Expert evidence on the battered woman syndrome is admissible in Australian criminal trials in support of defences of duress, self-defence, and provocation, subject to proof that the syndrome is an accepted field of scientific knowledge and that the witness is qualified as an expert. The evidence is relevant to both the subjective element (whether the accused's will was actually overborne) and the objective element (whether a person of reasonable firmness in the accused's situation would have been similarly overborne) of the duress defence.
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