Domestic Violence and the Gendered Law of Self-Defence in France: The Case of Jacqueline Sauvage

Australia's Divergent Legal Responses to Women Who Kill Their Abusive Partners

“…For instance, the key concept of learned helplessness supports the myth and misconception that abused women are victimized, passive, helpless and compliant (Stubbs & Tolmie, 2005;Tarrant et al, 2019). However, research has found that women who do not conform to this narrow stereotype are treated more punitively, including women who fight back, experience problems with alcohol or drug abuse, have a prior criminal history, or demonstrate autonomous behavior in other spheres of her life (Delgado-Alvarez & Sanchez-Prada, 2021;Douglas, 2012;Fitz-Gibbon & Vannier, 2017;Goodmark, 2008). This can create a particular barrier for Indigenous women and women of color who are excluded from stereotypical constructions of a "real" victim that typically reflect white, middle-class norms (Larance et al, 2019;Stubbs, & Tolmie, 2008).…”

Concealment of Birth: Time to Repeal a 200-Year-Old “Convenient Stop-Gap”?

“…The principle that the criminal justice system operates on the basis of gender, among other intersecting identities (Crenshaw 1989), and that criminal law is written with the white, middleclass man in mind, has been the subject of much feminist examination of law, crime and deviance. There is substantial evidence from feminist scholarship that women who are sanctioned for breaking the law are punished as much for who they are (a woman), as for what they do (Barlow 2016;Carlen 1983;Fitz-Gibbon and Vannier 2017;Hodgson 2017;Lloyd 1995). The dated, yet pertinent, study by Eaton (1986) offers an example of gendered justice.…”

Women and self-defence: an empirical and doctrinal analysis

“…The problem of women's access to self-defence has been internationally recognised but remains under-examined in a UK context. Fitz-Gibbon and Vannier (2017) have called for an evidence base of women's use of the defence to be developed and recent work has shown how crucial this can be in the context of advocating reform in domestic abuse law and policy (McNamara et al , 2019 1 ). Against such a backdrop, this paper presents the findings from original empirical research conducted by the author on women's use of and access to self-defence in the Scottish courts.…”

“…The defence has further significance in the context of killings following domestic abuse since a number of commentators have historically posited that when women kill their abusers, they do so in self-defence (Browne, 1987; Daly and Wilson, 1990; Gillespie, 1989; Johnson, 2008; McColgan, 1993; Ogle and Jacobs, 2002; Walker, 1989). Yet, it has been recognised that women do not routinely employ self-defence (in any context) (Fitz-Gibbon and Vannier, 2017 ). This can be located in several overlapping factors such as the male model of self-defence that has developed (Rosen, 1993; Wallace, 2004), pre-trial decision-making and criminal justice systems that incentivise trial avoidance (Sheehy, 2014).…”

“…The empirical findings confirm that women are rarely successful with self-defence at trial level and the doctrinal analysis further demonstrates that self-defence does not adequately reflect women's experience of violence, especially sexual violence, and instead continues to reflect male experiences of (public) violence. It is intended that this research will form part of a larger developing evidence base, the type of which has been called for (Fitz-Gibbon and Vannier, 2017) and can be used to support reform in this area. As such, it represents a significant contribution to socio-legal work that has considered the issue of women's access to criminal defences.…”