The Battered Woman's Syndrome as an Exclusion of Unlawfulness within the Crime of Murder

The battered woman syndrome is a theory that was applied in Anglo-Saxon law, specifically in Common Law, which is a means of defense for people who were assaulted and subsequently kill their aggressors. The objective of the research is to describe through a legal, doctrinal and scientific analysis whether or not the battered woman syndrome operates as an exclusion of unlawfulness within the crime of murder. The results allow establishing that domestic abuse can lead a woman to commit a criminal act, without having the will to do so. This behavior is defined by specialists in psychology and forensic medicine as a temporary dementia, uncommon brain disorders that significantly affect the conduct and behavior of the person.