underlying self-defence, it has not been entirely clear whether an abused woman is expected to flee. It is submitted that there should be a duty to retreat. In the case of the abused woman, her situation is adequately catered for within the reasonableness neutrality perspective. In respect of the defence of provocation, Roman and Roman-Dutch law did not regard anger, jealousy or other emotions as an excuse for criminal conduct, but only as a factor which might mitigate sentence, if the anger was justified by provocation. South African law with its parent system in Roman-Dutch law might have followed this lead had it not result of the Transkei Penal Code of 1887, it envisaged a type of a partial excuse: even if been for the introduction of the mandatory death penalty for murder in 1917. In 1925 as a killing was intentional, homicide which would otherwise be murder maybe reduced to culpable homicide. The test for provocation was thus an objective one. By 1949 in R v Thibani it was held that provocation was not a defence but a special kind of material from which in association with the rest of the evidence the court should decide whether the accused had acted involuntary or without intent to kill. This introduced a subjective test for provocation. But a number of crucial issues remained unresolved; could intense provocation or emotional stress serve to exclude criminal capacity or voluntary conduct. After the decision in Chretien, the question arose, if severe intoxication could exclude these basic elements of liability then could it not also exclude provocation or emotional stress. At this point, the notion of criminal capacity came to the fore. This notion was unknown in South African common law and was adopted from Continental Legal systems, specifically Germany. The notion took hold with the Rumpff Commission of Inquiry into the Responsibility of Deranged Persons and Related matters, the recommendations of which gave rise to the provision of section 78 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Act. In S v Mahlinza set out that criminal capacity of actor is an essential requirement necessary to establish criminal liability. Criminal capacity consists of cognitive component i.e. ability to distinguish between right and wrong and conative capacity i.e. the ability to act in accordance with the distinction. If either was lacking no liability would ensue. In S v Van Vuuren, the court expressed in unequivocal terms that the accused could not be held liable where failure to comprehend what he is doing is attributable to a combination of factors such as provocation or emotional stress. The very idea of allowing provocation to function as a defence excluding an accused’s criminal liability is inherently controversial. From a moral and ethical perspective people are expected to control themselves, even under provocation or emotional stress. To allow it to function as a complete defence as opposed to mitigating factor means that it gives credence to the belief that retaliation is justified in the eyes of the law and this is the very thing criminal law guards against. Despite the well established nature of the defence of non-pathological incapacity, the law has been thrown into flux by the decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal in S v Eadie which constituted a serious erosion of the notion of criminal capacity, with a concomitant “ripple effect” on other topics within the general principles of criminal law. The question this case has highlighted for South African law of non-pathological incapacity is whether the boundaries of the defence have been inappropriately extended. This is so since the court held not only that there is no distinction between the defence of automatism and nonpathological incapacity, and that it would have to be established that the accused acted involuntarily in order for her defence of lack of capacity to prevail, but furthermore held that the court should assess the accused persons evidence about his state of mind by weighing it against his actions and surrounding circumstances, thereby introducing an objective test. Theorists such as Burchell have considered this move “bold” and “encouraging” for its emphasis on objective norms, and the fact that it brings it into line with both the English and American jurisdictions, where not only is an objective element introduced into the enquiry, but where loss of self-control is not totally excusable since the law assumes that provoked party was not totally incapable of controlling anger. If an accused was unable to control himself, a full excuse would be defensible. The notion of capacity has its approximate equivalent in the English and American law of provocation where the jury must consider the subjective question of whether the accused was actually provoked to lose self-control, the defence requires that a reasonable person in the same circumstances would have lost-self control and acted as the accused did. The South African notion of capacity is examined with reference to the way provocation is treated in these jurisdictions. Should non-pathological incapacity be equated with automatism, the established precedent in provocation and other cases of non-pathological incapacity would have to be revised by implication, and would have serious implications for the principle of legality and restricting the scope of the defence for battered women. Furthermore, it is submitted that a move towards an objective test should not be followed. This is so since such an approach does not extend to encompass the battered woman’s mental and emotional characteristics including recognized psychological disorder symptoms. This results in the court not having any meaningful way to determine whether the battered woman lost self-control and furthermore it will lead to increasing attention being directed at how far the objective test be tailored to fit the capacity of the accused. The problem with the capacity test is that it has created via the Criminal Procedure Act a new element of liability by drawing from both the general physical and the mental liability enquiries. Therefore, by duplicating the voluntary act requirement under mens rea, the courts have asked the same question twice. Once the accused is shown to be acting voluntarily, there will be a measure of goal-directed conduct. Where goal-directed conduct is present, it necessarily implies that here must be a level of capacity present in the case of the defence of non-pathological incapacity. In other words, the question is not whether capacity is present, but to what extent it is present. This point is not acknowledged by our courts: the concept of psychological fault underlying South African law offers no explanation for the fact that culpability is capable of gradation. The effects of battering could be used to support a defence of diminished capacity, which focuses not on mitigating circumstances of the act, but rather on the actor’s inability to form the requisite mens rea for the offence charged. However, the introduction of such a defence could only be achieved by returning to the rules relating to provocation followed in South Africa prior to 1971. According to the specific intent doctrine, policy considerations require that an accused should not be completely acquitted. However, these considerations require that an accused should not be completely acquitted. However, these considerations also require that an accused not be convicted of murder but of culpable homicide. This compromise solution (of culpable homicide) can only be reached by treating provocation as a special defence, one which is not strictly adjudicated in terms of the general principles relating to culpability (mens rea). Furthermore, it is submitted that a subjective test must be applied, since Snyman’s objective-subjective test leads to an illogical confusion between the subjective and objective elements.
Thesis (LL.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

碩士
國立暨南國際大學
社會政策與社會工作學系
96
This study aims to analyze why the battered women turning to kill their abuser. Using the qualitative research method, this research interviewed 3 battered women who killed their abuser, in order to understand their life course, to find out what the change of process, psychological motives and situational elements are. And the obtained results were as follows： First, the life course of these women can be divided into four parts: the incubated period, the conflicted period, the deadly attacked period, and the introspected period. The domestic violence is the continued process through these four periods. Secondly, the characteristics of those women’s life course are: the marriage not always based on close relationship; the original family experience influencing their interaction of marriage; lacking of abuser’s regrets for the violent circle; the internal and external reasons hindering women to leave the violent circumstances, and making them more helplessness and trauma; the social support always not sufficient for these women; when the other important event coming up besides violence, these women might change their thought of violence and put up with the abuser; not only the deadly attack will bring out the idea of homicide, but the severe conflict will get the same outcome. Next, the psychological motive of women who turns to kill their abuser is hopelessness for violent relationship. It is influenced by learned helplessness, the trauma from violence, and the extremely negative emotions from important incident. Finally, the situational elements of killing are always owing to “victim(abuser) precipitated”, such as the fatal violence or the serious sexual assault. According to the study, three important points have to be emphasized. First, violence is not always the only reason for women to come of the homicide, but the experience of it is always playing the important role for their further killing action. Second, women turn to kill their abuser were influenced by three gradations interactions: a complex trauma, the daily important incident and situational elements. Third, the single situation couldn’t explain the change of those women. Adopting the modified “frustration –assailment” assumption into the process of situational transaction, it will help us to see the role transaction of violent relationship. Finally, some suggestions of the future practice and research were discussed in the end of this study, and hope to serve as the reference for various.

M.A.
According to the Department of Correctional Services 1368 women were imprisoned on charges of culpable homicide, murder and attempted murder in 2001. In 2002 this figure came to 1136, meaning that a total of 2 504 women are currently serving sentences for the above mentioned crimes in South African prisons. Yet the judicial and psychological issues surrounding female murderers go largely unexplored (Dept. of Correctional Services, 6 September 2002).Debbie Jones, founder of the Heartwork Foundation dealing specifically with women in prison, also believes that the growing awareness surrounding women who kill partners in an abusive relationship is due largely to the new focus on human rights. This creates a space for raising this issue through providing a platform for organizations such as People Opposed to Women Abuse (POWA) to highlight the plight of an, up to now, marginalized group. The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation has added to this focus through their study of sentencing practices in relation to women who commit murder (Personal interview, D. Jones, 23 May 2003).The perennial fascination with violent crime and particularly murder, ensures a steady outpouring of material on the subject- be it in the form of newspaper articles, magazine features, empirical studies or biographies of notorious killers. However, this coverage is always selective and piecemeal, certainly never a solid basis for generalization. What they reveal tends to be more the preoccupations of the era than the major social trends (Cameron & Frazer, 1988). This study attempts to draw together the diverse views and information on female murder to create a unified picture of this occurrence. As shown by the various studies it is dangerous to construct a picture of a typical female killer against whom all others are measured judicially (Vetten & Ngwane, 2002). The context surrounding these crimes is therefore of paramount importance. This study is therefore not only valuable in drawing together divergent reports on women who commit murder but also to provide a possible guideline for future restructuring and reframing of the judicial and societal processes surrounding women who kill. It attempts to portray a South African picture of a hitherto unstudied area namely women who kill in the unique South African surroundings.

D.Litt. et Phil.
Ewing (1997) states that battered women who kill intimate male partners have not been the subject of much systematic research. In fact, Wilbanks (in Adinkrah, 2000) laments the lack of a systematic description of the patterns and trends of homicide by women. Furthermore, as with most studies of crime, the majority of the emerging research on women and lethal crime has focused on the United States and Great Britain (Adinkrah, 2000). There has been relatively little research directed towards the study of female homicide in small, third world countries. Research on women and intimate partner homicide in developing countries is sorely needed if criminal justice professionals are to realise the quest to understand homicide more fully and to formulate a conceptually broad and cross culturally valid theory of female homicide (Adinkrah, 2000). Furthermore, violence against women is a devastating social problem which commonly occurs in developing societies where gender roles are strictly defined and enforced (Ogbuji, 2004). Domestic violence becomes even more of a social concern when it leads to intimate partner violence. Prior research conducted on homicide committed by women suggests that when a woman kills a male partner it is often in response to a pattern of physical abuse at the hands of their mates (Adinkrah, 2000). The purpose of this exploratory study was to add to the small but hopefully growing body of research on battered women incarcerated for killing a male intimate partner. The Department of Correctional Services indicates that there are currently 163 women imprisoned for killing a male intimate partner. Yet the psychological issues surrounding female murderers go largely unexplored (Dept. of Correctional Services, personal communication, September 6, 2002). The aims of the study were as follows: • To form a biographical profile of a typical woman who kills her male intimate partner in the context of an abusive relationship. • To form a personality profile of a typical literate woman who kills her male intimate partner in the context of an abusive relationship. • To form a literacy profile of the typical literate abused woman who kills an intimate male partner in the context of an abusive relationship. • To compare women who employ a third party to commit the murder with women who commit the murder themselves in order to identify any significant differences between the two groups on either a contextual or personality level. • To formulate possible guidelines for a rehabilitation program suited to this group of women. • Finally, to describe two participants’ unique narratives to informally highlight possible themes as well as add context and depth to the quantitative findings of the study.

Violence against women in intimate relationships in Canada occurs in astonishing proportions. One in four Canadian women have experienced battering by a partner. This battering coexists with parenting children who witness or experience the abuse. Although researchers have described women's experiences of abuse, factors influencing their decisionmaking, and the experiences of children in abusive contexts, there is a paucity of literature that addresses how women mother and parent their children within this adversity. The purpose of this research study was to explore the experience of motherhood from the perspective of women who have been battered. In this research, the way in which women come to understand their experiences as mothers was of central concern. The method used in this study was interpretive description, a qualitative research approach that allowed women's accounts of their experiences to be conceptualized as constructed narratives that reflect their attempt to make sense of their lives as mothers. Five women who have been battered who are mothers were interview twice for this study. The open-ended interviews were transcribed verbatim and their accounts were analyzed for emerging patterns and themes. The findings of this study showed that the women experienced many complex challenges while mothering in an abusive relationship and that many of these extended beyond the relationship once women left. The way the women fulfilled their roles as mothers was influenced by the abuse in their lives, by their perceived social ideals of motherhood, and by their concerns for both their children1 and themselves. Within the context of an abusive relationship, women used various strategies to care for and protect their children including minimizing the intensity and frequency of abuse. Controlling behaviors of partners influenced parenting options for mothers and altered their ability to parent according to their values. After leaving their abusive relationships, women found a sense of meaning in being a mother that helped them to build self-esteem, support their children, and experience personal growth. The experiences of motherhood revealed in this study extend our understanding of the complexities of being a mother in the context of abuse, point to the need to revise existing theories to reflect broader conceptualizations of motherhood, and provide direction for supporting women and their children in health care encounters.

In 1985, policy initiatives were introduced to support women who have been battered and to impose sanctions on batterers. With this greater emphasis on criminal justice remedies, social workers have an important role in assisting women through the justice system. They need to know, from the women themselves, what their experiences are with the justice system and to have them articulate in their own words the factors that motivated or enhanced their decision to proceed. Eight qualitative interviews were conducted with women whose partners were charged and convicted of assault using an open ended interview format. This exploratory study examines their changed perception of the violence, their experiences with the criminal justice system, and their perceptions of the factors that enabled them to proceed and persist with the process. The findings were organized into four categories: heightened awareness of risk, criminalizing the violence, interaction with the criminal justice system, and surviving the process. Emerging from these four categories were three themes that appeared to link the categories: the violence must be stopped, the importance of a personal connection, and pride in taking a stand.

This study problematizes the notion of victim in the context of women who have experienced battering in their intimate committed relationships. To this end I interviewed four women, using an in-depth semi-structured interview to obtain the women's narratives. I examined the women's narratives in order to analyze how they constructed and interpreted their experiences of victimization as well as how they perceived and defined themselves. The intent was to render visibility to the uniqueness, complexity, diversity, and commonalities of these women's stories. Women who have experienced battering are important to this study because the label "victim" is frequently applied to them regardless of whether these women define themselves or construct their experiences in terms of being victims or of being battered. Critiquing dominant perspectives, attending to broader cultural contexts, and exploring marginalized realities are indicative of a longstanding feminist agenda. Psychology and counselling psychology are constructed within dominant historical and sociocultural contexts. Mainstream and popular psychological texts, in their attempts to establish grand theories and prevailing norms, have tended to engage in oversimplified textual constructions presumed to reflect lived realities, yet ignoring both individual and broader contexts. In this thesis I attend both to contexts and to marginalized realities. The significance of this project lies in its potential to enhance current therapeutic and counselling practices. Additionally, it provides a challenge to the often presumed innocent employment of language without regard for its significant meanings and impact. It is critical that professionals working with women who are experiencing battering, understand the complexity of their experiences without imposing labels that limit these women's identities and are incongruent with their lived realities. This thesis problematizes dominant discourse regarding victims and victimization in an exploration of multiple, sometimes seemingly contradictory meanings, and diverse processes.

D.Litt. et Phil.
The present study explores the experiences of abused women who kill their intimate male partners and are imprisoned as a result. It looks at the multiple traumas associated with the abuse, killing and imprisonment. Abuse of women violates their right of freedom and security, as well as the right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The experiences are explored within a prison context in which these women are serving hefty sentences as a means of punishment. This is a means of prosecuting perpetrators by the criminal justice system, thus sending out a message that violence is unacceptable. The prison context is metaphorically and physically associated with phenomenon such as isolation, control, labelling, punishment, reform and rehabilitation, among many others. Social Constructionism as a postmodern epistemology becomes relevant in this study in that the concern is in explicating the process by which people come to describe, explain, or otherwise account for the world (including themselves) in which they live. Therefore, the abused women’s experiences are descriptions to be understood through the analysis of the intersubjective influence of language, family, and culture. The implication being that social construction reflects on that which is said about the world, which is the product of shared conventions of discourse that are guided by and limited by the systems of language that we use. Our understandings of reality are embedded in our patterns of action, and these understandings constrain future constructions. Language as an important tool in social constructionism is embedded in the ideas, concepts and memories arising from social discourse and is found in neither the speaker nor the hearer, but somewhere in between. Furthermore, the context of prison afforded me with the opportunity to experience a sense of communality with the women, which according to a social constructionist stance suggests that reality is co-created between people in their quest for meaning from the interpreted experiences. There is no absolute truth that represents its objectivity, implying that as the researcher, I am not entering the system searching for some single truth that is ultimate. This acknowledges that there are realities and reflexivity of events and situations that look for many alternatives deconstructed and constructed equally between the researcher and participants. In conducting this study, a qualitative method of research was used, which focuses on the description, exploration and elaboration of experiences and perspectives of the people being interviewed. The qualitative method is not concerned with numbers and statistical analysis in the way that the quantitative method is. The participants take active charge in describing and exploring experiences that bring about meaning to them and the study. The researcher is equally involved as the participants, and becomes the participant observer. Whilst the focus was directed towards experiences of abuse and the multiple implications of trauma on abused women, the larger social context of their experiences was acknowledged. Five women offenders who are in the Potchefstroom prison, participated in this research. The women were allowed to elaborate on their experiences as experts in their own lives. Through this interaction a relational process of sharing and support emerges, which is characteristic of therapeutic practices with social constructionism. In-depth semi-structured interviews provided a means to explore their incidents of abuse as perpetrated by their intimate male partners. For the purpose of collecting data, an open-ended questionnaire was used. A thematic content method was used to analyse data. Here themes are identified that represent the meaning of events constructed by the participants themselves. A thematic analysis reflected the following themes: Loss and gain, power and helplessness, hope and despair as well as connection and disconnection. Upon the identification and analysis of themes, the discussion of findings which are integrated using the social constructionist theory, was conducted. From the findings the implications of multiple traumas abused women suffer at the hands of their intimate male partners, and the result of killing and imprisonment, are explored.

碩士
東海大學
社會工作學系
100
This study attempts to explore the work experience of battered women in employment preparation program which is specifically established for the special situation of battered women and their employment needs and the significance of their re-employment in the future, and also focuses on the flows and changes generated in the context of the experience of battered women. Adopting the qualitative research method, the researcher has interviewed six battered women who had entered preparatory workplace before. Through the subjective experience shared by these battered women, their points of view and their life and labor conditions in a violent environment or after leaving the violent relationship become clearer, and the employment experience of each battered woman who lives in the unique context of life becomes more understandable. According to the research results, it is found that the jobs and interpersonal skills these battered women used to have are both affected by the violence in intimate relationship. In addition to the fixed monthly income, the preparatory workplace can also provide job skills training, employment promotion programs, support group activities and holiday charity events for the battered women who have employment needs. With the friendly working atmosphere and the catalysis of group dynamics in the workplace, the battered women have time and space to take care of themselves and repair their wounded souls. Also, with the help of the sales work in the stores and charity activities, these women have more opportunities to contact and interact with other people, and further re-establish the links with people and retrieve their inner selves which are lost due to the domestic violence. From the preparatory workplace, the nourishment of positive relationships and the energy to stand up again are obtained to help the battered women to enhance their internal autonomy. Despite limited incomes, the preparatory workplace can still provide psychological stability for women with economic difficulties. Nonetheless, due to the individual differences in personal characteristics, working conditions, the conditions of life, and the impact that the battered experience has made, not every woman can prepare themselves well to face the outside workplace within the required working time of the preparatory workplace. The employment road after leaving the preparatory workplace is still long and bumpy for the battered women, and they still have to face the realities and constraints in the outside labor market. However, different from the past, they can bring their changed selves to stir up the courage to face their new life and work, and re-interpret the meaning of life they have encountered. According to the research results, the researcher suggests the following five recommendations: (1) The preparatory workplace should not only provide employment services, it can also be a work model to help battered women recover their lives.; (2) Advocate friendly public child care services and special care allowance to help the battered women work without distraction; (3) Ensure the two-way communication between social workers in women’s protection and employment service social workers; (4) Add the concept of empowerment into the employment services; (5) Enhance the gender sensitivity, multi-cultural competence and the respect for differences of the helpers.

M.A.
Domestic abuse is a global and growing problem (World Health Organization WHO, 2002). The extent and magnitude, as well as effects of domestic abuse are, however, underreported especially within South Africa (Prinsloo, 2007). Awareness has been raised by initiatives such as Sixteen Days of Activism on Violence Against Women campaigns driven by POWA (People Opposed to Women Abuse), yet the rates of abuse stay alarming. In light of the occurrence of abuse as well as the limited resources available, some women kill an intimate partner after a prolonged period of abuse. The specific aim of the study was to uncover the psychological factors that contribute or are associated with the killing of an abusive partner by women. This was done by using multiple case studies and unstructured interviews. Participants were sourced from the Department of Correctional Service in the Western Cape Province. The participants utilised for the research included three women who killed their abusive intimate partner, and who were incarcerated at Pollsmoor Correctional Facility at the time of the interview. In-depth interviews were conducted and the data was analysed in order to derive themes. Once the themes were established, results were compared to relevant research in the field as a means to establish the psychological factors associated with women who kill an abusive intimate male partner. 5 The results indicated that certain primary psychological factors present in the sample group of interviewed women namely: development of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, experiences of coercive control, interrelational conflict and substance abuse. Secondary themes or factors found included cultural perceptions and a lack of resources. From the results obtained, a conclusion was made that women who kill an abusive intimate male partner, are often compelled to do so due to underlying factors and as a means of survival. Furthermore, culture appears to have a prominent influence as it informs the manner and acceptable means to deal with domestic abuse. Although the research contributes to the pool of knowledge regarding women who kill an abusive intimate male partner in South Africa, more is needed especially in the development of intervention programs and support.

碩士
中原大學
心理學研究所
99
Background and purpose：The violence from spousal has increased steadily in Taiwan. Women in violent relationships are under heavy pressure and resulted in enormous physical and psychological symptoms, such as post-traumatic stress responses and depression. After experiencing violence, women might face either the threat of resources loss or simply lost their resources. These experiences might lead them into heavy pressure. Based on Conservation of Resources stress model, the present study was designed to examine the relationships among battered experiences, resources loss, coping behavior and psychological symptoms after marital violence. Methods：This study is based on cross sectional design, using a total of 92 women as main subjects. The subjects were chosen from battered women whom had come to facilities for help between 2010 May to December. The instruments are the basic information questionnaire, Resources Loss Inventory, Coping Strategies in Chinese Social Context, Post-Traumatic Stress Reaction Index-Short Form and Depression Subscale of Symptom CheckList-90-Revised. The statistical analyses included correlation, analysis of covariance, and hierarchical regression analysis. Results：The battered experiences made difference in resources loss, depression symptoms and posttraumatic stress reactions. The resources loss is positive correlation with posttraumatic stress reactions and depression symptoms, i.e. psychological symptoms are proportional to bigger resource loss. Resources loss could predict depression symptoms and posttraumatic stress reactions, but resources loss has no correlation with four types of coping behavior. Active-antisocial coping has negative correlation with posttraumatic stress reactions, while both active-prosocial and active-antisocial coping has negative correlation with depression symptoms, but four types of coping behavior could not predict psychological symptoms. This study discovered resources loss had much stronger influence on psychological symptoms than coping behavior. Also, resources loss could predict psychological symptoms directly. Furthermore, personality and personal ability resources loss was the strongest predictor. Conclusion：The present study was designed to comprehend depression symptoms and posttraumatic stress reactions of battered women in Taiwan, also examine the relationships among battered experiences, resources loss, and psychological symptoms after marital violence. The goal was to clarify psychological symptoms under the influence of resources loss and coping behavior through conservation of resources theory. In order to provide more understanding and suitable suggestions, the present study suggests other than battered experiences, resources loss, and coping behavior, clinical workers should also consider risk factors in demographic variance like lower education or economical disadvantages while evaluating battered women’s mental healthiness.