Undue Influence: Definitions and Applications - California Courts ...

of anxiety, avoidance behavior and emotional numbing, disrupted interpersonal relationships,
body image distortion and/or somatic and/or physical complaints, and sexual intimacy issues.
Although battered women’s syndrome is not a legal defense in itself, courts in the U.S.
and other countries have accepted evidence of it to explain the conduct of women in battering
relationships who fight back and kill their abusers. Specifically, it may constitute self-defense,
provocation, and diminished responsibility. The “battered woman’s defense” argues that a
battered woman is a normal, reasonable person caught in irrational circumstances, responding as
any reasonable person would. For a lawyer handling a woman's self defense case, it provides the
tools to argue that what happened to the woman would happen to anybody under similar
circumstances and that reasonable persons would use force in self-defense.
This use of the battered women’s defense syndrome has been controversial. Legal and
feminist scholars have criticized it on the grounds that it focuses on women’s passivity and its
portrayal of a singular profile (Jones, 1994). In addition, as men’s groups and others have
challenged the emphasis on gender in explaining domestic violence, the syndrome’s focus on
women has also been challenged. In 1994, as part of the Violence Against Women Act, the
United States Congress ordered an investigation into the role of battered woman syndrome
expert testimony in the courts to determine its validity and usefulness. Investigators concluded
that an extensive body of scientific and clinical knowledge strongly supports the validity and
relevance of battering as a factor in the reactions and behavior of victims of domestic violence
(National Institute of Justice, 1996). It therefore affirmed the utility within the trial process, and
at various stages of the criminal justice process, of evidence concerning the effects of battering.
However, it also concluded that the term “battered woman syndrome” is too narrow, has some
negative implications, and is no longer useful or appropriate. The term has been replaced with
“battering and its effects.”
Influence of Caretakers on Their Charges
A few studies have explored how caregivers exert power over those they care for. In
studying dementia caregivers, Dunham & Cannon (2006) concluded that to be successful, family
caregivers must establish relationships of power over those they care for and substitute their
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