NCJ Number
128485
Journal
University of Pennsylvania Law Review Volume: 137 Issue: 4 Dated: (April 1989) Pages: 1281-1307
Date Published
1989
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This article explores the connection between child abuse and parricide in the context of developing a self-defense claim.
Abstract
Several recent cases are examined in conjunction with a review of psychological and social theories of child abuse. The case studies provide a perspective on the legal problems that confront child abuse-parricide defendants. The discussion notes that the traditional self-defense claim is based on the principle that a person "who is unlawfully attacked by another, and who has no opportunity to resort to the law for his defense, should be able to take reasonable steps to defend himself." The factfinder in a homicide case must conclude that the defendant perceived an imminent deadly or serious attack and that the perception was reasonable. This model for self-defense is inappropriate when a parent and child are involved, because it presupposes the objective and rational observations of a stranger-to-stranger encounter. Abused children, like battered women, perceive the behavior of their batterer with a degree of knowledge and familiarity not accounted for in the rational-observation standard of the self-defense model. Because of this difference in perception, child-abuse-parricide cases will always require expert analysis of the defendant's ability to assess and respond to the batterer's behavior. Self-defense claims in parricide cases that involve child abuse should achieve the same level of judicial acceptance as those of battered adult women. 177 footnotes