THE new law of defensive homicide, designed to treat female victims of family violence more compassionately in the justice system, has failed, with young violent men emerging as the key beneficiaries of the 2005 legal reform.

A state government report, to be released today, shows not one woman was convicted of defensive homicide since its introduction. The new offence aimed to produce more lenient sentences for women who killed their partners after long periods of family violence.

But the Department of Justice review shows that the 13 people convicted of defensive homicide since 2005 were almost all males killing other males, and mostly not in family violence situations.

With the exception of two cases, the offenders were young men involved in one-off violent confrontations, usually bashings or stabbings.

''Rather than operate in the sphere of family violence, these cases have involved one-off, violent confrontations between males of approximately equal strength, reflecting the traditional understanding of self-defence,'' the report said.