Abstract

Killing in self-defense

The article focuses on the book "More Than Victims: Battered Women, the Syndrome Society, and the Law," by Donald Alexander Downs. Downs is scrupulously fair in presenting the ideas of his adversaries and allies, and he understands the original benefits of the battered woman syndrome (BWS) defense: "shifting the focus from the defendant to the person responsible for the victimization," forcing courts "out of prejudice and complacency" to consider the actual circumstances of women's lives. Then he uses the best feminist critiques to argue against BWS. Its success is dependent on its portrayal of women as passive victims. Its logic further stigmatizes women who fight back. He cites professor Elizabeth Schneider's demonstration that battered women often lose child custody battles because the courts consider them incapable of defending theft children.