Victim to Defendant: Judicial Dilemmas and Gender Bias in Chinese Cases of Battered Women Killing Their Abusers – Psychiatry AI: Real-Time AI Scoping Review

AI Summary

Courts routinely ignore histories of intimate partner abuse, undermining battered women’s claims of legitimate self-defence.
Judicial barriers include rigid imminence standards, reliance on visible injuries, and stereotype-driven expectations that mischaracterise women’s resistance.
Gender bias systematically shapes evidence assessment, reasonableness evaluations, and doctrinal interpretations, signalling urgent need for contextualised, gender-sensitive legal reform.

Violence Against Women. 2026 Jun 16:10778012261458802. doi: 10.1177/10778012261458802. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This study examines battered women in China who used lethal defense after years of abuse by their husbands. Drawing on six interviews with abused women and judicial officers and eight cases, it finds that courts often ignore the context of abuse, undermining claims of legitimate defense. Key barriers include rigid imminence standards, reliance on visible evidence, and stereotype-driven expectations. The study also shows that these dilemmas are not only doctrinal or institutional but are systematically shaped by gender bias, affecting evidence, reasonableness, and interpretations of women’s resistance. The findings support legal reform towards more contextualized, gender-sensitive adjudication.

PMID:42300593 | DOI:10.1177/10778012261458802

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