Female Perpetrated Homicide in Victoria Between 1985 and 1995

Kirkwood, Deborah

doi:10.1375/000486503768293793

Cited by 9 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…12 The authors theorize that society may sentence a certain type of offender more harshly because she does not conform to traditional expectations of motherhood (Ballinger, 2000;Kirkwood, 2003). The criminal justice system may believe she should be ready, willing, and able to parent a child despite becoming pregnant unexpectedly.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sentences included diets of bread and water for 1 year, 15-year penance terms, and public whippings (Brockington, 1996;Kumar & Marks, 1992). Execution was uncommon and more likely to be given to those women who failed to conform to traditional expectations of sexuality, respectability, domesticity, and motherhood (Ballinger, 2000;Kirkwood, 2003).…”

Section: Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ambivalence toward mothers who kill: An examination of 45 U.S. cases of maternal neonaticide

Shelton

Muirhead

Canning

2010

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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Public opinion about neonaticide (the killing of a newborn within the first 24 hours of life) has varied across time and cultures. Some nations have passed legislation on behalf of maternal offenders with the assumption that childbirth, a time of unique biological change, may lead to mental disturbance. The United States, however, makes no such distinction; offenders are prosecuted under general homicide laws. Nevertheless, U.S. courts often consider a mother's emotional and physical condition prior to and during delivery. This study includes 44 female offenders and 45 infant deaths and highlights society's ambivalence toward neonaticide offenders. The authors suggest that this ambivalence may be attributed to: (1) the perception that an offender's emotional and physical turmoil during the birth and homicide reduces her culpability; (2) the sentiment that neonaticide offenders are more "redeemable" than other offenders; and (3) the uncertainty about the personhood of a fetus or newborn.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ambivalence toward mothers who kill: An examination of 45 U.S. cases of maternal neonaticide

Shelton

Muirhead

Canning

2010

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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“…Because the Portuguese population, mainly youth, has been the subject of several campaigns on gender equity, primarily in the past 20 years, integrated into recommendations by the European Commission, and because youth's opinions on gender issues in general and the justice system in particular might provide insight into social norms and beliefs about citizenship, this study aims to investigate how undergraduate students judge women and men who have committed the crimes of infanticide and intimate partner homicide. These two crimes were selected because filicide and intimate partner homicide are the types of homicides most often perpetrated by women, with companions, offspring, and other relatives representing 63% of the victims of homicidal women (Kirkwood, 2003). Because our aim was to evaluate the effect of the sex of the offender, it was important to present crimes to participants that could realistically be perpetrated by both men and women.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Norms in Portuguese College Students’ Judgments in Familial Homicides

Saavedra

Cameira

Rebelo

et al. 2016

J Interpers Violence

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The gender of the offender has been proved to be an important factor in judicial sentencing. In this study, we analyze the judgments of College students regarding perpetrators of familial homicides to evaluate the presence of these gender norms and biases in the larger society. The sample included 303 college students (54.8% female) enrolled in several social sciences and engineering courses. Participants were asked to read 12 vignettes based on real crimes taken from Portuguese newspapers. Half were related to infanticide, and half were related to intimate partner homicide. The sex of the offender was orthogonally manipulated to the type of crime. The results show that gender had an important impact on sentences, with males being more harshly penalized by reasons of perversity and women less penalized by reason of mental disorders. In addition, filicide was more heavily penalized than was intimate partner homicide. The results also revealed a tendency toward a retributive conception of punishment. We discuss how gender norms in justice seem to be embedded in society as well as the need for intervention against the punitive tendency of this population.

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“…Courts were hesitant to convict these mothers under common homicide laws and typically recommended less severe sentences because they were often assuaged by the mother's shame of illegitimacy, poverty, or desertion by family and/or the child's father (Dobson and Sales 2000). Execution became much less common as sentences of bread and water diets for 1 year, 15-year penance terms, and public whippings 4 Precedent for Leniency were increasingly recommended (Ballinger 2000;Brockington 1996;Kirkwood 2003;Kumar and Marks 1992). Sentences of execution were more often reserved for those women who failed to conform to traditional expectations of sexuality, respectability, domesticity, and motherhood (Ballinger 2000;Kirkwood 2003).…”

Section: About the Fbi Behavioral Analysis Unit Iii-crimes Against Chmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Execution became much less common as sentences of bread and water diets for 1 year, 15-year penance terms, and public whippings 4 Precedent for Leniency were increasingly recommended (Ballinger 2000;Brockington 1996;Kirkwood 2003;Kumar and Marks 1992). Sentences of execution were more often reserved for those women who failed to conform to traditional expectations of sexuality, respectability, domesticity, and motherhood (Ballinger 2000;Kirkwood 2003).…”

Section: About the Fbi Behavioral Analysis Unit Iii-crimes Against Chmentioning

confidence: 99%