Reforming the Landscape for Women who Kill their Abusers in Scotland

Abstract

Using Scotland as a case study, this paper identifies key areas in which there could be potential reform for women who kill their abusive partners. The study focuses on two particular areas: the use of specialised courts and the use of expert evidence on coercive control. The paper concludes that there exist multiple avenues of reform with the potential to improve women’s experiences of the criminal justice system. However, for these to be utilised, there must be clear recognition that cases of this type are domestic abuse cases. As such, they should be considered firmly within current national domestic abuse policy rather than continuing to sit outside existing frameworks.

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Published: 2024-05-28
Issue:Online First
Section:Articles
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How to Cite
McPherson, R. (2024) “Reforming the Landscape for Women who Kill their Abusers in Scotland”, International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy. doi: 10.5204/ijcjsd.3514.

Author Biography

University of Glasgow
 United Kingdom

Rachel’s expertise lies legal responses to domestic abuse and intimate partner homicide. She has worked across a range of socio-legal research projects including those funded by the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service, Economic and Social Research Council, Scottish Government, and Scottish Institute for Policing Research and is currently part of the ESRC funded project: Understanding Domestic Homicide in Scotland: Exploring Patterns, Promoting Safeguarding which is the first project to analysis femicide cases held by Police Scotland.