1. The purpose and Method of Research

The purpose of this paper is doing an empirical research for battered women who killed their spouse and making suggestion of effective policies. The so-called battered women syndrome that has been widely admissible in state and federal courts in America should be reconsidered in detail, in order to develop workable standards for battered women. Therefore, this paper has two parts. The first one is about empirical approach of battered women and cases regarding them. The second one is about normative and legal approach to solve the problems.
If the context of battered women, including battered women syndrome, could be used in courts more effectively, the standards for culpability of battered women who killed their spouses can develop into being more closely to justice. This kind interdisciplinary research will help reform procedural as well as substantive rules of murder or manslaughter. Ex post remedies for battered women cannot be adequately developed simply by relying on battered women syndrome, as many American court did.
The biggest issue for this paper is about modification of self-defense rule. Some American courts have pushed the self-defense rule to the extent that it changed the fundamentals of the rule. They rely on the tension between sticking to the objectivity of justification rule and excuse rule and considering individualized context of each case.
The empirical studies were about analyses of cases and case records and files. The case analyses were done through in-dept interview of 12 female inmates and 2 case records and files. Although we did in-dept interview of 18 persons, 4 persons did not have experience of abuse. The other 2 persons who seem to have serious mental illness and thus did not speak consistently was erased on the list. After interviewing them, their records in the offices of prison, such as identification card, record on classified treatment, disease, psychological test, etc were copied to get them subject to analyses. The court cases, especially trial court cases, were found first in the website and search program of Korean Supreme Court and asked for help from each court.

2. The Outcome of Cases Analyses through Empirical Method

Contrary to the empirical analyses of battered women cases in the precedent reserach, in which in-dept interview or cases analyses was ancillary to quantitative approach, we analyze battered women cases mainly by focusing on the misjudgment of her context due to PTSD and the fear for accumulative violence. Although we pay attention to the common outcomes the precedent research have shown, varieties of battered women's psychology and environment such as marriage life, victimization of violence, process of psychological shift, motive of killing, etc was considered more seriously. The most important issue in the process of analyses is the question of why lots women could not leave their spouses in spite of long-term violence. What was the most attacked in Walker theory was that battered women generally had low self-esteem. Many women we met and interviewed was strong active for their lives, esp. for their children. Therefore, Walker's argument that battered women easily gets to learned helplessness through repeated pattern of violence by their spouses. Even the battered women who confessed for their suicidal urge due to abuse by their spouses did not seem to totally loose the control of their lives. Also, in the moment of killing, most of battered women felt anger rather than fear as Walker argued.

3. The quantitative approach to court decisions and records

80% of cases was about murder and 20% was about attempted murder and felony murder. The most of crimes of battered women happened accidentally and so does not have the issue of conspiracy or accomplice. In 88.6% of cases, kinds of weapon or tool was used, due to females' physical handicap against abusing men.
20 women has medical history, such as fracture, eardrum rupture, injury, etc. Also, 26 women has experienced psychological or psychiatrical problems. Conversely, battering men have the problem of alcoholic addiction, habitual violence in body and language and usually are disinterested in livelihood. The difference between suspended execution and imprisonment was not seriously found through the method of cross analyses. Also, there is no meaningful difference for physical and mental injury.
60% of women was sentenced to imprisonment in the last court sentencing, 2% of them was sentenced to life-imprisonment and 33% of them was sentenced to suspended execution.