Love in a Broken Home

The definition of Battered Women Syndrome (BWS) is different in law and psychology, sometimes causing confusion for expert witnesses who are not specially trained in working with abuse victims. The legal system uses BWS to describe both the clinical syndrome and the dynamics of the battering relationship, while mental health professionals use the clinical syndrome to design treatment plans. Battered Women’s Syndrome is considered to be a form of Post-Traumatic Stress. Battered Women’s Syndrome is a recognized psychological condition that is used to describe someone who has been the victim of consistent and/or severe domestic violence.

"…almost all battered women who kill claim to have done so to protect themselves from imminent death or serious bodily injury at the hand of their batterers."

To be classified as a battered woman, a woman has to have been through two cycles of abuse. A Cycle of abuse is abuse that occurs in a repeating pattern. Abuse is identifiable as being cyclical in two ways: it is both generational and episodic. Generational cycles of abuse are passed down, by example and exposure, from parents to children. Episodic abuse occurs in a repeating pattern within the context of at least two individuals within a family system. It may involve spousal abuse, child abuse, or even elder abuse. The episodic cycle of abuse is characterized by distinct periods of behavior that eventually result in an extreme episode of verbal and/or physical abuse. Typically, victims of episodic abuse live in denial of this reoccurring pattern.

Battered Woman Syndrome was first proposed in the 1970’s. According to Joe Wheeler Dixon, PhD, JD BWS appears to be the product of legal advocacy and not science. BWS seems to owe its existence to the needs of legal advocates to support and justify claims by battered women who have killed (their batterers). The defense revolves around the woman’s mental deficiency and helplessness. Learned helplessness can be induced in lab animals, but no sudden rage or aggression. Battered woman syndrome, a concept developed by American clinical psychologist Lenore Walker, explains the psychological effects of persistent long-term violence on women
The syndrome characteristically has three phases;
1) Tension building.
2) The acute battering incident.
3) Loving contrition.

Being forgiven, the violence recommences. By now, the woman’s loss of self-esteem, depression and sense of helplessness have trapped her into a situation from which she is psychologically and hence physically unable to escape. As Lenore Walker records, over time ‘the first phase of tension building becomes more common, and loving contrition, or the third phase, declines. Women who kill are the women who finally react against the violence, not in the heat of the moment as a response to a triggering specific event, but in a violent action caused by the long term suffering of abuse and a final attempt to escape from their abuser. In Charles P. Ewing’s analysis, battered women who kill, do so in ‘psychological self-defense.’ Ewing notes that;

"…almost all battered women who kill claim to have done so to protect themselves from imminent death or serious bodily injury at the hand of their batterers."

Thus, from a battered woman’s perspective, the issue of killing her partner is not so much an issue of provocation, or diminished responsibility, but pure self-defense. In court, expert testimonial regarding domestic violence can be used for various purposes: to demonstrate the defendant is a battered woman, to explain an abused woman’s state of mind and/or conduct or to support a claim or the validity of a particular defense. Experts have acknowledged that Battered Woman Syndrome is considered a subcategory of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but not a mental disease in the context of insanity.

Stop the violence. Take charge!

In England, provided the catalyst cases for feminist demands for reform of the law of homicide. Those cases reveal the difficulties under which female defendants labour in establishing a defence to murder of their male partners under English law. In the case of R v Ahluwalia , the defendant had suffered years of violent abuse at the hands of her husband, and under threat of a further attack, set fire to his bedding and killed him. Ahluwalia was convicted of murder in 1989. The defense of provocation failed. The court, however, having admitted psychiatric evidence relating to battered woman syndrome, ordeal a retrial. When the matter went on appeal to the Court of Appeal, on the basis that the trial judge had ignored the effect of battered woman syndrome, the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction for murder and substituted one of manslaughter. Evidence of battered woman syndrome was adduced, not under a plea of provocation but under the plea of diminished responsibility. In the later case of R v Thornton , a similar factual situation existed. She was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, the court ruling that the defence of provocation was unavailable by virtue of the fact that Sara Thornton had not reacted instantly to the provocation by her husband. On appeal, the Court of Appeal ruled, for the first time, the battered woman syndrome could be a relevant characteristic for the jury’s consideration of a plea of provocation.

In Canada, the case of R v Lavallee is an example case of a success for self-defense and battered woman syndrome. Wilson J made it clear that battered woman syndrome had to be recognised in order to correct the gender bias in the criminal law, and that battered woman syndrome enabled the standard of reasonableness required by law to be expanded to include women’s experiences. Nevertheless, battered woman syndrome not only be used on the violence inflicted on the victim herself but also if the violence is inflicted onto her children as in the case of R v Charlton, where the defendant killed her abusive partner who threats herself and her daughter sexually and violently. Gender is also irrelevant as in the case of AG’s Reference (No.24 of 2003) where a man of a low IQ killed her wife and his son during the argument due to the cruel taunting of his wife and being forbidden from seeing the children. However, these cases does not make battered woman syndrome as a legal defence but as only be used to support a plea in mitigation of sentence .


In Australia, self defence might be considered the most appropriate defence to a charge of murder for a woman who kills to protect her life or the lives of her children in a domestic violence context. However, the lack of success in raising self-defence in Australia for battered women has meant that provocation has been the main focus of the courts.

The situation is different in Malaysia. There is no case to illustrate the use of battered woman syndrome as a legal defence because Malaysia do not recognised the use of battered woman syndrome as defence in Malaysia’s criminal law. Although Malaysia has the Domestic Violence Act 1994 that covers any violence that occurred onto woman, however the Act only covers woman who are legally married and to commence a suit under the Act, the Act must come hand in hand with Penal Code and Penal Code is silent on battered wife syndrome as a defence. Thus, it is hard for a woman in Malaysia who kill or murder their partner due to the continuous violence inflicted on her to raise the defence of battered wife syndrome.

As the alternative, those women can only claim defenses that are recognised by our criminal law which is provocation or insanity which is hardly provide protection if there are happened to be a victim of the battered wife syndrome because the nature of battered wife syndrome is different from provocation which need the element of sudden and grave provocation which is not the case in the battered wife syndrome.

It is hard for a woman in Malaysia who kill or murder their partner due to the continuous violence inflicted on her to raise the defence of battered wife syndrome.

The United Nation Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women has defines violence against women in Article One means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life and Article Two further states that violence against women shall be understood to encompass but not be limited to the requirements mention in the Article.

Hence, Malaysia fails to observe this definition by the United Nation Declaration making woman in Malaysia might face the capital punishment if they happened to commit the offence of murder of their partner out of the battered woman syndrome and this is clearly an example of gender-bias law in Malaysia.

Love your women,
Wish