Research suggests that a portion of female offenders in Aotearoa New Zealand offend in response to intimate partner violence (IPV) victimisation. It is therefore critical to consider whether coercion because of IPV is adequately accommodated in the criminal justice response to such offending. In this article we examine the law on party liability and the defences of compulsion and duress of circumstances. We suggest that these defences are currently not capable of adequately recognising the coercive circumstances that can result in women offending or being held accountable for their violent male partner’s offending by means of the expansive doctrine of party liability. The current law therefore requires urgent reform.