Homicide by a Forensic Female Sample in <scp>B</scp>razil: A Preliminary Study

Valença, Alexandre Martins; Nardi, Antônio Egídio; Nascimento, Isabella; Jozef, Flavio; Mendlowicz, Mauro V.

doi:10.1111/1556-4029.12373

Cited by 8 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…The goal of the current study was to investigate the socio‐demographic, psychiatric, and criminological characteristics of the full sample of female violent offenders involuntarily committed to a forensic psychiatric hospital in the catchment area of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The present study updates and expands upon the findings of a previous, preliminary study on female violent offenders involuntarily committed to a forensic psychiatric hospital [14] and highlights the importance of psychiatric treatment for individuals with mental disorders.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Violent behavior by involuntarily committed female offenders with mental disorders: A population‐based case series

Valença

Moraes

Meyer

et al. 2020

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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The goal of the current study was to investigate the socio‐demographic, psychiatric, and criminological characteristics of female violent offenders with mental disorders involuntarily committed to a forensic psychiatric hospital. The present study was a population‐based retrospective case series including all female offenders with mental disorders found not guilty by reason of insanity by the criminal courts in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and involuntarily committed to a forensic psychiatric facility (n = 27). Patients were assessed with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM‐IV Axis I Disorders and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. We found that most offenders were Afro‐Brazilian, uneducated unmarried women. Schizophrenia with active psychotic symptoms was the most common clinical condition. Relatives were the frequent victims of aggressive behavior. Most patients had already been diagnosed with a mental disorder and placed under psychiatric treatment, but poor adherence and treatment dropout were common. Violent behavior in psychiatrically ill female patients is associated with a specific socio‐demographic and clinical profile and is thus potentially amenable to prevention particularly if the mental health and social services are to provide the much‐needed support for economically, socially, and psychologically vulnerable women.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Violent behavior by involuntarily committed female offenders with mental disorders: A population‐based case series

Valença

Moraes

Meyer

et al. 2020

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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“…Mental disorders play an important role in the criminal conduct of women who have committed murder (Ferranti et al, ; Flynn, Abel, While, Metha, & Shaw, ; Putkonen, Collander, Honkasalo, & Lonnqvist, ; Taylor, 2009; Taylor & Bragado‐Jimenez, ; Valenca, Nardi, Nascimento, Jozef, & Mendlowicz, ; Yourstone et al, ). In our study women with total absence of criminal responsibility, frequently had a psychotic condition, whereas for those who, despite having a mental pathology at the time of the crime, still had partial criminal responsibility, the predominant condition was a personality disorder.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychopathy in Italian female murderers

Carabellese

Felthous

Mandarelli

et al. 2019

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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Over the years, the number of homicides in Italy has progressively decreased, ultimately becoming one of the lowest rates in Europe (357 = 0.7 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2017, according to ISTAT). The number of homicides committed by women was about 9% of the total number of homicides during our study period. The percentage has increased in recent years because the total number of homicides has decreased without a proportionate decrease in the number of female homicides. Indeed, murder is an unusual type of crime for a woman and is often associated with a mental disorder, so when a woman committed a homicide, a psychiatric assessment was often performed. A forensic psychiatry expert was assigned to investigate the offender's psychopathology and mental state at the time of the offense. The root causes of the crime remained unexplained, however, due to the lack of a psychiatric precedent to justify this kind of assessment. The role of psychopathy in homicide has seldom been studied in female offenders, even though psychopathy has an important role in violent crimes. The investigators examined, clinically and historically, a sample of women who committed murder with different levels of criminal responsibility (female homicide offenders found not guilty by reason of insanity, having partial criminal responsibility, and convicted as criminally responsible and sentenced to prison) to identify the prevalence of the psychopathic dimension and its possible role in this sample. Prevalence and degree of psychopathic traits were examined in these female offenders using the Psychopathy Checklist‐Revised. This study showed that females who had committed homicide were likely to suffer from mental illness; most of the homicidal acts were committed impulsively; and most female homicides occurred within the family, especially among women who were psychotic, but less so if they were psychopathic. Psychopathy tended to co‐occur more with personality disorders than with psychotic psychopathology. Psychopathy was more evident among female homicide offenders who had been abused or traumatized. Psychopathic women who killed had high factor F1 scores and low antisocial component of factor F2.

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“…Women who kill are more often diagnosed with a severe mental disorder (18,34‐37) or a personality disorder, especially borderline (38‐40), in comparison with men who commit homicide (41,42). According to some studies (5,43), homicidal women are up to 43 times more likely to have a diagnosis of schizophrenia than the general population, although there is evidence that the diagnosis of schizophrenia may also be overestimated in homicidal women, and conversely, the psychopathic dimension may be underestimated (40,44,45).…”

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confidence: 99%

Women and Men who Committed Murder: Male/Female Psychopathic Homicides

Carabellese

Felthous

Mandarelli

et al. 2020

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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The present study was designed to compare gender differences in psychiatric diagnosis with the dimension of psychopathy in women and men who had attempted or committed homicide. The study samples consisted of 39 homicidal females and 48 homicidal males who were confined in one of Italy’s REMS or prison facilities in two southern provinces of Italy (Puglia and Basilicata). Assessment instruments included the SCID‐5, the PID‐5 IRF, and the PCL‐R. Each gender group was stratified according to the level of criminal responsibility for the homicidal offense (full, partial, absent), and after assessments, according to the degree of the psychopathic dimension. There were clear gender differences in homicidal individuals. Female offenders were less likely to have had a record of criminal charges/convictions or imprisonment, and their homicides were more often intrafamilial, victimizing especially of their children, whereas males targeted intimate partners and extrafamilial victims. In the entire group, there was an inverse relationship between the level of psychopathy and the personality disorder on one side, and the psychotic disturbance on the other. Factor 2 (lifestyle/antisocial dimension) of the PCL‐R was higher among the homicidal males, whereas females tended to score higher on Factor 1 (the interpersonal/affective dimension). Finally, if the psychopathic dimension is a qualifier for antisocial personality disorder, as indicated in DSM‐5, this appears to be less true for females who tend to have other personality disorders.

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Homicide by a Forensic Female Sample in Brazil: A Preliminary Study

Cited by 8 publications

References 9 publications

Violent behavior by involuntarily committed female offenders with mental disorders: A population‐based case series

Violent behavior by involuntarily committed female offenders with mental disorders: A population‐based case series

Psychopathy in Italian female murderers

Women and Men who Committed Murder: Male/Female Psychopathic Homicides

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