Female Perpetrators Research Articles

Is a knife the same as a plunger? Comparing the attentional effects of weapons and non-threatening unusual objects in dynamic scenes.

Observers' memory for a person's appearance can be compromised by the presence of a weapon, a phenomenon known as the weapon-focus effect (WFE). According to the unusual-item hypothesis, attention shifts from the perpetrator to the weapon because a weapon is an unusual object in many contexts. To test this assumption, we monitored participants' eye movements while they watched a mock-crime video. The video was presented with sound and featured a female perpetrator holding either a weapon, a non-threatening unusual object, or a neutral object. Contrary to the predictions of current theories, there were no significant differences in total viewing times for the three objects. For the perpetrator, total viewing time was reduced when she held the non-threatening unusual object, but not when she held the weapon. However, weapon presence led to an attentional shift from the perpetrator's face toward her body. Detailed time-course analyses revealed that the effects of object type were more pronounced during early scene viewing. Thus, our results do not support the idea of extended attentional shifts from the perpetrator toward the unusual objects, but instead suggest more complex attentional effects. Contrary to previous research, memory for the perpetrator's appearance was not affected by object type. Thus, there was no WFE. An additional online experiment using the same videos and methodology produced a WFE, but this effect disappeared when the videos were presented without sound.

Pola Komunikasi Keluarga dalam Penerimaan Diri Perempuan dengan Kehamilan Tidak Diinginkan

The facts show that Self-Acceptance of Unwanted Pregnancy occurs a lot, especially because sexual relations are increasingly considered normalized by today's teenagers. Among the factors that encourage unwanted pregnancies to occur is communication between the couple and their environment. Therefore, this research aims to determine the Communication Patterns in the Family and Environment in Self-Acceptance of Unwanted Pregnancy Decisions in Premarital Relationships. This research is qualitative research with a phenomological approach. As informants for this research were 3 people who were perpetrators of unwanted pregnancies, 1 person from the perpetrator's family, and 1 child and adolescent psychology counselor in the city of Bandung. The results of the research state that in making decisions in conditions of Unwanted Pregnancy, everything happens in conditions that can cause good or bad thinking. The communication that occurs starts from the woman's side to ask her partner for responsibility and then tells the woman's family. So in this action, there were several different responses that the female perpetrators received from their partners. So with the differences in responses that occur, in the end the decisions and conditions that occur are also different.

A survey on the reasons why victims of stalking did not exhibit help-seeking behavior: a text-mining analysis.

Stalking can escalate into violent acts such as threatening and inflicting physical harm, posing a serious threat to personal safety. To prevent exacerbating stalking victimization, victims must seek help and report incidents to the police or relevant authorities. However, victims, in general, underreport these incidents to public institutions. Moreover, there is insufficient understanding of why victims of stalking, especially men, refrain from seeking help. Therefore, this study used text mining to explore the reasons victims of stalking in Japan do not seek help while considering the severity of victimization and analyzing data separately for men and women. Among 908 Japanese individuals who reported experiencing repeated stalking behavior from a former intimate partner in the past five years, 253 men and 321 women who did not consult public authorities were included in this study. Participants provided their experiences of being stalked by former romantic partners and were classified into stalking-only, threatened, and physical aggression victim groups based on their self-reported experiences in an online survey. Reasons for not seeking help were collected through open-ended questions and analyzed using text mining. A co-occurrence network analysis revealed that among men in the threatened victim group, the reason for not seeking help was the belief that their complaints would not be taken seriously. The physical aggression victim group did not seek help due to the perception that a female perpetrator does not pose a danger. Among women in the physical aggression victim group, concerns about provoking the perpetrator or worsening the situation by seeking help, as well as feelings of embarrassment, were reasons for not seeking assistance. The identification of gender stereotype-related reasons among male victims was a valuable insight that could only be obtained through comparison with female victims. However, the study was limited to addressing the individual characteristics of the cases, thus providing only hypothetical insights into general trends. In future research, it will be necessary to generate hypotheses from the findings of this study and accumulate hypothesis-testing research to develop effective strategies for promoting help-seeking behavior among stalking victims.

An analysis of 105 female-perpetrated mass murders.

Most research on mass murderers to date has focused on perpetrators of male sex, while research on perpetrators of female sex has been relegated to case reports and series. We aimed to more fully examine the phenomenon of female-perpetrated mass murder. We analyzed 1715 worldwide incidents of personal-cause mass murder from 1900 to 2019, identifying 105 (6%) events perpetrated by females. We defined mass murder as any event involving at least three fatalities, not including the perpetrator, using any method. We identified cases of mass murder from English-language databases of mass murder or murder in print or online. There were no significant differences in age and race between female and male perpetrators. Relative to males, female perpetrators were significantly less likely to employ firearms in their mass murders, using them in less than half of cases, compared to over 70% for males. The prevalence of psychotic signs and symptoms among female mass murderers was more than double that among males (25.7% vs. 12.5%, p < 0.01), while the rate of nonpsychotic psychiatric or neurological conditions was also much greater among female perpetrators (29.5% vs. 17.1%, p < 0.01). Over half of female perpetrators took or attempted to take their own lives. More than three-quarters of mass murders by females involved at least one family member as a victim. This study underscores sex-specific differences in the perpetration of mass murder and the need for further research to understand how insights about such dynamics might lead to the development of more effective and informed intervention policies.

Patterns in paternal and maternal filicide: A comparative analysis of filicide cases in Turkey.

Filicide is the act of a parent killing their own offspring. Previous studies indicate that there are both commonalities and distinctions between filicides committed by mothers and fathers. The main objective of this study was to compare maternal and paternal filicide with a major focus on clinical and sociodemographic features of perpetrators, incident details, and victims. Filicide cases were examined at the bedded unit of the Expertise Department of Observation of the Council of Forensic Medicine that were referred by the Turkish Ministry of Justice. A total of 51 perpetrators and 57 victims were analyzed from June 2014 to December 2023. The perpetrators were daily face-to-face interviews by psychiatry and forensic medicine physicians. There were significant differences in sociodemographic characteristics and psychiatric conditions between maternal and paternal cases. Female perpetrators tended to be younger, unemployed, mostly targeted younger victims and used asphyxiation to kill, whereas males tended to target older victims and utilized firearms. The most common primary cause of filicide in maternal cases was "unwanted pregnancy," whereas "spousal revenge" and "anger or impulsivity" were predominant in paternal filicides. All perpetrators who were not criminally responsible were mothers, mostly diagnosed with psychotic depression. Unwanted pregnancy, psychotic depression, and postpartum psychosis should be assessed when evaluating risk for mothers, especially for infanticide. The desire for revenge on a spouse, often seen with personality disorders, impulsivity and anger, access to firearms should be screened for risk of paternal filicide, particularly in older victims. Early recognition of these factors can help in implementing prevention strategies.

“We have to fight for our existence in the system”: exploring service providers’ experiences with male victims and female perpetrators of intimate partner violence

Purpose This study aims to investigate the experiences of service providers supporting male victims and female perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV). The study explored the drivers, methods and treatments of female-perpetrated IPV, the nature and impact of abuse towards male victims, the barriers and facilitators to service provision and the impact on the practitioners themselves. Design/methodology/approach The study used a qualitative approach, using reflexive thematic analysis to analyse semi-structured interviews with 13 experienced service providers. Findings Two overarching themes were identified: systemic issues in service provision, including challenges with multi-agency approaches, funding and availability of services and the impact on practitioners; and gender stereotypes, which created barriers to male victims' help-seeking and influenced the treatment of female perpetrators. Practical implications The findings suggest the need for a multi-level approach, addressing gendered inequalities in IPV policy and funding, implementing gender-inclusive, evidence-based and trauma-informed practices, and raising public and professional awareness to challenge the dominant “domestic violence stereotype”. Originality/value This study provides a detailed, in-depth exploration of the experiences of service providers supporting “non-typical” populations in IPV, revealing the complex, multi-faceted challenges they face within a system that is inherently designed to support female victims of male perpetrators.

Whom Would You Help? The Impact of Perpetrator and Victim Gender on Bystander Behavior During a Sexual Assault.

We examined the impact of perpetrator and victim gender on bystander helping choices and assault perceptions. Participants (32 females, 37 males) read about two simultaneously occurring sexual assaults, indicated which victim they would help, and gave their perceptions of the assaults. We used a within-participants design that fully manipulated the perpetrator and victim gender for both assaults. Results showed female victims of male perpetrators and male victims of female perpetrators were most and least likely to be chosen for help, respectively. Cognitive networks derived from open-ended responses provided insight into the rationale used by participants to make helping decisions in ways that differed by perpetrator and victim gender.

Dating Violence Victimization, Perpetration and Suicidality Among Adolescents

ABSTRACT Few studies have focused on evaluating the relationship between dating violence (DV) and suicide during the critical period of adolescence, particularly for transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth. The study examined the relationship between experiencing DV victimization and perpetration in the past 6 months and suicidality (ideation and attempts) among male, female, and TGD adolescents. This study used data from a longitudinal randomized trial examining the effectiveness of myPlan, a healthy relationship and safety planning app intervention for adolescents, to a control website. Data for this study was collected virtually, in which participants completed surveys through online platforms. A convenience sample was recruited through youth organizations and posting on online platforms including social media. N = 610 adolescents age 15–17 years, who resided in the U.S. experienced DV in the past 6 months, had access to a safe device, and were able to access online surveys were included in this study. The majority were female (63.8%) with (19.5%) TGD and 16.7% male. Nearly 22% of the sample identified as Hispanic/Latino and 61.0% as white. Participants completed an online survey consisting of measures of socio demographics, DV victimization and perpetration via the Conflict of Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory (CADRI), and suicidality. The primary outcome was the association between DV victimization and perpetration on suicidality. Different forms of DV were accounted for including emotional/relational, physical, and sexual DV. Logistic regressions determined differences in the rate of DV victimization and perpetration on suicidality between gender groups (cisgender female, cisgender male, and TGD). A stratified analysis was conducted to test if the relationship between DV and suicidality differed across gender identity. Approximately one-third (32.2%) of adolescents reported suicidality in the past 6 months. TGD adolescents were more likely to report suicidality compared to males (20.6%, p < .05) and females (32.7%, p > .05). The overall odds of suicidality increased as frequency of emotional/relational DV victimization (OR = 1.37, p < .001), physical DV victimization (OR = 1.59, p < .001) and sexual DV victimization (OR = 1.42, p < .001) increased. These relationships were not significant for DV perpetration. When stratifying findings by gender groups, all forms of DV victimization significantly increased the odds of suicidality for females as well as female perpetration of physical violence. For males, all forms of DV victimization and perpetration were associated with increased odds of suicidality, although not significant due to the smaller sample size. While DV victimization is associated with increased odds of suicidality for TGD, perpetration of DV is associated with decreased odds of suicidality, although not significant due to small sample size. The findings from this study provide further insight into experiences of DV and suicidality among gender diverse youth and can guide future interventions aimed at preventing DV and suicide among adolescents.

Strategies of Women’s Behaviour in Eighteenth-Century Courts (as Reflected in the Materials of the Investigative Chancellery)

This article analyses the main ways of acquittal and defence of women in Russian courts in the second quarter of the eighteenth century. Women’s experiences of the investigative and judicial process in eighteenth-century Russia have not been the subject of specific research in historiography, nor have the discursive practices of male and female investigators. The paper focuses on two main questions: Were the accused able to construct their own narratives and thus influence the course of the trial? Were the female perpetrators able to exploit the existing gender order and turn it to their advantage? The aim of this article is to examine what opportunities for self-defence the modern Russian legal system offered, what limitations it imposed, how sensitive it was to the gender of the accused, and how women on trial were able to influence the course of the trial. The study is based on a series of investigative materials produced by the Investigative Chancellery between 1730 and 1750. By analysing the speeches of the accused, their typology and comparing the information they contain with other testimonies, laws and judgements, it is possible to identify the main ways in which women were acquitted. The most common of these were “word and deed”, in the hope of being transferred to another institution or of delaying the sentence for the main offence; the inclusion of third parties in their testimony, referring to subornation or rape; false statements, including those concerning their social status; and the declaration of insanity. However, the only way of obtaining an acquittal that had any chance of success was for the accused to declare that she was pregnant. In general, the criminal process in modern Russia was structured in such a way that no strategies or tricks were taken into account. In the end, the only thing that mattered was the testimony of witnesses and the testimony of the accused under torture.

Konstrusi Media Tentang Perempuan Pelaku Kejahatan Predator Seksual Anak

This study seeks to reveal gender bias in the headline news of kompas.com concerning the case of a woman perpetrator of sexual crimes against 11 children in Jambi. The research utilizes Peter L. Berger's social construction theory, Erving Goffman's framing, and Pierre Bourdieu's symbolic violence. Employing Robert Entman's framing analysis model, the findings of this study uncover that the portrayal of women is divided into three constructs imbued with gender bias. Gender bias arises due to the practice of symbolic violence. First, the female perpetrator of sexual crimes is depicted as engaging in unseemly, reprehensible actions that contravene societal values and norms. Second, the woman's vital body becomes a newsworthy asset that is advantageous. Third, the news exhibits ambivalence; on one hand, it provides information on preventing sexual crimes, while on the other hand, it inadvertently offers a tutorial-like narrative on committing sexual offenses against children.

Assessing risk among women who perpetrate intimate partner abuse

ABSTRACT This paper presents a prospective evaluation of the predictive validity of three risk assessment instruments in a sample of Australian women identified by police as intimate partner abuse (IPA) perpetrators. Using a subsample from Spivak et al. (2020), 410 female IPA perpetrators were screened using the Victoria Police Screening Assessment for Family Violence Risk (VP-SAFvR) and evaluated alongside two samples of 60 and 229 female IPA perpetrators assessed using the Brief Spousal Assault Form for the Evaluation of Risk (B-SAFER) and a modified version of the Lethality Screen respectively. Of the three instruments, the VP-SAFvR possessed indicators of effective discrimination (i.e. sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve) and predictive validity (i.e. positive predictive value, negative predictive value) on general IPA recidivism and its intended outcome of family or intimate partner abuse. The B-SAFER risk judgement similarly predicted its intended outcome of physical IPA recidivism, with notable indicators of discrimination and predictive validity. The results of the Modified Lethality Screen were conversely mixed on measures of discrimination and prediction for its intended outcome of severe IPA. The current findings suggest that these instruments function consistently for women and men who are identified by police as perpetrating family or intimate partner abuse.

Teen dating violence: predictive role of sexism and the mediating role of empathy and assertiveness based on gender.

Despite efforts to prevent dating violence among adolescents, it remains a major problem with multiple negative consequences. Sexist beliefs, empathy, and assertiveness influence teen dating violence (TDV) with potential gender differences. (1) Determine gender disparities in TDV perpetration and victimization, including relational, verbal-emotional, and physical aspects, as well as roles; (2) Analyze gender variations in sexism, empathy, assertiveness, and their relationship with TDV; (3) Establish a predictive model of sexism in TDV with empathy and assertiveness as mediators for both genders. A sample of 862 secondary school students (50.2% females, 49.8% males; mean age: 14.1 years) from diverse regions in Spain participated. TDV was measured using the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory (CADRI) in a cross-sectional study. Sexism, empathy, and assertiveness were assessed using the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), and Assertiveness Inventory for Students Questionnaire (AISQ), respectively. Females exhibited higher TDV perpetration, specifically verbal-emotional TDV. Males showed more relational TDV and hostile sexism, while no benevolent sexism differences were observed. Mediation models demonstrated sexism, assertiveness, and empathy as individual predictors of TDV, with varying mediation effects. Personal distress partially mediates the link between sexism and TDV perpetration or victimization in males, while practical personal ability mediates between sexism and TDV perpetration in females. Sexism predicts both perpetration and victimization in TDV, linked to empathy and assertiveness. Notably, specific dimensions of empathy and assertiveness mediate the connection between sexism and TDV, displaying gender-specific patterns. Preventive measures should consider personal distress in male perpetrators/victims and practical personal ability in female perpetrators.

Professional Women as Perpetrators: A Conversation with Valérie, “Rwanda’s Voice of Death”

ABSTRACT The literature on women’s participation in genocide and related violence focuses on the actions of women who are either at the very top or at the very bottom of social hierarchies. Exceptional roles played by a select few elite women prosecuted at international criminal tribunals have been recognized. Scholars have also examined the motivations of ordinary women who are swayed by ethnocentric scapegoating or commit violence out of fear and coercion, including social and economic incentives. In-depth analyses of female perpetrators in the professionals category who, along with men in that category, serve as bridgemakers between commoners and leaders are scarce. With the exception of nurses, teachers, and secretaries involved in the Holocaust, the professionals category is gravely understudied in scholarship on perpetrators. This article begins to rectify this gap by examining the case of Valérie Bemeriki who, as a journalist for the Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), promoted the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Valérie is a perpetrator who was intimately close to many Rwandans, including her victims, through the radio, yet she is simultaneously unfamiliar as her motivations have not been widely disclosed. The article provides an interpretive analysis of my interview with Valérie, radio transcripts of Valérie’s hate speech obtained by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and Rwandan and international newspapers and secondary source materials concerning Valérie. The findings suggest that perpetrators in the professionals category convey a contradictory experience in their motivations during the violence and their grievances in the aftermath. While Valérie minimized her agency in the genocidal machine, emphasizing structural constraints, she actively distinguished herself from powerless commoners, including Rwandan women living in a deeply patriarchal society. The article portrays Valérie as a strategic professional who hoped to excel by catering to powerful political figures.

A special type of homicide-suicide: A retrospective study of the characteristics of extended suicide

Extended suicide, a specific type of homicide-suicide event, has severe social consequences yet remains lacking systematic research. This retrospective study investigated 51 cases of extended suicide involving mental disorders in central China with aim of better understanding risk factors for such events and guiding prevention strategies. Over an 8-year period from 2015 to 2022, cases were collected from forensic institutions, and demographic characteristics, case details, and psychiatric data were recorded. The 51 incidents involved 51 perpetrators and 79 victims, with more female perpetrators (58.8%) and more female victims (54.4%). The average age of the perpetrators was 36.1, and most were married (88.2%). Almost all of the victims were family members of the perpetrator, like the most numerous children (64.6%), followed by spouses (24.1%). The most common homicide mode of death was mechanical asphyxia (38.0%), followed by sharp devices (36.7%) and drug poisoning (16.5%). Depressive disorders (76.5%) were the most common diagnosis of mental disorder for perpetrators. The study analyzed the unique characteristics of extended suicide to enrich such data. These findings help strengthen the screening and identification of potential perpetrators and victims to prevent such cases from occurring.

Female perpetrators in intimate partner violence: perverse safe havens

This article considers the often-neglected role of women as intimate partner terror-ists within relationships and explores the ways that female aggression is manifested through psychological as well as physical means of intimidation. Using anonymised clinical material, the author discusses the development of toxic dynamics within an intimate partnership, the pathways through which early traumatic experience creates later destructive re-enactments and how forensic psychotherapy can be undertaken successfully, highlighting the pitfalls. The role of animal cruelty in abusive intimate partner relationships is discussed, with reference to the link between animal abuse and domestic abuse. The function of these violent destructive dynamics to serve as “perverse safe havens” within couples and the wider family systems is outlined. These entrenched dynamics maintain dysfunctional and abusive relation-ships but the harm they inflict is manifold and when breaking point is reached, foren-sic psychotherapy can enable essential changes to occur, as the clinical example demonstrates.

Homicide and Mental Disorders—Perpetrators’ Prior Contacts With Psychiatric Services

This study examines diagnosed mental health disorders among nearly 800 perpetrators of homicide in Sweden between 2005 and 2017. The analysis is based on information from in- and outpatient registers, which has been linked to crime data on homicide. The results show that four out of the 10 homicide perpetrators had been in contact with psychiatric services during the year prior to the crime. It is about seven times more common for a perpetrator of homicide, irrespective of sex, to have been in contact with psychiatric services during the year prior to the crime than it is for someone in the general population to have such contacts in the course of a calendar year. The prevalence of different psychiatric disorders among homicide perpetrators follows the same pattern as that observed in the general population although at higher levels. In both populations, substance abuse, depression, and anxiety disorders dominate. However, the overrepresentation of substance abuse—especially multi-substance abuse—and personality disorders is particularly high among the perpetrators. Perpetrators of family-related homicide had particularly frequent contacts with psychiatric services prior to the crime. Female perpetrators had been treated for psychiatric disorders more often than men, which may reflect not only actual differences in levels of psychiatric ill-health but also differences in the propensity to seek treatment.

Perceptions of the freezing response of male and female rape victims, and the moderating role of rape myth beliefs

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate whether indicating victims of sexual attacks actively resisted their attacker or froze during their assault affected perceptions of victim blame, perpetrator blame and seriousness of the crime. We also tested whether victim and perpetrator gender or participants’ rape myth endorsement moderated the outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThis study was a cross-sectional, vignette survey study with a 2 × 2 between-participants experimental design. Participants read a mock police report describing an alleged rape with a female or male victim who either resisted or froze, while perpetrator gender was adjusted heteronormatively.FindingsFreezing and male victims were blamed more than resisting and female victims. Perpetrators were blamed more when the victim resisted, but male and female perpetrators were blamed equally. Seriousness of the crime was higher for male perpetrators and when the victim resisted. Female, but not male, rape myth acceptance moderated the relationship between victim behaviour and outcome variables.Originality/valueThis study highlights the influence of expectations about victim behaviour on perceptions of rape victims and the pervasive influence of rape myths when evaluating female rape victims. The data is drawn from the German border region of the Netherlands, which is an especially valuable population given the evolving legal definitions of rape in both countries.

Who is killing South African men? A retrospective descriptive study of forensic and police investigations into male homicide

Not much is known about the perpetrators of male homicide in South Africa, which has rates seven times the global average. For the country’s first ever male homicide study we...

Study of the sociodemographic, clinical and criminological characteristics of Tunisian female offenders

IntroductionThe psychopathology of female crime perpetrators is not well understood since female criminality rates have remained distinctly lower than male criminality.This study draws on over 20 years of psychiatric expertises to identify sociodemographic, clinical, and forensic characteristics of female perpetrators.Objectives-To describe the epidemiological and clinical profile of female offenders examined for criminal psychiatric expertise.-Describe the criminological and forensic characteristics of these women. MethodsRetrospective and descriptive study, which focused on 56 criminal psychiatric expertise files of female offenders, examined at the psychiatric department “C” at the CHU Hedi Chaker in Sfax, Tunisia, over a period of 24 years.For each offender, we examined the expert report and the judicial research report. We then transcribed the socio-demographic and clinical information, as well as the criminological and forensic characteristics, onto a pre-established form.ResultsThe accused women in our study had an average age of 35 years and 06 months, and 67.86% of the cases were under 40 years of age, with an educational level no higher than primary school in 62.5% of cases. They were unemployed in 71.4% of cases. Among the accused examined, 76.8% had mental disorders, including 46.6% with personality disorders, 16.3% with intellectual disability, 16.3% with bipolar disorder, 9.3% with depressive disorder, 9.3% with psychotic disorder, and 2.3% with substance use disorder (anxiolytic). We recorded 55.4% offences against persons, including 37.5% homicides and attempted homicides, and 44.6% offences against property, including 23.2% thefts. Dementia in the legal sense was identified in 30.4% of cases. Bipolar disorder accounted for 41.1% of legally demented subjects.Conclusions It emerges that the profile of the female criminal is that of a woman under 40, with a low educational and economic level, and most often with an antisocial personality or intellectual disability. It would therefore be important to step up primary prevention work by better educating these at-risk women and to combat the factors contributing to dangerousness among the mentally ill by optimizing their psychiatric care.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Women Bearing Arms: Committing Armed Robbery in Hungary

The crimes of armed robbery and robbery with a deadly weapon have always been the most pervasive, harmful crime against property in Hungary and are mostly associated with male perpetrators since. However, there are also female perpetra­tors committing the crimes of armed robbery or robbery committed with a deadly weapon. Despite the availability of the judicial decisions in the public judicial database, the characteristics of these female perpetrators – including their motiva­tions and the judicial procedures – have never been analysed. This paper will look into how female perpetrators mostly act together with male perpetrators and mostly motivated by financial difficulties. The females in question are almost exclusively adults outside of a domestic relationship and are not parents. They typically have a low­level education, and as a result have lower­paying blue­collar jobs.