Door Tenant, Professor Susan Edwards has written a piece for the February edition of the Criminal Law Review.
The piece entitled “Demasculinising” the Defences of Self-Defence, the “Householder” defence and Duress” explores the case for reform by extending the defence of duress (coercion and compulsion under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 s.45) to victims of domestic violence and abuse and makes a plea to extend the householder defence and its ‘disproportionate’ concession (Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 s.76) to victims of domestic violence and abuse who kill abusers in self-defence in their own home. Both these proposals were rejected by the government when debated under the Domestic Abuse Bill, but the movement for reform continues.
Professor Sue Edwards comments:
“The disconnect between women victims of abuse and their lack of protection within substantive law in the framing of criminal defences together with the construction of reasonableness/reasonable person by finders of fact who are informed by gender assumptions continue to work an injustice.”
The full article is available to read here: Westlaw
On 3 Feb, Professor Susan Edwards will be speaking at Durham University’s The Centre for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice (CCLCJ) presenting research from her recent monograph: The Political Appropriation of the Muslim Body: Islamophobia, Counter-Terrorism Law and Gender. More information here: The Political Appropriation of the Muslim Body