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Theoretical factors of domestic violence
Psychological and sociological theories of domestic violence gosselin 2005
Psychological and sociological theories of domestic violence gosselin 2005
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Source V: McColgan, Aileen. “In Defense of Battered Women Who Kill.” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, vol. 13, no. 4, 1993, pp. 508–529. In this article author, McColgan explains many reasons why battered women go to the extreme of killing their abuser. She references some cases where battered woman have killed their abusers because they hit back in the midst of the physical attack, responded to verbal threats by the abuser, used force in the aftermath of the attack or in anticipation of another one, while others were motivated by feelings of revenge. McColgan argues in this article that “self-defense whether at common law or under section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 should be more often considered as a possible defense even in those cases
whose facts do not correspond with the traditional model of self-defense” (510). McColgan lays out ways this can be accomplished by focusing on modifying and re-analyzing the doctrine of self-defense. This article is relevant to my topic because it provides another alternative to my view/argument on the topic. The entire article focuses on defending the battered woman and explaining how battered women syndrome can act as a self-defense. This article will be explicitly referenced in my challenge section. One of the challenges that I was intrigued by was when McColgan brought up the Homicide Act 1957. Under this act McColgan explains that “diminished responsibility and provocation are partial defenses in that if successfully pleaded they result in manslaughter convictions rather than complete acquittals” (511). In many cases battered women who kill avoid murder convictions because there is a willingness to accept guilty pleas to manslaughter on facts which might not establish whether partial defenses were to be tested at trial. I see this alone as a problem because it acts as an excuse for those who commit a criminally grave act such as killing and get away with little to no consequences because they pleaded under a syndrome or excuse through self-defense.