JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE: BATTERED WOMEN, SELF-DEFENSE AND THE LAW [Paperback]

CYNTHIA K. GILLESPIE (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is a study to set women's blood boiling. Seattle attorney Gillespie details how unjust the judiciary is to battered women who kill their tormentors. She shows that the law of selfdefense is adjudged by many courts not to apply to battered women. Some judges, for example, have disallowed testimony on previous batterings, while others have refused to permit experts on the so-called "battered women's syndrome" to be heard, on the grounds that the formulation is too recent for any expertise to have been developed. And such elements as the victim's inability to leave the battering husband/lover have been discounted. In a "summing-up," Gillespie presents recommendations that should be read by all lawyers and judges.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Ohio State University Press (January 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814205216
• ISBN-13: 978-0814205211
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,472,556 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars highly recommended, July 2, 2001

By 

M L Grant - See all my reviews

This review is from: JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE: BATTERED WOMEN, SELF-DEFENSE AND THE LAW (Paperback)

This book is a treatment of how common law's concept of self-defense does not traditionally describe the method in which battered women who kill their abusers finally do the deed. Hence, it has been difficult for battered women to win cases with the defense of "justifiable homicide."

The author, founder of the Northwest Women's Law Center, puts forth her argument logically and forcefully, with extensive references. A must read for those interested in the legal defense of battered women who kill their abusers.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the Gold Standard, March 2, 2005

By 

Elizabeth Cavendish (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE: BATTERED WOMEN, SELF-DEFENSE AND THE LAW (Paperback)

I used to teach a gender equality class for Stanford students in Washington and they read this book with amazement at how it revealed the law's stark burdens. Now I'm doing research on a different project and still find this book to be thorough and persuasive. Sometimes claims of structural sexism are unpersuasive, but this book proves up structural sexism in the law unequivocally. It documents how the law of self-defense arose among combatants of presumed equal strength. Facially neutral rules like "no escalating the form of violence" can leave battered women with the choice of waiting to be killed or using non-protected deadly force herself. A grim and stunning conclusion. -- Betsy Cavendish