Here case law lags behind the statutes. Although the scientific community, and hence, legislators and courts have accepted the Battered Woman's Syndrome as a psychologically sound, legitimate theory, winning a case with that defense remains a tough challenge. Some courts imply a person suffering with BWS is tantamount to those who are mentally incompetent. Sometimes, it appears a court can't seem to fit the BWS defense into its penal code. Instead, the question would change to whether this individual woman, in light of the psychological condition from which she suffers, could have resisted.
Women battered by men account for about one-fifth of all emergency room admissions.
Women who leave abusive partners run a 750 percent greater risk of being killed by their abusers than those who stay. Only about half the women suffering abuse between 1987 and 1991 reported it to the police. Although police have cracked down upon abusive spouses, critics complain that knowing who to arrest can be an onerous task. Three weeks later, she was killed. Okay, our society's become somewhat enlightened, even though gender discrimination still exists in U.S law firms, ruling bodies, and courtrooms.