Description

This book examines the English criminal law s
response to murder cases from the nineteenth century
to the present day. In particular the book looks at
the law s inability to deal appropriately with those
cases defined as domestic homicide , where persons
who having faced abuse by their current or former
partner find themselves killing their abuser and
face a murder conviction. Whilst the English legal
system has a structure to deal with murder cases,
our culture has become more aware of and less
tolerant of domestic violence and the apparent
inexplicable indifference that our homicide law has
in its application and resultant outcomes of
domestic homicide cases. Such awareness has
attracted national and international media interest
particularly since the rise of feminism during the
late 1960s and 1970s. Major cases and pressure group
activity during the 1990 s, and a change to a Labour
Government in 1997 had led to the first specific
government request in 2003 for a review of partial
special defences to murder, with particular emphasis
on domestic homicide.