Women Who Kill Their Intimate Partners

Easteal closely scrutinises the judges' sentencing remarks in each of ten cases of battered women who had killed their partners, in order to identify which variables contributed to more lenient sanctions and which factors appeared to correlate with harsher sentences. She also uses the remarks to try to understand how judges regard domestic violence and its role in these homicides. Aspects covered include: children, Aboriginality, intent, remorse, defendant's childhood and alcoholism as mitigating variables; an alternative sentencing model; and the use of battered woman syndrome as a grounds for self-defence