NCJ Number
161064
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1995) Pages: 473-498
Date Published
1995
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This paper examines cases of homicide by women who killed in drug-market situations, so as to explore the ways in which changing drug markets may have influenced women's involvement in lethal violence.
Abstract
Recent studies of women and homicide have shown that lethal violence by women is a more complex phenomenon than merely self- defense against abusive partners. This study was part of a larger study that consisted of open-ended and semistructured interviews with 215 women sentenced to prison in New York State for homicide. A total of 19 of these women were involved in a drug- market situation. Through qualitative analysis of the narratives provided by these women to explain their involvement in the killing, the study found evidence that women will use violence, as will men, to protect or augment an economic interest in a drug market. Further analysis revealed, however, that even in a clearly economic context in which women are able to acquire their own economic interest, some women will kill or participate in a killing in connection with their relationship with a male business or intimate partner. Thus, women who kill in the economic context of a drug market may kill for economic reasons, but the specific circumstances of involvement in a drug market do not necessarily negate the significance of gender. 55 references and an appended chart of information on the 19 drug-market cases