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Defending Battered Women on Trial
In the landmark Lavallee decision of 1990, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that evidence of "battered woman syndrome" was admissible in establishing self-defence for women accused of killing their abusive partners. This book looks at the legal response to battered women who killed their partners in the fifteen years since Lavallee.
Elizabeth Sheehy uses trial transcripts and a detailed case study approach to tell, for the first time, the stories of eleven women, ten of whom killed their partners and one who did not. She looks at the barriers women face to "just leaving," how self-defence was argued in these cases, and which form of expert testimony was used to frame women’s experience of battering. Drawing upon a rich expanse of research from many disciplines, including law, psychology, history, sociology, women’s studies, and social work, she highlights the limitations of the law of self-defence, the successful strategies of defence lawyers, the costs to women undergoing a murder trial, and the serious difficulties of credibility that they face when testifying. In a final chapter, she proposes numerous reforms.
In Canada, a woman is killed every six days by her male partner, and about twelve women per year kill their male partners. By illuminating the cases of eleven women, this book highlights the barriers to leaving violent men and the practical and legal dilemmas that face battered women on trial for murder.
Elizabeth Sheehy uses trial transcripts and a detailed case study approach to tell, for the first time, the stories of eleven women, ten of whom killed their partners and one who did not. She looks at the barriers women face to "just leaving," how self-defence was argued in these cases, and which form of expert testimony was used to frame women’s experience of battering. Drawing upon a rich expanse of research from many disciplines, including law, psychology, history, sociology, women’s studies, and social work, she highlights the limitations of the law of self-defence, the successful strategies of defence lawyers, the costs to women undergoing a murder trial, and the serious difficulties of credibility that they face when testifying. In a final chapter, she proposes numerous reforms.
In Canada, a woman is killed every six days by her male partner, and about twelve women per year kill their male partners. By illuminating the cases of eleven women, this book highlights the barriers to leaving violent men and the practical and legal dilemmas that face battered women on trial for murder.
- GenresFeminismLawNonfiction
492 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
3 people are currently reading
272 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth A. Sheehy
8 books8 followersElizabeth Sheehy holds an LL.B. (Osgoode 1981), an LL.M. (Columbia 1984), and an LL.D. (Honoris causa) (Law Society of Upper Canada 2005). She started teaching at the University of Ottawa in 1984 and has been a Full Professor since 1995. She currently holds the Shirley Greenberg Chair for Women and the Legal Profession (2013-15) and previously held the Chair when it was first established (2002-04). She is also Chair of the Examinations Committee and a Member of the School of Graduate Studies since 1990.
Professor Sheehy teaches Criminal Law and Procedure, Advanced Criminal Procedure, Sexual Assault Law, and Defending Battered Women on Trial at the University of Ottawa. She has been a Visiting Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, the University of New South Wales, Faculty of Law, Sydney University, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Faculty of Law, and the University of Auckland, Faculty of Law. She has also participated in various educational programs for the Canadian Judicial Institute on topics such as sexual assault, wife assault, and women and girls in the justice system. In 1999 Professor Sheehy received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Common Law Students’ Society at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law.
Professor Sheehy has been a Member of the Law Society of Upper Canada since 1987. She was co-counsel for the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) in its intervention in R v JA (“advance consent” to sexual assault) (2011 SCC 28) and participated on the legal subcommittee for the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) and LEAF in R v Ryan (2013 SCC 3), R v NS (the “niqab” case) (2012 SCC 72) and R v Ewanchuk (“implied consent” and sexual assault) (SCC 1999). She has participated in legal work on the Jane Doe litigation (ONCJ 1998) and the legal intervention by Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter in the Bonnie Mooney litigation against the AG of BC (BCCA 2004). She has also presented legal briefs before governmental committees, for example on behalf of the National Association of Women and the Law with respect to Bill B-72, (Extreme Intoxication). Most recently in 2009 she appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Justice and Constitutional Affairs regarding Bill C-15 (Mandatory Minimum Sentences)(see Publications below).
Professor Sheehy is involved in many other law reform activities around equality rights and social justice issues: she has worked in a consultative capacity with the Department of Justice on the reform of criminal law (Preliminary Inquiries, Provocation, Self-Defence, Extreme Intoxication, Disclosure of Women’s Confidential Records), with the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies on Judge Lynn Ratushny's Self-Defence Review, through the Policy Implementation Assistance Program (CIDA) and the Social Affairs Committee of the Vietnam National Assembly on its Gender Equality Law, with the African Canadian Legal Clinic on its intervention in R v Golden (strip searches) (SCC 2001) and R v Nur (challenge to mandatory minimum sentences) (2011 ONSC 4874), with The Equality Effect on its women’s rights project aimed at criminalizing marital rape in three African countries.
In 2009 she convened the first national conference in Canada on sexual assault law, entitled Sexual Assault Law, Practice and Activism in a Post-Jane Doe Era, featuring 70 speakers from across Canada as well as New Zealand, South Africa, and Israel. With Jane Doe (the litigant in Jane Doe v. Metropolitan Toronto Commissioners of Police (1998), 39 O.R. (3d) 487 (Ct. ) as Conference Co-Ordinator, they fund-raised and launched a sold out conference March 6th and 7th 2009, attended by over 350 law students, activists, professors and lawyers. The event was opened by Justice Claire L’Heureux-Dubé, cheered on by multiple standing ovations, and closed by a slide show tribute to Jane Doe and her work. Over 50 papers arising from this event are forthcoming in thre
Professor Sheehy teaches Criminal Law and Procedure, Advanced Criminal Procedure, Sexual Assault Law, and Defending Battered Women on Trial at the University of Ottawa. She has been a Visiting Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, the University of New South Wales, Faculty of Law, Sydney University, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Faculty of Law, and the University of Auckland, Faculty of Law. She has also participated in various educational programs for the Canadian Judicial Institute on topics such as sexual assault, wife assault, and women and girls in the justice system. In 1999 Professor Sheehy received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Common Law Students’ Society at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law.
Professor Sheehy has been a Member of the Law Society of Upper Canada since 1987. She was co-counsel for the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) in its intervention in R v JA (“advance consent” to sexual assault) (2011 SCC 28) and participated on the legal subcommittee for the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) and LEAF in R v Ryan (2013 SCC 3), R v NS (the “niqab” case) (2012 SCC 72) and R v Ewanchuk (“implied consent” and sexual assault) (SCC 1999). She has participated in legal work on the Jane Doe litigation (ONCJ 1998) and the legal intervention by Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter in the Bonnie Mooney litigation against the AG of BC (BCCA 2004). She has also presented legal briefs before governmental committees, for example on behalf of the National Association of Women and the Law with respect to Bill B-72, (Extreme Intoxication). Most recently in 2009 she appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Justice and Constitutional Affairs regarding Bill C-15 (Mandatory Minimum Sentences)(see Publications below).
Professor Sheehy is involved in many other law reform activities around equality rights and social justice issues: she has worked in a consultative capacity with the Department of Justice on the reform of criminal law (Preliminary Inquiries, Provocation, Self-Defence, Extreme Intoxication, Disclosure of Women’s Confidential Records), with the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies on Judge Lynn Ratushny's Self-Defence Review, through the Policy Implementation Assistance Program (CIDA) and the Social Affairs Committee of the Vietnam National Assembly on its Gender Equality Law, with the African Canadian Legal Clinic on its intervention in R v Golden (strip searches) (SCC 2001) and R v Nur (challenge to mandatory minimum sentences) (2011 ONSC 4874), with The Equality Effect on its women’s rights project aimed at criminalizing marital rape in three African countries.
In 2009 she convened the first national conference in Canada on sexual assault law, entitled Sexual Assault Law, Practice and Activism in a Post-Jane Doe Era, featuring 70 speakers from across Canada as well as New Zealand, South Africa, and Israel. With Jane Doe (the litigant in Jane Doe v. Metropolitan Toronto Commissioners of Police (1998), 39 O.R. (3d) 487 (Ct. ) as Conference Co-Ordinator, they fund-raised and launched a sold out conference March 6th and 7th 2009, attended by over 350 law students, activists, professors and lawyers. The event was opened by Justice Claire L’Heureux-Dubé, cheered on by multiple standing ovations, and closed by a slide show tribute to Jane Doe and her work. Over 50 papers arising from this event are forthcoming in thre
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 20, 2014
This book in an incredible breakdown of Defending battered women on trial. It is more than just an examination of cases. It's an in depth look at evidence, legal theory, social justice and Canadian law. The conclusion and recommendations take a broader look at the social context and challenges Canadian to break down further barriers to equality that contributes to violence against women. This is also not just an academic look at case law, but a journey through the unimaginable harm that has happened to real people who suffer in silence and then suffer more in public. I will read this book again and hope many more will read it to try and understand the complex prison violence in the home can create an decide for themselves whether a fatal attempt to escape from one prison ought to result in the imprisonment of abused wives by the government.
July 7, 2015
Amazing book! Elizabeth Sheehy is brilliant.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews