, she will have to act out in what is legally considered self-defense. Stereotypes of battered women will always be around. Many people wonder why dont the wives or girlfriends just get help?, why dont they tell someone?, or just get up and leave. People fail to realize that leaving an abusive relationship can make matters worst. Some cant leave because she is financially dependent or they have children, and/or their mates threaten to kill her and her children or take her children away. A real mother would never leave her children, in any situation. The prosecutors usually always bring up these stereotypes of battered women. In some situations the woman will leave, but staying out is hard for her or he makes it hard for her. Once the woman leaves he will usually do his best to find her and when he does, he threatens her, or may embarrass her, and shell leave with him because of the scene he makes. In addition to all these reasons to why women stay in abusive relationships, is because women lose their self-esteem and eventually dont have the energy to leave. In order for the Battered Woman Syndrome claim to be used expert testimony is essential. This is needed in order to give matter to the argument that justifies what the woman did. It is also needed because there needs to be an explanation of the Syndrome to juries, in away they can understand. Learned helplessness and other scientific knowledge need to be explained in order for the jury to understand. To understand what the woman is going through, what she was thinking at the time she committed the crime, and that she did it (murder her abuser) it because she honestly felt that it was the only solution in getting the cycle of violence. First, the women must show that she is able to prove either through her own testimony or through the testimony of other witnesses that she is a battered woman. She must then provide proof that the expert who she has chosen is qualified i...
