Edwards, S., “Loss of self-control: when his anger is worth more than her fear”, in A. Reed & M. Bohlander (eds), Loss of Control and Diminished Responsibility: Domestic, Comparative and International Perspectives (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011), 79-96. ISBN: 978-1-4094-3175-6.
This book, published in November 2011, provides a leading point of reference in the field of partial defences to murder and with respect to the mental condition defences of loss of control and diminished responsibility in general. The first part provides an analysis from the perspective of the UK, and the second part presents a comparative and international view. The contributors are legal experts from around the world.
In her chapter, Professor Susan Edwards explores the new defence of fear and its implications for women who, out of fear, kill men who abuse them. She argues that notwithstanding the benefits to battered women of the new fear defence the law remains, because of the different evidential requirements in these two defences, more open to male anger that to women’s fear as a defence to murder.
More about the book on the Ashgate website.
Susan Edwards is a researcher and campaigner with degrees in both law and social sciences, and a barrister (Door Tenant, Clarendon Chambers, Temple, London). She is Professor of Law at Buckingham, and editor of the Denning Law Journal.
