Analysis On Judicial Determination Of Battered Women’s Behavior Of Killing Husband

In the field of criminal justice,whether the determination of criminal character and punishment fit the crime has stirred great controversies when referring to battered women who killed husband due to domestic violence.Under the circumstance,when the court dealing with related cases,great distinction of the punishment for the defendant(that is,battered women party)has occurred,and the determination of battered women is clearly unacceptable by criminal law theorists and the public.On March 4,2015,“Opinions on Legally Handling Cases involving Crimes of Domestic Violence” has been issued by the Supreme People’s Court,the Supreme People’s Procuratorate,the Ministry of Public Security,and the Ministry of Justice,which provides legal ground for protecting the legitimate rights and interests of battered women in our country,and in the next criminal trials of domestic violence,according to“Opinions” the court could light or mitigate punishment to battered women who killed husband.However,in the practical experiences of judicial work,many courts emphasized on the exercise of discretion and placed the protection high on the priority,pushed the case in the sentencing procedure too early with neglecting the more important factors that the case facts and the standardization of conviction and sentence.In this case,the verdicts seem to be "lenient treatment " for battered women who killed husband,but actually make them confess the crime and bear the stigma of illegal crime,resulting in hurting their legitimate rights and interests and playing an ineffective role of protection.This paper search and analyze the cases of battered women who killed her batterer,classify the domestic violence faced by battered women in different cases based on the extent of violence and whether happened at the scene of the crime,thus battered women’s behavior of killing husband has been subdivided.Based on the principle of protecting legal interest,integrating many domestic theories,in accordance with the provisions of China’s criminal law and the stepwise logical analysis of behavior theory,illegal crime theory and liability theory,with the aim to provide the determination path analysis for judicial practice in dealing with related cases and make the verdicts as theway of "similar cases be treated similarly".In this way,the judiciary could sufficiently protect the legitimate rights and interests of battered women who kill,and also promote judicial impartiality and authority.