The prison sentences for American men who kill their abusive partners is more severe than the prison sentences for American women who commit the same offense

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Kasian, M., Spanos, N., Terrance, C. & Peebles, S. (1993) Battered Women Who Kill: Jury Simulation and Legal Defenses, Law and Human Behavior, 17(3), 289-312.

This study is about the acquittal rates in cases whereby a battered woman is accused of killing her husband. The paper is in the form of a simulated trial format that is based on an actual courtroom setting and proceedings. The authors assess the various types of plea entered and the precedent it sets in similar future cases. The authors also assess whether the type of defense used was automatism, self-defense or a psychological plea.

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This research paper is intended for sociologists who are interested in understanding the psychological aspects that determine the outcome of cases involving battered women who have killed their husbands.

Follingstad, D., Polek, D., Hause, E., Deaton, L., Bulger, M., & Conway, Z. (1989), Factors Predicting Verdicts in Cases Where Battered Women Kill Their Husbands, Law and Human Behavior, 13(3), 253-269

This experiment-based study was aimed at testing factors that influence verdicts in legal cases that involve battered women who decide to kill their husbands. Three thirty-eight students participated in the study that required them to read a prototypical but fictitious legal case before filing in a questionnaire. They needed to consider various factors when filing in the questionnaires. These factors include the influence of the verdict by the verdict’s mental state, the validity of NGRI (not guilty by reason of self-defense), among others.

The research work was intended for legal experts who are interested in the scholarly side of the discipline. The article is also of great relevance to social theorists with an interest in the gender balances (or imbalances) that exist in the process of dispensing justice.

Gagné, P. (1996), Identity, Strategy, and Feminist Politics: Clemency for Battered Women Who Kill, Social Problems, 43(1), 77-93

This paper explores the impact of feminism on the Ohio justice system, with the main reference being the incarceration of women who had killed their husbands for battering them. The paper critiques today’s theories of liberal democracy using critical, post-modern and feminist critiques in order to spell out the democratic spaces that women can use in their fight for social justice.

This article is ideal for people with an interest in the feminist cause. It is also of great relevance to liberal democracy theorists who have an interest in various ways in which liberal democracy can be critiqued in response to its provisions with regard to special interest groups.

Estrich, S. (1990) Defending Women, Michigan Law Review, 88(6), pp. 1430-1444

The paper is based on a legal analysis of how battered women make use of the existing provisions of self-defense in order to argue out their cases. The analysis is based on an article entitled Justifiable Homicide, written by Cynthia Gillespie, a Seattle attorney. The analysis explains the issue of whether the violence that battered women mete on their husbands is a greater one or not.

The legal analysis is a very ideal reference point for a discussion on why battered women who murder their husbands receive more lenient sentences compared to husbands who commit the same offenses under similar circumstances.

Kilian, A., Huss, M., Tomkins, A., Garbin, C. &Schopp, R. (2006) Battered Women Who Kill Their Abusers: An Examination of Commonsense Notions, Cognitions, and Judgments, Journal of interpersonal violence, 21, 1063.

The article explores the argument that battered women who decide to kill their husbands belong to a special category of defendants who are always being treated unfairly in the legal system. The study adopts a psychological approach in order to assess the implications of various factors that determine the outcome of such cases. Issues of common sense, the mental state of the defendant, and demographic factors are also discussed.

The article is a good source of crucial themes relating to the various feminine concerns that are triggered by circumstances whereby women seem to be treated more severely under the law for committing crimes for which their male counterparts receive more lenient penalties.

Stout, K. (1991) Women Who Kill: Offenders or Defenders? Affilia 6; 8

The journal article is an attempt to address the issue of imbalances in the application of the law whenever someone murders his or her partner for battering him or her. For this purpose, 18 women and 23 men are considered, all of whom have killed their partners and tried in a Missouri Court.

This cross-sectional survey is of relevance for social theorists who want to understand the various social and legal perspectives that underlie the application of the law in such circumstances.

Plumm, K. & Terrance, C. (2009) Battered Women Who Kill: The Impact of Expert Testimony and empathy induction in the courtroom, Violence against Women; 15, 186.

The authors of this work approach the issue of justice dispensation to people who kill their partners from the perspective of the role of expert witnesses who induce empathy. These authors propose an alternative form of expert testimony, known as ‘Social Agency Framework (SAF).

Scholars of policy studies, feminists, lawyers and opinion leaders in matters of justice will find this research paper to be of great help. It is also a very important reference point for answering the question of gender inequality handing out justice to people who have taken the lives of their intimate partners.

Stout, K. & Brown, P. (1995) Legal and Social Differences between Men and Women, Who Kill Intimate Partners, Affilia 10, 194

The issue of women who kill their intimate partners for physically abusing them is the one being discussed here. Reference is made to a survey-based in Missouri, whereby 18 women prisoners 16 of whom had been physically abused by their male partners, were convicted of killing them. The need for social workers to advocate for a fairer treatment under the law for such charges is raised.

The research work, though seemingly one-sided (to favor the pro-feminist cause), presents a good viewpoint for researchers who are interested in unearthing the psychological, rational and empirical basis for giving women penalties that are harsher than those meted against men for similar offenses.