Rethinking battered woman syndrome evidence: The impact of alternative forms of expert testimony on mock jurors' decisions

Participants (N = 172) were presented with a criminal homicide trial involving a battered woman who had killed her abuser. Within the trial stimulus, the imminence of the batterer's threat was systematically manipulated such that participants were presented with either a case in which the woman killed her abuser during a direct confrontation or while he lay sleeping. Within these two conditions, the presence of expert testimony pertaining to battered women (battered woman syndrome, social/agency, none) was systematically varied. Results indicated that the imminence of the batterer's threat influenced the participants' judgments, but the impact of this variable on judgments interacted with the presence of the expert testimony. The implications of these findings are discussed.