Globally, women commit far fewer violent crimes than men. In 2021, women were responsible for just 10% of homicides, and are much more likely to be victims than perpetrators. However, when women do kill, research shows that the crime often involves a male partner or family member and is frequently rooted in a history of domestic abuse.
Studies indicate that most women on death row around the world are convicted of murder, with many cases connected to gender-based violence. In these situations, women often kill in self-defense, only to face further abuse or the threat of death.
Prof. Sandra Babcock, a clinical professor of law at Cornell University, has studied around 70 cases of women on death row across the US, Malawi, and Tanzania. She found that every case involved a background of abuse. “There is always something. You look back at the worst cases and there is always a reason and a story that helps you understand why this happened,” she says.
Iranian human rights lawyer Hossein Raeesi has represented 15 women on death row in Iran, most convicted of murdering abusive husbands. Many were also victims of forced or child marriage. One case involved Zarbibi (not her real name), who was 16 and four months pregnant when she tried to decapitate her husband. In her journal, she wrote about feeling “free for the first time” after years of physical and sexual abuse.
Of Raeesi’s cases, four women were executed, some for crimes committed as minors, while others were released under Islamic law provisions allowing family forgiveness.
Research shows that women who kill their abusers are often failed by criminal justice systems. Courts frequently lack understanding of domestic abuse dynamics, coercive control, and the mental health effects of trauma. Legal systems tend to be patriarchal, rigid, and ill-equipped to handle cases involving prolonged abuse.
A 2021 study by Penal Reform International found that most criminal justice systems ignore women’s trauma, with few exceptions. There is often no separate legal basis for considering a history of abuse, leaving women reliant on existing defenses that may not reflect their experiences.
Harriet Wistrich, solicitor and chief executive of the Centre for Women’s Justice, explains: “Women who kill in the context of abuse are not getting fair trials. Trauma, dissociation, and memory gaps often cause them to be disbelieved. Women are judged more harshly due to prejudice, sexism, and misogyny, because they are stepping outside societal expectations.”
Some progress has been made. In the UK, Sally Challen, who killed her abusive husband with a hammer, was released in 2019 after pleading guilty to manslaughter. This was the first UK court case to consider coercive control as a form of domestic abuse.
Similar cases have set precedents elsewhere. Lavern Longsworth in Belize was released in 2014 after lawyers argued she suffered from battered woman syndrome, while in Kenya, Truphena Aswani was effectively freed after killing her abusive husband, with the court recognizing self-defense.
Organizations like Reprieve are working to highlight the link between gender-based violence and criminal behavior, helping courts consider trauma and mental health as mitigating factors.
However, progress remains slow. Many women do not know to cite abuse as a factor in court, and global research on women who kill and domestic violence remains limited. Law graduate Annalie Buscarino advocates for an international response, including a UN resolution encouraging states to consider abuse histories in sentencing and to allow gender-sensitive evidence in trials.
Prof. Babcock emphasizes that women in prison remain a forgotten population. “The causal links between gender-based violence and acts of violence are underexplored. Part of this is because gender-based violence is still normalized in many societies,” she says.