Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Women who kill: lack of intent and diminished responsibility as the other 'defences' to spousal homicide
Other Titles:	Current issues in criminal justice
Authors:	Bradfield, Rebecca
Keywords:	Homicide;Legal issues
Year:	2001
Publisher:	University of Sydney, Institute of Criminology
Citation:	13 (2), November 2001
Notes:	Discusses the methodology and results of a study which examined the partial defences of substantial abnormality of mind and lack of intent in 32 female and 72 male spousal homicide cases heard in the NSW Supreme Court. The first section attempts to contexualise the study, highlighting the incidence and prevalence of spousal homicide and the gendered nature of the offence. The outcomes of each of the cases are then outlined and the defences examined from a feminist perspective. Lack of the requisite mental state for murder is identified as the most commonly used defence in spousal homicide cases where the offender is female and it is suggested that this emphasis on irrationality and pathology silences the experiences of women who kill violent partners. By obscuring women’s motive of self-preservation, the defences of abnormality of mind and lack of intent ‘psychologise’ women and portray them as victims, denying them the opportunity of arguing their actions were rational and in self-defence. It is argued that some of these difficulties may be alleviated if the prosecution were to allow the defence of self-defence to be raised in response to not only murder, but manslaughter charges.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/12510
ISSN:	1034-5329
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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