Why Does the Justice System Punish Women for Surviving?

By Jouna Albaid -

One of the most isolated and disadvantaged groups in our society are victims of abuse - particularly women. These women often endure years, even lifetimes, of violence in every form: psychological abuse that erodes their self-worth, physical abuse that leaves them battered and bruised, emotional manipulation that traps them in fear, and financial abuse that ties them to their abuser. And too often, this abuse comes from the very person they rely on most - their partner.

Yet when these women finally fight back, the legal system turns against them. We already have murder defences for mental impairments (diminished responsibility), for those under attack (self-defence), and even for those who act out of fear or anger (loss of control). So why is survival itself treated as a crime for women who kill their abusers? Why is the price of staying alive punishment? Have they not suffered enough?

A System Written by Men, for Men

The 2023 Homicide in England and Wales Census makes the reality clear: murder is overwhelmingly male-driven and often targets women. Seven in ten domestic homicide victims are female, and 35% are killed by a partner or significant other. With such figures, it is impossible to ignore the truth - our justice system takes a male-centric approach. Built by men, for men, it leaves women to fall through the cracks.

Survivors Behind Bars

This injustice is not abstract. It lives in real women’s lives.

Take Martyna Ogonowska, a young woman who, at only 18 years old, was handed a 17-year prison sentence for killing her abuser, 23-year-old Filip Jaskiewicz. By the time she reached adulthood, Martyna’s life was already scarred by unbearable trauma: years of violence at the hands of partners and her own father, the torment of PTSD, the horror of being raped at just 14, and the crushing injustice of watching her abuser walk free after an unsuccessful trial.When she finally fought back to save herself, the very system that had failed her time and time again refused to hear her plea for justice. Although Judge Farrell QC acknowledged that Jaskiewicz had been subjected to violence and “sexual touching” by the victim shortly before the killing, her claim of self-defence was rejected on the basis that she had carried the knife used in the stabbing for the purpose of self-protection. In 2023, the defendant’s appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeal, where her lawyers had sought to reduce her 17-year sentence to the typical range of 12 to 13 years usually imposed in comparable cases.

Martyna is just one name on a long, painful list:

Amanda O'Shaughnessy

Lea Rose Cheng

Sharon Edwards

Emma-Jayne Magson

Farieissia Martin

Sally Challen

Stacey Hyde

Kirsty Scamp

Sharon Akers

Jane Andrews

Rose Swan

Christine Devaney

Josephine Smith

Donna Tinker

Zoora Shah

Diana Butler

Sara Thornton

Emma Humphreys

Janet Gardner

Kiranjit Ahluwalia

Patricia Gallagher

Twenty-two campaigns . Twenty-two women. Twenty-two lives – some successful, some not. All of them victims of abuse. All of them punished for surviving. And tragically, there are countless more.

Systematic Punishment: When Law Creates More Hurdles

Self-defence law is narrow and unforgiving. While there are exceptions that protect householders acting in defence of their homes, no such exception exists for women defending themselves or their children from abusers. One survivor recalled:

“A few days before the incident, he gave me Rohypnol, raped me, and threatened to suffocate my two boys, saying he’d kill them and make me take the blame.”

Yet the courts struggle to account for the complexity of such abuse. Physical evidence of abuse is hard to come by, so often the trial is reliant on expert witnesses and testimonies who typically come from medical fields with little understanding of coercive control. The law further disadvantages women who use weapons, branding it “disproportionate force” - ignoring the reality that many women must resort to weapons to survive, given the physical power imbalance between them and their abusers.

Bigoted Assumptions: How Society Shapes Abuse

To confront this injustice, we must also confront ourselves. Think honestly: do you, unconsciously, believe any of the myths about abuse? That women “bring it on themselves” if they don’t leave? That violence is somehow expected in certain communities, based on class or race?

These misogynistic assumptions create barriers that keep women trapped. In 2024, police recorded 851,062 cases of domestic abuse. No doubt the true extent of domestic is much greater. Research shows only one in five victims make official reports, many are silenced by fear, stigma or coercion.

Courts rarely explain to juries how coercive control works - how it isolates, manipulates, and traps women. Instead, survivors are discredited by prejudice. In one case, a prosecutor dismissed a woman as “a typical estate girl who had experienced 50 one-night stands.” Such remarks, rooted in misogyny and classism, weren’t just offensive - they destroyed her credibility and erased her abuse in the eyes of the court.

The Need for Change

We cannot continue to punish survivors for fighting to stay alive. Reform is essential. Extending the “householder defence” to cover victims of abuse would be one step forward. More broadly, we must challenge misogynistic stereotypes in courtrooms, demand training on coercive control for legal professionals, and reshape the law so it reflects the realities of women’s lives today.

Because justice should not punish survival...