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In Canada, one woman every week is murdered by her boyfriend or husband . Women who are abused live in constant fear, terrified for their own lives and the lives of their children. The victim feels the abuse is her own fault, and that belief is constantly weighing on her conscience, lowering her self-esteem, and destroying her tenuous grip on sanity. If she can no longer take the abuse, and in self-defence kills her abuser, that is not revenge, but saving the lives of her children and herself. Therefore, Battered Women’s Syndrome should be an accepted defence in the court of law, and understood by the judge, jury, and general public. Conceptualized by Lenore Walker in 1979, Battered Women’s Syndrome (B.W.S.) describes a pattern of behavioral and psychological symptoms found in women living in abusive relationships . The idea of Battered Women’s Syndrome has evolved from its conception in the late 70’s. It was first thought of as a “learned helplessness” , a condition to explain a victim’s inability to protect herself against the batterer’s violence. Modernly, the Syndrome has been defined as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (P.T.S.T.), which is a psychologi