syndrome de l'enfant battu

OBS: syndrome de l'enfant battu; syndrome de l'enfant battue : désignations normalisées par le Comité de normalisation, Promotion de l'accès à la justice dans les deux langues officielles (PAJLO).

CONT: The question presented in many parricide cases is the admissibility of expert testimony on battered child syndrome to aid in proving the defendant's claim of self-defense. Although battered child syndrome was originally developed as a physical diagnosis for victims of continuing child abuse, it currently includes an explanation of the psychological aspects as well. [...] One striking similarity between abused children and abused women is the failure of the child or woman to strike back at the abuser. In the case of the battered woman, this failure to strike out is attributed to learned helplessness resulting from her continued abuse. Such reasoning may readily be applied to the circumstances of the battered child as well. For a child, the feelings of lack of power or control over the situation are even greater than for a grown adult in such a situation. A child has minimal ability to leave home and permanently escape the abuse. This inability to escape results in increased fear and isolation. Often the child has been battered since a very young age and remembers no other type of existence.