Female Perpetrated Homicides Within American Families

• NCJ Number: 112337
• Author(s): R Flewelling; A Browne
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 20 pages
• Grant Number(s): 85-IJ-CX-0030
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Presented at the Third National Family Violence Research Conference, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, July 6-9, 1987.

Annotation

This descriptive study reports incidence figures for 11 categories of intrafamilial homicide separately for female and male perpetrators over the age of 14.

Abstract

Findings indicate that 87 percent of the women-perpetrated intrafamily homicides for the years 1980-1984 were against spouses and children. Fifty-eight percent of the men were involved in such homicides. In killings of sexual intimates, women perpetrators tended to be younger than male perpetrators. Blacks were disproportionately represented in all categories of intrafamily homicide. Male children were more often victims than female children, although the difference was less for female-perpetrated events. In over half the homicides in which women killed their own children, the children were less than 1 year old, compared to 30 percent for male perpetrators. The report concludes with an examination of the intrafamilial homicide rates for the nine geographic regions of the United States for 1976-1984 and the extent to which they varied across regions. Although there was considerable variation for all rates, the degree of variation apparently increased as the relationship shifted from primary to more distant family ties. Research implications are discussed. 8 tables and 19 references.