Opinion ID: 2548176
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Battered Woman Syndrome Theory

Text: The theory of the battered woman syndrome originated in the works of psychologist Lenore Walker. [6] (Walker, The Battered Woman (1979); Walker, The Battered Woman Syndrome (1984); Walker, Terrifying Love: Why Battered Women Kill and How Society Responds (1989).) Dr. Walker relied on the psychological concept of learned helplessness, under which an animal, or person, repeatedly unable to protect itself against injury, eventually learns that resistance is useless and becomes passive and despondent. (See People v. Aris (1989) 215 Cal.App.3d 1178, 1195, 264 Cal.Rptr. 167; Faigman & Wright, The Battered Woman Syndrome in the Age of Science (1997) 39 Ariz. L.Rev. 67, 71-75 (Faigman); Griffith, Battered Woman Syndrome: A Tool for Batterers? (1995) 64 Fordham L.Rev. 141, 163-173.) Thus, to fit under Dr. Walker's theory as a battered woman, the victim must go through the battering cycle at least twice, because under Walker's theory a woman who is beaten once and takes action against the batterer is not suffering from a pathological state of learned helplessness. (See Walker, The Battered Woman, supra, p. xv.) Dr. Walker's battered woman syndrome theory has been criticized as lacking empirical support (Faigman, supra, 39 Ariz. L.Rev. at p. 68), and as demeaning to women ( id. at p. 69). In particular, many critics assert that victims of domestic violence do not typically suffer from a pathological condition. (See People v. Humphrey (1996) 13 Cal.4th 1073, 1083-1084, fn. 3, 56 Cal. Rptr.2d 142, 921 P.2d 1 ( Humphrey ); Bowman, A Matter of Justice: Overcoming Juror Bias in Prosecutions of Batterers Through Expert Witness Testimony of the Common Experiences of Battered Women (1992) 2 So.Cal. Rev.L. & Women's Stud. 219, 226, fn. 31, and articles there cited (Bowman); Dutton, Understanding Women's Responses to Domestic Violence: A Redefinition of Battered Woman Syndrome (1993) 21 Hofstra L.Rev. 1191, 1200-1201 (Dutton).) Thus, the critics maintain that the admissibility of expert evidence on the reactions of domestic violence victims should not depend on proof that the victim falls within Dr. Walker's description of a battered woman. (See Bowman, supra, 2 So.Cal. Rev.L. & Women's Stud. at p. 236; Dutton, supra, 21 Hofstra L.Rev. at pp. 1200-1201.)