Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T08:33:01.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Exploring the Effect of Resource Availability and the Likelihood of Female-Perpetrated Homicides

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Angela Browne  and
Kirk R. Williams
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The research presented here examines the effect of legal and extralegal resources on the likelihood of female-perpetrated homicides. It looks at the relationship between gender-specific rates of partner homicide in the United States for 1976–79 and 1980–84, and the availability of legal and extralegal resources for abused women, using states as the unit of analysis. Results indicate that the availability of such resources is associated with a decline in the rates of female-, but not male-, perpetrated homicides in 1980–84, compared to the 1976–79 time period. These findings suggest that legal and extralegal interventions can provide nonviolent alternatives for victims of male partner abuse.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , 1989 , pp. 75 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 The Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1987 meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Montreal. The authors wish to thank Robert Flewelling and Lee Sullivan for their tireless assistance in the preparation and analysis of the data. This research was supported by Grant No. 85IJCX0030 from the National Institute of Justice, “Justifiable and Criminal Homicide Among Family Members, Acquaintances, and Strangers.” Kirk R. Williams and Murray A. Straus, Principal Investigators.

The authors' names are listed alphabetically to reflect their equal contributions to this work.

References

BARNARD, G.W., H., VERA, M., VERA, and G., NEWMAN (1982) “Till Death Do Us Part: A Study of Spouse Murder,” 10 Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law 271.Google Scholar
BLOCK, C.R. (1985) “Lethal Violence in Chicago over Seventeen Years: Homicides Known to the Police, 1965–1981,” Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. Chicago: State of Illinois.Google Scholar
BOWKER, Lee H. (1983) Beating Wife-Beating. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
BROWNE, A. (1987) When Battered Women Kill. New York: Macmillan/Free Press.Google Scholar
BROWNE, A. and R., FLEWELLING (1986) “Women as Victims or Perpetrators of Homicide,” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Atlanta, October 29–November 1.Google Scholar
BROWNE, A., and K.R., WILLIAMS (1987) “Gender-Specific Effects on Patterns of Homicide Perpetration.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York, August.Google Scholar
CHIMBOS, P.D. (1978) Marital Violence: A Study of Interspousal Homicide. San Francisco: R & E Research Associates.Google Scholar
CRIME IN THE UNITED STATES (1980) Uniform Crime Reports. Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
DANIEL, A.E., and P.W., HARRIS (1982) “Female Homicide Offenders Referred for Pre-Trial Psychiatric Examination: A Descriptive Study,” 10 Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law 261.Google Scholar
FINKELHOR, D., and K., YLLO (1983) “Rape in Marriage: A Sociological View,” in Finkelhor, D., Gelles, R., Hotaling, G., and Straus, M. (eds.), The Dark Side of Families. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
FLEMING, John B. (1979) Stopping Wife Abuse. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday.Google Scholar
JONES, A. (1980) Women Who Kill. New York: Fawcett Columbine Books.Google Scholar
KALMUSS, D.S., and M.A., STRAUS (1983) “Feminist, Political, and Economic Determinants of Wife Abuse Services,” in Finkelhor, D., Gelles, R., Hotaling, G., and Straus, M. (eds.), The Dark Side of Families. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
KESSLER, R.C., and D.F., GREENBERG (1981) Linear Panel Analysis: Models of Quantitative Change. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
LANGAN, P.A., and C.A., INNES (1986) Preventing Domestic Violence Against Women. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.Google Scholar
LENTZNER, H.R., and De BERRY, M.M. (1980) Intimate Victims: A Study of Violence Among Friends and Relatives. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.Google Scholar
LERMAN, L.G. (1980) “State Legislation on Domestic Violence,” 3 Response to Violence in the Family 1.Google Scholar
LERMAN, L.G., and F., LIVINGSTON (1983) “State Legislation on Domestic Violence,” 6 Response to Violence in the Family 1.Google Scholar
LINDSEY, K. (1978) “When Battered Women Strike Back: Murder or Self-Defense,” September Viva.Google Scholar
POLICE, FOUNDATION (1976) Domestic Violence and the Police: Studies in Detroit and Kansas City. Washington, DC: Police Foundation.Google Scholar
RUSSELL, D.E.H. (1982) Rape in Marriage. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
SCHECHTER, S. (1982) Women and Male Violence. Boston: South End Press.Google Scholar
SHERMAN, L.W. and R.A., BERK (1984) “The Specific Deterrent Effects of Arrest for Domestic Assault,” 49 American Sociological Review 261.Google Scholar
SILVERMAN, R.A., and L.W., KENNEDY (1987a) “The Female Perpetrator of Homicide in Canada.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Montreal.Google Scholar
SILVERMAN, R.A. (1987b) “Relational Distance and Homicide: The Role of the Stranger,” 78 The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 272.Google Scholar
SILVERMAN, R.A., and S.K., MUKHERJEE (1987) “Intimate Homicide: An Analysis of Violent Social Relationships,” 5 Behavioral Sciences and the Law 37.Google Scholar
SIMON, R.I. (1978) “Type A, AB, B Murders: Their Relationship to the Victim and to the Criminal Justice System,” 5 Bulletin of Psychiatry and Law 344.Google Scholar
SUGARMAN, D. B., and M.A., STRAUS (1988) “Indicators of Gender Equality for American States and Regions,” 20 Social Indicators Research 229.Google Scholar
TOTMAN, J. (1978) The Murderess: A Psychosocial Study of Criminal Homicide. San Francisco: R & E Research Associates.Google Scholar
U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS (1982) Under the Rule of Thumb: Battered Women and the Administration of Justice. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS (1978) Battered Women: Issues of Public Policy. A Consultation Sponsored by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
VERKKO, V. (1967) “Static and Dynamic Laws of Sex and Homicide,” in Wolfgang, M. (ed.), Studies in Homicide. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
WILBANKS, W. (1983) “The Female Homicide Offender in Dade County, Florida,” 8 Criminal Justice Review 9.Google Scholar
WILLIAMS, K.R., and R., FLEWELLING (1988) “The Social Production of Criminal Homicide: A Comparative Study of Disaggregated Rates in American Cities,” 53 American Sociological Review 421.Google Scholar
WILLIAMS, K.R. (1987) “Family, Acquaintances, and Stranger Homicide: Alternative Procedures for Rate Calculations,” 25 Criminology 543.Google Scholar
WILLIAMS, K.R., and M.A., STRAUS (1987) Comparative Homicide File [MRDF]. Durham, NH: Family Research Laboratory.Google Scholar
WILSON, M., and M., DALY (1986) “Spousal Homicide.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Atlanta, October 29–November 1.Google Scholar
WOLFGANG, M.E. (1967) “A Sociological Analysis of Criminal Homicide,” in Wolfgang, M.E. (ed.), Studies in Homicide. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
WOLFGANG, M.E. (1958) Patterns in Criminal Homicide. New York: Wiley and Sons.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ZIMRING, F.E., S.K., MUKHERJEE, and B. VAN, WINKLE (1983) “Intimate Violence: A Study of Intersexual Homicide in Chicago,” 50 University of Chicago Law Review 910.Google Scholar