Reforming defences to murder, an Australian case study

This chapter assesses the effectiveness of feminist-led reforms to the law of murder introduced in the Australian state of Victoria. Since the late twentieth century, feminist legal scholars and activists in Australia and other anglophone jurisdictions have criticised the gendered operation of defences to murder in intimate partner homicides cases. Significantly, one was anticipated by the Law Reform Commission when it considered the merits of abolishing that defence. Gendered narratives resurfaced in sentencing pleas in post-reform cases, particularly where the defence counsel argued that the killing was the result of a 'loss of control' in response to his partner or ex-partner's actions or that it occurred in the context of the defendant's emotional stress. So while the defence counsel explicitly argued that provocation should be a mitigating factor at sentencing, they frequently argued something very similar, notably that the loss of self-control occurred after a cumulative build-up of mental stress due to the victim's behaviour over a period of time.