Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T19:28:05.727Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Female homicide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

P T d'Orbán
P T d'Orbán*
Affiliation:
Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The incidence, characteristics and patterns of female homicide are reviewed, with special reference to England and Wales. The male:female ratio for homicide offences (7.6) is similar to the ratio for other offences of violence. However, murder is almost exclusively committed by men, and in the 1980's the annual average of female murder convictions was only 6.5 per annum. By contrast, females relatively more often commit homicide offences related to mental disorder (diminished responsibility manslaughter and infanticide). Women have a better chance of acquittal of murder and are more likely to be dealt with by a Probation Order than imprisonment. About 80% of the victims of female homicide are family members; 40-45% kill their children and about one-third kill their spouse or lover. The patterns of female filicide and parricide are reviewed. Further research is required into patterns of spouse-murder.

Keywords

CrimeCriminologyForensic PsychiatryHomicideInfanticideWomen
Type
Review Articles
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 1990 , pp. 64 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Gibson, E, Klein, S. Murder. A Home Office research unit report. London: HMSO, 1961.Google Scholar
2.Home Office. Criminal statistics, England & Wales. (Annual and supplementary volumes) London: HMSO, 1980–1988.Google Scholar
3.Coid, J. Epidemiology of abnormal homicide and murder followed by suicide. Psychol Med 1983; 13: 855–860.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Verkko, V. Static and dynamic ‘laws’ of sex and homicide. In: Wolfgang, M, ed. Studies in homicide. New York: Harper & Row, 1967.Google Scholar
5.Gibson, E. Homicide in England and Wales. Home Office research study no. 31. London: HMSO, 1975.Google Scholar
6.West, DJ. Murder followed by suicide. London: Heinemann, 1965.Google Scholar
7.Gillies, H. Homicide in the west of Scotland. Brit J Psychiatry 1976; 128: 105–127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Morris, T, Blom-Cooper, L. A calendar of murder. London: Michael Joseph, 1964.Google Scholar
9.Allen, H. Justice unbalanced. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
10.Gottlieb, P, Gabrielsen, G, Kramp, P. Psychotic homicides in Copenhagen from 1959 to 1983. Acta Psychiat Scand 1987; 76: 285–292.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11.Resnick, PJ. Child murder by parents: a psychiatric review of filicide. Am J Psychiatry 1969; 126: 325–334.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Resnick, PJ. Murder of the newborn: a psychiatric review of neonaticide. Am J Psychiatry 1970; 126: 1414–1420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Scott, PD. Parents who kill their children. Med Sci Law 1973,13: 120–126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14.d'Orbán, PT. Women who kill their children. Brit J Psychiatry 1979; 134: 560–571.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15.Stern, ES. The Medea complex; mother's homicidal wishes to her child. Journal of Mental Science 1948; 194: 321–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Wolfgang, M. Patterns of criminal homicide. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1958.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Ewing, C. Battered women who kill. Lexington: Lexington Books, 1987.Google Scholar
18.d'Orbán, PT, O'Connor, A. Women who kill their parents. Brit J Psychiatry 1989; 154: 27–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed