This submission is made jointly by Dr Rachel Dioso-Villa, Senior Lecturer at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University, and from Dr Caitlin Nash, Adjunct Research Fellow, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University. Our research focuses on wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice in Australia, with a particular emphasis on the legal treatment of women who kill their abusive male partners. We approach this submission from the standpoint that many of these cases represent systemic failures—where the law, in both its design and application, has failed to deliver just outcomes.

Our recent empirical studies have examined over 70 Australian cases involving women prosecuted for killing an abusive partner. These studies reveal troubling patterns of overcharging, pressured guilty pleas, and the routine exclusion of self-defence in circumstances where it should have applied. We argue that these outcomes are not isolated errors but structural injustices— miscarriages of justice that demand urgent reform.