Women and self-defence: an empirical and doctrinal analysis

McPherson, R. (2022) Women and self-defence: an empirical and doctrinal analysis. International Journal of Law in Context, 18(4), pp. 461-475. (doi: 10.1017/S1744552322000131)

Abstract

The problem of women's access to self-defence has been internationally recognised. This paper presents original empirical data on women's use of self-defence in practice alongside critical feminist analysis of the requirements of self-defence under Scots law. The empirical findings confirm that women are rarely successful with self-defence at trial level and the doctrinal analysis further demonstrates that self-defence does not adequately reflect women's experience of violence, especially sexual violence, and instead continues to reflect male experiences of (public) violence. It is intended that this research will form part of a larger developing evidence base, the type of which has been called for (Fitz-Gibbon and Vannier, 2017) and can be used to support reform in this area. As such, it represents a significant contribution to socio-legal work that has considered the issue of women's access to criminal defences.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: McPherson, Dr Rachel
• Authors: McPherson, R.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Law
• Journal Name: International Journal of Law in Context
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• ISSN: 1744-5523
• ISSN (Online): 1744-5531
• Published Online: 22 April 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Author
• First Published: First published in International Journal of Law in Context 18(4) 461-475
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License