Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

and then providing a recommendation directly to the

court concerning the defendant’s suitability for bail. In

a randomized controlled trial involving real cases, the

Vera Institute of Justice in 1963 found that defendants

in the experimental group for whom a recommendation

was provided were more likely to be bailed than those

in the control group for whom the recommendation was

withheld. In the United Kingdom, Bail Information

Schemes provide largely positive information about a

defendant’s community ties to the prosecution and

defense, who then can relay it to the court. In 2002, in

an experiment involving simulated cases, the author

found, however, that such schemes did not have a sta-

tistically significant effect on the bail decisions made.

Mandeep K. Dhami

See also Parole Decisions; Probation Decisions; Sentencing

Decisions

Further Readings

Dhami, M. K. (2002). Do bail information schemes really

affect bail decisions? Howard Journal of Criminal

Justice, 41,245–262.

Dhami, M. K. (2005). From discretion to disagreement:

Explaining disparities in judges’ pretrial decisions.

Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 23,367–386.

Dhami, M. K., & Ayton, P. (2001). Bailing and jailing the

fast and frugal way. Journal of Behavioral Decision

Making, 14,141–168.

Goldkamp, J. S., & Gottfredson, M. R. (1985). Policy

guidelines for bail: An experiment in court reform.

Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Goldkamp, J. S., Gottfredson, M. R., Jones, P. R., & Weiland,

D. (1995). Personal liberty and community safety. Pretrial

release in the criminal court.New York: Plenum Press.

BATTEREDWOMANSYNDROME

Battered woman syndrome (BWS), first proposed in

the 1970s after research demonstrated the psychologi-

cal impact from domestic violence on the victim, has

undergone further clarification since its inception. This

entry reviews the historical issues concerning domestic

violence and its victims in the criminal justice system

(including the criminal and family courts), describes

psychological theories about domestic violence victims

and the BWS, and discusses the application of the BWS

in legal context.

History of Domestic Violence

and the Law

Domestic violenceis defined as the physical, sexual,

and/or psychological abuse by one person (mostly

men) of another person (mostly women) with whom

there is an intimate relationship, in order to get that

person to do what the abuser wants without regard for

that person’s rights. Domestic violence is also called

intimate partner violence by some, while the term

family violenceencompasses child and elder abuse as

well as intimate partner abuse.

Some have suggested that the family and monoga-

mous relationships originated to protect women and

children from physically and sexually aggressive

nomadic men. Unfortunately, the family has not been a

safe haven for some women and children. Laws con-

doning the practice of wife beating were common in the

United States and other countries until very recently.

Since men were given the legal responsibility of pro-

tecting their wives and children, they also had the right

to discipline them. When women demanded their own

legal and social rights during the renewed women’s

movement that began in the early 1970s in the United

States, they also began to demand that the laws better

protect them from men’s physical and sexual violence.

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The first area that received attention was the need for

law enforcement to better protect women who were

being abused by intimate partners. Typical reports were

that the man would batter the woman and leave the

scene if the police were called. Even if he was still pre-

sent, the police would hesitate to intervene and make an

arrest in what was said to be a family matter and instead

would typically take the man for a walk around the

block in an attempt to calm him down. Women told of

how this rarely worked and that they would be beaten

even worse after the law enforcement officers left.

Police officers complained that prosecutors didn’t take

these cases seriously; but prosecutors claimed that

women dropped the charges and refused to cooperate

and judges didn’t know how to handle these domestic

matters. Two areas for reform became clear. First,

domestic assaults should be prosecuted just like any

other assault, without placing the burden on the woman

to file or drop charges. Second, women needed protec-

tion from further abuse from all legal, social, and med-

ical institutions and agencies. The barriers that women

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