Beyond Battered Women’s Syndrome

Abstract

Feminist jurisprudence has amplified the voices of gender violence survivors long silenced by trauma and male-biased legal doctrine. In critiquing self-defense law’s treatment of survivors, some feminists pressed for recognition of a distinctive set of characteristics purportedly associated with survivors, termed “battered woman syndrome” (BWS). Intended to ameliorate the harsh effects of criminal law on survivors, BWS sought to explain why battered women responded as they did in terms that judges and juries might better relate to the legal requirements for self-defense. One argument is that the law of self-defense must be further recalibrated—beyond the problematic, operative lens of BWS—to better protect those who engage in survival crime. By instead utilizing “battering and its effects” as the framework for relevant evidence, the criminal justice system could become more responsive to survivors. Even beyond recalibrating the law of self-defense to better suit survivors, legal stakeholders can learn much from activists and feminist legal theory about pursuing gender and racial justice, by embracing diverse lenses to actually hear the raced, classed, and gendered narratives of survivors’ lives. Despite missteps with the development of BWS, feminist jurisprudence is gradually increasing understanding of, and empathy for, survival crime.