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Murder: justification by gender

Melanie McDonagh, ever the dependable voice of anti-idiotarianism and reason, has pointed out the ludicrous thinking behind the latest changes planned regarding laws on domestic violence. The intention is to remove the defence of provocation, whilst at the same time introducing a plea of self-defence for women who kill after years of being abused… or as Melanie sums it up:

a killing that is premeditated for a long time will be treated more lightly; in another, a killing that was not premeditated at all will be treated with the maximum severity.

As one would expect from a socialist collectivist like Solicitor General Harriet Harman, because men tend to kill out of anger and women out of fear, the law will be skewed to in fact make that a presumption. This is not really English law so much as feminist law, treating men and women according to their category rather than as individuals judged on the basis of facts.

But murder, like romance, is unique to the couple concerned. And it doesn’t take much reflection to see that a blanket extenuation of self-defence is quite as likely to lead to miscarriages of justice as the blanket extenuation of provocation.

Quite so! This is a charter for murdering partners with whom a woman has a volatile (but not necessarily violent) relationship. The statue on top of the Old Bailey is ‘blind justice’, but no longer if you are male, it seems.

4 comments to Murder: justification by gender

  • BOLLOCKS !!

    What a complete load of rot and rubbish that idea is!

    A pox on her and all her kind.

  • I know an Irish architect now living in Eastern Europe who claims the law on this topic has gone even further in the Irish Republic. He was telling me over dinner last month that it is now possible in Eire to arrest a husband on the unsupported word of the wife that she thinks he may be about to attack her.

    No actual attack on a woman is necessary to justify imprisonment in Eire now, according to him. My friend also claimed it has become very difficult to discuss this openly in the Republic, with the new legal ministry there effectively pressuring radio and press against publishing dissenting views on the topic.

    Can anyone confirm or disconfirm this story?

  • Let me get this straight: if a woman shoots (or even stabs) a rapist who breaks into her home, she’s in deep trouble. But if she methodically plans the murder of her husband, that’s OK.

    Is that how it goes?

  • SDB: Is that how it goes?

    That is about right… self-defence, or at least having the weapons to conduct effective self-defence, is a crime in Britain… but the pre-meditated killing of an allegedly abusive husband will soon not be. Of course the husband will not be around to give his side of the story.