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Full-Text Articles in Criminal Law
The Punishment Of Dixie Shanahan: Is There Justice For Battered Women Who Kill?, Leigh Goodmark
The Punishment Of Dixie Shanahan: Is There Justice For Battered Women Who Kill?, Leigh Goodmark
ExpressO
The article explores the prevailing theories justifying criminal punishment in the United States through the lens of the case of Dixie Shanahan, an Iowa woman who was sentenced to fifty years imprisonment for killing her abusive spouse after nineteen years of battering. The article begins with a detailed examination of the life of Dixie Shanahan and places her within the context of the literature on battered women who kill. The piece then looks at both retributivist and utilitarian justifications for punishment and concludes that only a retributivist rationale justifies the punishment of Ms. Shanahan and other battered women who kill, …
Gender Equality, Social Values And Provocation Law In The United States, Canada And Australia, Caroline A. Forell
Gender Equality, Social Values And Provocation Law In The United States, Canada And Australia, Caroline A. Forell
ExpressO
In this article I examine and compare the partial defense of provocation as it applies to domestic homicide in Australia, Canada, and the United States on both the gendered-male basis of jealous rage and gendered-female basis of fear. I explain why substantive equality, prevalent under Canadian constitutional law, has not resulted in woman-friendly provocation rules in Canada and the United States and why Australia is the leader in incorporating substantive equality into its provocation doctrine. I conclude that the main reason why some Australian jurisdictions have abolished provocation and others have female-friendly versions of the doctrine is that, unlike Canada …