Lethal and Other Serious Assaults: Disentangling Gender and Context

Carol E. Jordan, James Clark, Adam Pritchard, Richard Charnigo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Women represent a relatively small percentage of known violent offenders, a disproportionality in offending that increases as the severity of the crime increases. The exception is intimate partner homicide where some studies find U.S. rates of offending by women approach those of men. Although the literature makes clear that significant gender differences exist in the commission of homicide, a more contextualized picture of the female offenders and the pathways leading to criminal offending does not exist. This study uses data from one state's correctional system to examine the circumstances under which females kill or seriously assault intimate partners and, in particular, assesses the tenability of a prevailing stereotype that has been invoked to describe female intimate partner violence.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)425-455
Number of pages31
JournalCrime and Delinquency
Volume58
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2012

Keywords

  • gender
  • homicide
  • intimate partner violence
  • lethal violence

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pathology and Forensic Medicine
  • Law

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