Female-Offender Parricides in South Korea, 1948–1963: Offender and Offense Characteristics

Abstract

Existing parricide research is largely situated within a North American and European context, and foregrounds mental illness or adolescent offender typologies. As such, a gap exists on parricides in other cultural contexts and those perpetrated by women. This paper examines historic domestic parricides committed by women in South Korea (“Korea”). Chosun Ilbo, a major Korean newspaper, was used as the data source to search for parricide cases reported between 1 January 1948 and 31 December 1963. Of the 102 newspaper articles on 92 completed or attempted parricide incidents during this period, 14 involved a female offender. Qualitative content and narrative analysis were employed. Findings indicate that daughters-in-law killed their fathers and mothers-in-law during routine domestic conflicts and in premediated attacks in response to verbal and emotional abuse unique to Korean women’s post-marital residence patterns. The implications of women’s subordinated positions in hierarchically organized family systems and cultural ideologies about women and crime are discussed.