Recent research has focused on the female homicide rate as a component of all homicide (Block, 1985; Browne & Flewelling, 1986; Brown & Williams, 1987; Gillis, 1986; Riedel, 1987; Silverman & Kennedy, 1987; Ward et al., 1969). Meanwhile, a growing literature has turned attention to the circumstances surrounding spousal homicide, with special emphasis placed on the battered woman who strikes out and kills her spouse or spouse surrogate (see, for instance, Barnard et al., 1982; Browne, 1986, 1987; Fiora-Gormally, 1978). Much of the literature on spouse killing is either anecdotal, clinical, or case study, and some is highly ideological (see, for instance Benedek, 1982; Browne & Palmer, 1975; Chesney-Lind, 1986; Edwards, 1985; Jones, 1980, Star, 1982). In contrast, the cases in which women kill children have received much less attention in the research literature. In what ways these homicides are distinctive from spousal homicides, specifically in terms of the characteristics of offenders and victims, the circumstances of the murders, and the motivations attached to the offenders, will provide the focus of this paper. The insights that are gained by the comparisons should help us broaden our understanding of female-perpetrated homicide. (Author abstract)