Читать книгу The Invisible Woman - Joanne Belknap - Страница 97

An analysis of 48 countries found that women commit about 8% of homicides (Agha, 2009). Researchers estimate that 10% to 20% of all homicides in the United States are committed by women, but evidence suggests that women’s “share” of homicides has halved, closer to the 10% rate, since the 1990s. The percentage of female homicide arrests was 17% in 1960 (Steffensmeier, 1993), decreasing since the early 1980s (Fox & Zawitz, 2010), to 10% in 1990 (Gauthier & Bankston, 1997; Steffensmeier, 1993) where it has largely stayed (J. A. Fox & Fridel, 2017; J. A. Fox & Zawitz, 2010; Fridel & Fox, 2019).² As previously noted, however, in 2018 women and girls’ portion was slightly higher, at 12%, but there were almost identical decreases in women/girls’ (58%) and men/boys’ (59%) homicide arrests from 2009 to 2018 (Table 4.1, Chapter 4). A study of U.S. homicides from 1976 to 2017 found (1) nine tenths (90%) of perpetrators are men and four fifths (81%) of victims are men; (2) men (30%) are more involved in felony murders than women (20%); (3) half of male (49%) and 35% of female homicide offenders are younger than 25; (4) African Americans are more overrepresented among both male homicide victims and offenders than among female victims and offenders; (5) males use guns (72%) more than females (51%) in homicides; (6) in multiple victim incidents, women’s victimizations are typically where her current or former partner kills her and their children; (7) in multiple victim incidents, male victims are almost twice as likely as female victims to be killed in gang warfare or drug-trafficking violence (Fridel & Fox, 2019).

² An analysis of NIBRS data found 81% of intimate partner homicides were perpetrated by men (Addington & Perumean-Chaney, 2014), but NIBRS data are not yet considered as representative of the United States as UCR data.

An analysis of 2005 NIBRS data found that four fifths (79%) of homicides were all-or-solely-male-perpetrated, one fifth (20%), were mixed-gender-group homicides, and only 1% were all-or-solely-female-perpetrated (J. Schwartz et al., 2015). Mixed-gender-perpetrated homicide victims were 60% strangers and 36% acquaintances.³ Among homicide incidents, the largest category of VOR was acquaintance (51% of all-or-solely-male perpetrated, 50% for all-or-solely-female perpetrated, and 52% of mixed-gender perpetrators). When women killed alone or with other women, the VOR was next most likely intimate/family (34%) and least likely strangers (17%), whereas when groups of men or single men alone killed, after acquaintances the VOR next most likely was strangers (43%) and only 6% were intimate/family. For mixed-gender groups, the VOR was divided between intimate/family (24%) and stranger (24%) (other than the 52% of acquaintance VOR homicides). Finally, among homicide incidents, those with all-male perpetrators (77%) were twice as likely as those all-female perpetrators (36%) to use guns (and 49% of mixed-gender groups used guns) (J. Schwartz et al., 2015).

³ Only 1% of all-male perpetrated, 3% of all-female perpetrated, and 5% of mixed-gender perpetrated robberies were of romantic intimates or family.

The remainder of this section will specifically address intimate partner homicide and filicide, given their strongly gendered characteristics and connection to intimate partner abuse. But it is also necessary to acknowledge eldercide (the homicide of an elderly person) is a male-gender-related homicide as well. Using five years of NIBRS data, Krienert and Walsh (2010) found (1) men (83.5%) are 5 times as likely as women (16.5%) to perpetrate eldercide; (2) women (32%) are 3 times as likely as men (9%) eldercide victims to be killed by a spouse, and slightly more likely to be killed by a child (19% vs. 14%); and (3) elder men are about twice as likely to be killed by strangers (25%) and acquaintances (43%) than are elder women (14% and 22%, respectively).