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Simple English definitions for legal terms

battered-wife syndrome

Read a random definition: mulierty

A quick definition of battered-wife syndrome:

Battered-Wife Syndrome: A condition that affects women who have suffered physical, sexual, or emotional abuse from their spouse or partner. It was first described in the 1970s and consists of a cycle of violence that includes tension-building, acute battering, and loving-contrition stages. Sometimes, it is used as a defense for women who have killed their abuser.

A more thorough explanation:

Battered-wife syndrome is a medical and psychological condition that affects women who have suffered physical, sexual, or emotional abuse from their spouse or partner. It is also known as battered-woman syndrome or battered-spouse syndrome.

The syndrome was first described in the 1970s by Dr. Lenore Walker. It consists of a three-stage cycle of violence:

  • The tension-building stage, which may include verbal and mild physical abuse
  • The acute battering stage, which includes stronger verbal abuse, increased physical violence, and perhaps rape or other sexual abuse
  • The loving-contrition stage, which includes the abuser's apologies, attentiveness, kindness, and gift-giving

Battered-wife syndrome is sometimes used as a defense to justify or mitigate a woman's killing of her abuser.

For example, if a woman is being physically abused by her husband and she kills him in self-defense, she may use battered-wife syndrome as a defense in court. The defense argues that the woman was suffering from a psychological condition that made her feel trapped and helpless, and that she acted out of fear for her life.

battered-spouse syndrome | battered woman

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ALSO CONGRATS!
Congrats1!
21:15
Miami A, yall I'm so excited I could cry.
21:15
Feel like I can finally stop holding my breath!! Whew!!!
[] baddestbunny
22:16
every time I get accosted by a strange man who follows me around because my male coworkers were too busy talking to walk me back to my car I get closer to saying we need to bring back traditional gender roles
Dkk
22:32
Nice! @Macaque
Dkk
22:32
@Aromatic, Have to guess.
Dkk
22:33
That sucks @Bunny do you have to go to the hospital?
[] baddestbunny
22:40
I said accosted not assaulted
23:35
guys. my notre dame address just went long is this good or bad
1a2b3c4d26z
23:37
Oooooo me too
23:37
omg is this good or bad
Dkk
23:47
Idk if gender roles are gunna fix that then.
23:49
it looks like most people who applied in october last cycle didn't get a decision until january... does it even mean anything that our addresses went long??
hows ED 2 compared to ED 1?
Dkk
0:10
No idea
windyMagician
0:34
reporting live to say my ndls address also went long
does it mean anything ^
Dkk
2:21
NDLS and Fordham took a very long time last year. It's good info for people to know.
[] baddestbunny
4:29
let’s get after it boys and girls
Dkk
5:21
I gtg to bed soon.
Dkk
5:22
Big day today. Gunna be a crazy one. I will sleep through the first half.
good morning lsd it is 5 am EST
also jazzy my ndls address went long ages ago i sadly do not think it means anything
my stanford address also went long LOL i think at most it's an indicator it's under review
WorthlessAttractiveZombie
7:44
My berkeley paragraph finally disappeared. I definitely think it is just an indicator that they are actively reviewing files, and does not mean anything about A, WL, or Rs
WorthlessAttractiveZombie
7:46
Also has anyone's date disappeared for W&L? Mine did last night
7:55
@WorthlessAttractiveZombie: mine did yesterday morning
7:56
Oops sorry I meant Vilanova. Mine disappeared last week
soapy
8:48
UMN under review! As predicted, decisions are gonna come out early December
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