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Simple English definitions for legal terms

battered-wife syndrome

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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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JumpySubsequentDolphin
20:50
i need to know who decided to do that.
JumpySubsequentDolphin
20:50
omg im on a plane weeeee
the devil
youre on a plane??? LSD made the mile high club??
20:50
yo splitterus are you in school already
20:50
it says ur c/o 2027
JumpySubsequentDolphin
20:51
@SplitterusClitterus: HAHAH yes
ur user is hilarioussss and no i just graduated this may and am now applying ---also im out of messages so ill take a lil
20:52
roger dat. see u in heck
im back, r u applying this cycle too
JumpySubsequentDolphin
21:32
this child fell asleep on me
JumpySubsequentDolphin
21:32
im so uncomfortable
just push him off the entire seat
JumpySubsequentDolphin
21:34
LMAOOOO
JumpySubsequentDolphin
21:35
no he’s literally like 8 and he fully just put his head on my bicep and slept
JumpySubsequentDolphin
21:35
he has since moved
22:12
@SplitterusClitterus: me yesterday
gulc baby pls text me back... i miss you ...... :(
22:23
i just went into a discord vc and yelled "YALL I JUST GOT INTO J.M. SCHOOL OF LAW"
22:24
people were getting excited :sob:
22:25
then someone was like "what does jm stand for" and i was like .. well
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@JumpySubsequentDolphin: wait this is so cute, also where r u going
JOE MBIDEN
JumpySubsequentDolphin
22:39
@splitty Oregon!
oh yay for what thats so random
JumpySubsequentDolphin
22:45
haha my brother and sister in law live there
so cutie oregon is beatiful
soyalmondoatmilk
8:38
good morning! hoping waves will come our wave today
8:42
GW wave today?
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