U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Female Perpetrated Homicides Within American Families

NCJ Number
112337
Author(s)
R Flewelling; A Browne
Date Published
1987
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This descriptive study reports incidence figures for 11 categories of intrafamilial homicide separately for female and male perpetrators over the age of 14.
Abstract
Findings indicate that 87 percent of the women-perpetrated intrafamily homicides for the years 1980-1984 were against spouses and children. Fifty-eight percent of the men were involved in such homicides. In killings of sexual intimates, women perpetrators tended to be younger than male perpetrators. Blacks were disproportionately represented in all categories of intrafamily homicide. Male children were more often victims than female children, although the difference was less for female-perpetrated events. In over half the homicides in which women killed their own children, the children were less than 1 year old, compared to 30 percent for male perpetrators. The report concludes with an examination of the intrafamilial homicide rates for the nine geographic regions of the United States for 1976-1984 and the extent to which they varied across regions. Although there was considerable variation for all rates, the degree of variation apparently increased as the relationship shifted from primary to more distant family ties. Research implications are discussed. 8 tables and 19 references.