Abolishing provocation and reframing self-defence - the law commission's options for reform

In October 2003, the Law Commission ("LC') published a detailed Consultation Paper, Partial Defences to Murder,(1) reviewing the present law and proposing a series of possible options for reform. In responding to the LCs invitation, this article recommends that provocation be abolished and self-defence be reframed in order to take into account the inherent "inequality of arms" between the sexes which requires radical rethinking of the immediacy and proportionality requirements so as to allow women, although not exclusively women, the opportunity for an effective self-defence. The reasoning is set out in the body of this article, which reviews the law and practice of provocation and self-defence and the obstacles these defences pose for women, especially battered women who kill.