Neuropsychological and Criminological Features of Female Homicide Offenders

Few studies have examined life history and cognitive characteristics unique to female homicide offenders. Understanding these characteristics could aid in risk assessment for extreme violence in this group of offenders. The current study utilized t‐tests or chi‐square tests to compare 27 female and 81 male homicide offenders on psychiatric, neurologic, criminal, and cognitive characteristics. Additionally, we explored the role of abuse history in female offenders through Kruskal–Wallis or Fisher's exact tests. Results indicate that in comparison with male counterparts, females are more likely to have history of mood disorder, borderline personality disorder, and abuse. Cognitively, female homicide offenders exhibit circumscribed cognitive impairment in verbal abilities and perform similarly to male homicide offenders across most cognitive tasks. Within the female offender group, history of sexual abuse is associated with higher rates of impulsive homicide and poorer verbal abilities. These findings provide preliminary evidence for distinct factors associated with homicide in women.     

Female Sexual Homicide Offenders: A Descriptive and Comparative Study

Research on female sexual homicide has been very scarce. In Europe, it has rarely been examined, and in Scotland, it has never previously been studied. This exploratory study aims to examine the characteristics of sexual homicides involving female offenders between 1990 and 2015 in Scotland. Using data from the Scottish Homicide Database between 1990 and 2015, female sexual homicides (n = 7) were compared to nonsexual homicides committed by females (n = 106) and to sexual homicides committed by men (n = 89) using Fisher's exact tests. The findings show that although female sexual homicide offenders are similar to both female nonsexual homicide offenders and male sexual homicide offenders in certain aspects, there are important differences that distinguish sexual homicides involving female offenders from both groups. Female sexual homicide offenders can arguably be seen as a distinct group of offenders, with specific characteristics and specific needs.     

“Undoing” (or Symbolic Reversal) at Homicide Crime Scenes

A closed case file review of a nonrandom national sample of 975 homicides disclosed 11 cases (1.13%) of undoing, wherein offenders engaged in crime scene behavior that has been considered an attempt to symbolically reverse the murder. The frequency of the various methods of undoing involved the use of blankets to cover the victim's body (55%), positioning the body (55%), use of a bed or couch (42%), washing the body (36%), using pillows (36%), as well as removing clothing and adding other types of adornments (27%). Ten of the 11 offenders were male, and one was female; all 12 victims were female. Ten of the 12 victims were family members or relationship intimates. These findings are consistent with prior reports which concluded that the motivation for undoing behavior is an attempt to compensate for guilt or remorse for having committed the homicide.     

Specifying the Effect of Social Welfare Expenditures on Homicide and Suicide: A Cross-National,Longitudinal Examination of the Stream Analogy of Lethal Violence

This study is an extension and cross-national test of the Stream Analogy of Lethal Violence (SALV). The SALV is an integrated theory of homicide and suicide that hypothesizes a relationship between “socially patterned” sources of frustration and lethal violence. By drawing on the insights of General Strain Theory and Institutional Anomie Theory, this study extends the SALV by assessing the impact of “decommodification” on the lethal violence rate. Partial support is found for this modified version of the SALV, as lagged measures of social expenditures are negatively associated with total lethal violence. The findings of this study suggest that social welfare expenditures in OECD nations protect citizens from lethal violence while austerity measures may contribute to greater rates of violent death.     

Accomplishing Difference: How Do Anti-race/Ethnicity Bias Homicides Compare to Average Homicides in the United States?

Research on the nature of bias homicide has experienced increased interest in the academic literature. To date, few studies have compared the similarities and differences between anti-race/ethnicity bias homicides and average American homicides. Consequently, we know little about how the offender, victim, and situational characteristics compare across these two homicide types. Drawing from doing difference theory of bias crime, the aim of this study is to comparatively analyze the attributes of anti-race/ethnicity homicides to average homicides between 1990 and 2014. Anti-race/ethnicity homicide data is extracted from the U.S. Extremist Crime Database and paired with average homicides from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2000 Supplementary Homicide Reports. The results of this study suggest that the characteristics of anti-race/ethnicity homicides are both similar and different from average homicides. Implications for bias crime theory, research, and policy are discussed.     

Gender inequality and homicide: a cross-national examination

Studies examining gender inequality and crime have often explored the connection between female victimisation and crime. However, feminist theories do provide a rationale for gender inequality affecting all crime, not just female victimisation. Using the ameliorative and the backlash hypothesis the current analysis examined gender inequality and homicide in 94 countries. Using a gender inequality index, we found that as gender inequality increased the homicide rate increased. This finding supports the ameliorative hypothesis, which states that as societies become more equal crime will decrease.     

Differences in intimate partner homicides perpetrated by men and women: evidence from a Norwegian National 22-year cohort

Most of our knowledge about intimate partner homicide (IPH) is based on studies of men, as they outnumber women as perpetrators. From a total cohort of IPHs in Norway from 1990 to 2012 (N?=?177), we investigated differences between male (n?=?157) and female (n?=?20) perpetrators in terms of (a) IPH characteristics and sentencing issues, (b) sociodemographic, contextual and clinical factors, and (c) previous intimate partner violence. Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated that, in comparison to male perpetrators, female perpetrators were more often in intimate partnerships without mutual children, had a greater number of accumulated welfare deficiencies, and tended to be ascribed different motives (fear and revenge) for their crimes.     

Homicide clearance in Sweden 1990–2013 with special reference to firearm-perpetrated homicides

Studies on homicide clearance in the Scandinavian context are very rare. In this article, we explore the homicide clearance rate in Sweden with special reference to firearm-perpetrated cases. The study is based on homicide research data collected by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, comprising all 2160 homicides known to the Swedish authorities during the period 1990–2013. The annual clearance rate varied between 74 and 90%, with an overall minor decrease since the 1990s. However, there has been a considerable decrease in the clearance rate for firearm-perpetrated homicides. It can be concluded that this decrease is due to a shift in the characteristics of firearm-perpetrated offences, with homicides committed in public places against criminally active male victims having become more frequent. This finding is generally consistent with theories which argue that homicide clearance rates are predominantly affected by case-specific, non-discretional factors beyond the control of the police. The practical implications of the study are that investigative efforts should be more intense in cases where a male has been shot in a public place, and that homicides related to criminal milieus should be investigated by specialized units.     

论故意杀人罪与其他相关犯罪的区别

以故意杀人罪的犯罪构成为基础,重点分析了故意杀人罪与刑法分则第三章中其他造成人员死亡的有关犯罪的区别,其区分标准是行为人的主观心理状态。同时,必须坚持行为人主观心理是可以通过外在化的客观方面认识的,但不能简单化。还要结合法条的特殊规定,不能完全以行为人的主观心理状态而定。     

Unusual Death of a Transvestite: Identification of Crime Weapon and Survival Time*

Abstract: The authors report a case of a transvestite found murdered near his automobile with several lacerated contused wounds to the face and cranial fractures. Autopsy revealed that the cause of death was a serious head trauma with subdural and subarachnoidal hemorrhages. In order to identify the crime weapon, a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used which revealed metallic residue on the skin fragments with the same molecular composition of the car paint. As for survival time, antibody anti‐beta‐amyloid precursor protein (APP) was applied to brain fragments and brainstem tissue, allowing for axonal varicosities (which form 2 to 3 h following death) to be observed under the optic microscope. So, by using SEM we understood that the fatal cranial‐encephalic lesions were the result of the victim’s head being repeatedly struck against the car door while anti‐betaAPP led to the understanding that the time elapsed between injury and death was less than 2 to 3 h.