Forms Of Homicide Research Articles

Masculinities, Intimate Femicide and The Death Penalty in Australia, 1890-1920

Studies of intimatefemicide typically frame men as problems—the men who are violent towardfemale intimates, and those who fail to treat their violence seriously. Such an analytical approach evokes the question: why do men sometimes punish other men, particularly in periods when men alone served as jurors, judges, and legislators ? Based on a study of 64 capital convictions in New South Wales, Australia, between 1890 and 1920, this paper examines how the prosecution and punishment of femicide delineated hierarchies of masculinity, between the power-holding males, who evaluated criminal acts, and the men they convicted: cuckolds, spurned suitors, brutes and menaces to society. Thus it provides a fully gendered account of intimate femicide, one that takes selective masculine punitiveness as seriously as it analyses masculine mercifulness. Thanks to a generation of feminist scholarship and activism, the inadequacy of the criminal justice system to protect women from lethal domestic violence has become undeniable (Dobash and Dobash 1992; Hilton 1993). When radical feminists called this crime 'intimate femicide' they diverted attention away from the spectre of 'stranger danger' and raised public awareness of the hidden nature of private violence. From a variety of disciplinary and political perspectives scholars have confirmed that this form of homicide tends to be punished less often and less severely than other forms of lethal violence, even when attacks are characterized by premeditation and viciousness (Stout 1993; Radford and Russell 1992). Feminist psychologists report predictable emotional patterns of despondency, jealousy and possessiveness in men who kill 'their' women, and criminologists have shown that courts tend to consider those same characteristics as mitigating rather than aggravating factors (Radford and Stanko 1994; Walker 1999; Felson and Messner 2000). Elizabeth Rappaport has labelled prosecutors', jurors' and judges' inclination to spare femicidal killers from the criminal law's stiffest penalties as the 'domestic discount'. As she documented in her studies of recent US death penalty cases, men convicted for killing wives or girlfriends are significantly less likely to receive the death penalty than are male murderers of strangers or acquaintances (Rappaport 1994:227). A 'domestic discount' also operated in turn-of-the-century Australia, where execution rates for men convicted of femicide and attempted femicide (both offences capital crimes in the period) were significantly lower than they were for men convicted of other capital offences. From the vantage point of contemporary feminist critiques of sexist justice these findings seem unsurprising. After all, men alone served on juries, qualified as lawyers, presided as judges, and sat in the state and federal legislatures in the period. Yet men did punish other men for acts of femicidal violence. Male legal actors in this overtly masculinist criminal justice context periodically condemned defendants who

Children and homicide.

Child homicide is as old as human history. It can be classified into intra- and extra familial child homicide. Different forms of homicide are discussed, and research findings show that in the age group 0-3 years the majority of cases were within the family. After age 12 years, it is primarily extra familial. With increased age of the child the phenomenon of child perpetrators is seen to be manifested in school homicide and juvenile crime. Risk factors are mentioned and pediatricians and family physicians should be aware of these in order to try preventive measures.

When does a worker's death become murder?

During the past 2 decades, a growing number of manslaughter and even murder charges have been brought against employers in cases involving the death of workers on the job. In this commentary, the author reviews some of these recent cases and looks at other periods in American history when workers' deaths were considered a form of homicide. He examines the social forces that shape how we define a worker's death: as an accidental, chance occurrence for which no individual is responsible, or as a predictable result of gross indifference to human life for which management bears criminal responsibility. He asks whether there is a parallel between the conditions of 19th-century laissez-faire capitalism that led to popular movements promoting workplace safety and the move in recent decades toward deregulation and fewer restraints on industry that has led state and local prosecutors to criminalize some workplace accidents. Despite an increased federal presence, the activities of state and local district attorneys perhaps signal a redefinition of the popular understanding of employers' responsibility in maintaining a safe workplace.

The psychology of suicide-murder and the death penalty

To understand the dynamics of individuals who seek or are attracted to the death penalty as a form of suicide, one must first probe the dynamics of a related matter, the so-called murder-suicide syndrome. Following a review of the literature on murderers who killed themselves shortly after committing murder, a sketch of twenty-two cases of murderers in the United States who killed in hopes of getting themselves executed, is provided. In recognition of the primacy of suicide in some forms of homicide, the term suicide-murder is used instead of murder-suicide.

Taking Fear of Crime Seriously: The Tasmanian Approach to Community Crime Prevention

Despite having little serious crime in the form of homicide or sexual assault, the state of Tasmania in Australia has enough crime in terms of assault, burglary, and public order offenses to generate a reasonably high level of fear of crime. The Tasmanian government has embarked upon a novel attempt to address simultaneously both crime and fear of crime through a strategy of crime prevention that focuses on a combination of restorative justice and community enhancement. This positive, developmental approach to crime prevention is fundamentally integrative and stands in sharp contrast to the punishment-oriented policies currently popular in many American jurisdictions. Unlike the Tasmanian proposals, approaches such as “three strikes and you're out” leave the fear of crime problem unresolved, leading to a continuous upward spiral of punitiveness.

Observations on stranger homicide

Through the use of qualitative, case study data for all homicides ( N = 121) reported to the Office of the Coroner in Victoria, Australia for 1985 and 1986, observations were made on the role of “stranger killings” in the study of homicide. It was found that when the dynamics of the relationship between the offender and the victim were classified in terms of the nature of the on-going social interaction, there was no need to retain a category of “stranger homicide.” Most of what are classified elsewhere as stranger killings are either events that result from masculine confrontations (which start as fights) or consequences of other crimes (such as armed robbery). It is suggested that what have been considered stranger homicides can be shown to include several different forms of homicide and that, further, some forms of homicide, such as confrontational killings, must be classified as including two types (stranger and nonstranger) if it is necessary to preserve the term “stranger homicide.” Finally, it is suggested that the concept “stranger” itself might divert attention from the actual social dynamics that bring offenders and victims together in scenes where homicides take place.

Neonaticide and Hysterical Denial of Pregnancy

A case illustrating the association between neonaticide and denial of pregnancy is reported. Neonaticide may be a relatively common form of homicide. In some cases it could be preventable, providing the physician responsible for antenatal care is alert.

A COMPARISON OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY HOMICIDES IN THE UNITED STATES

In 1979, over 20,000 people in the United States were victims of homicide, but public health agencies have not yet defined their role in its prevention. Role definition might begin with differentiating various forms of homicide, so the authors used data on all homicides reported by law enforcement agencies for 1976-1979 to determine whether homicides that did not occur during the perpetration of another crime (primary homicides) differ from those that occurred during the perpetration of another crime (secondary homicides). Primary and secondary homicide rates were highest in the South and West, respectively. The relative risk for Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) compared with non-SMSAs was 2.4 for secondary homicide but only 1.3 for primary homicide. It was found that 17% of primary homicides and 3% of secondary homicides had a female offender. Primary homicides were more frequently intersexual and intraracial than were secondary homicides. Victim and offender ages were similar to one another in primary homicides and dissimilar in secondary ones. Over 75% of primary homicides involved family members or acquaintances, compared to only 24% of secondary homicides. The authors conclude that primary and secondary homicides are epidemiologically dissimilar, and they suggest that public health concern should focus on primary homicide. Prevention and intervention measures should concentrate on discussed target populations. Techniques might include stress reduction and conflict avoidance.

The legal basis for the prohibition on abortion in Jewish law.

One of the main issues in almost every treatment of abortion in Jewish Law is the legal basis for its prohibition. The recent trend in Rabbinic literature to categorise abortion as a form of homicide, proscribed by Biblical law, seems to constitute a break with the classical Rabbinic view, according to which abortion is neither homicide, nor directly prohibited in the major literary sources of Jewish Law, i.e. the Bible and the Talmud. Moreover, in the few instances in which abortion is discussed in these sources, it would seem that no such prohibition exists.This article will analyse the Biblical and Talmudic passages which deal with abortion, and survey the various Rabbinic opinions as to the legal basis for its prohibition. Particular attention will be paid to the argument that abortion is a biblically-proscribed form of homicide, and to the reasons which may underlie the adoption of that argument by a number of authorities in recent times. We will also analyse the significance in Jewish Law of the stages of foetal development.Our analysis will be both historical and normative, and in this context it will be a valuable exercise to compare the position in Jewish Law to that in the Canon Law of the Church of Rome. Although the Church Fathers held that abortion was a form of homicide, and the contemporary position of the Catholic Church reflects this attitude strictly and unswervingly, the Medieval Canonists adopted the distinction between the formed and the unformed foetus, based on a tradition derived from the Septuagint version of the Biblical passage dealing with the consequences of striking a pregnant woman (Ex. 21:22–23).

The Conscious Acceptance of Guilt in the Necessary Murder

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Conscious Acceptance of Guilt in the Necessary MurderPhilip E. DevinePhilip E. Devine Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Ethics Volume 89, Number 3Apr., 1979 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/292111 Views: 3Total views on this site Citations: 3Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1979 University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article: Larry Alexander Pursuing the Good-Indirectly, Ethics 95, no.22 (Oct 2015): 315–332.https://doi.org/10.1086/292633Anne Stubbs The Pros and Cons of Consequentialism, Philosophy 56, no.218218 (Jan 2009): 497–516.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031819100050543Philip E. Devine Homicide Revisited, Philosophy 55, no.213213 (Jan 2009): 329–347.https://doi.org/10.1017/S003181910004924X

Assassination in Laos. Its psychosocial dimensions.

Ten cases of assassination in Laos were extensively researched using standard anthropological field techniques. These cases could be readily classified into three groups: criminal recidivism, dyssocial behavior (witchcraft), and abuse of power by nonelected officials. In addition to the differences among the three categories, there were also certain functional similarities among them. Behavior of the victims in all three groups had been deviant in regard to the community's norms, and it was deviant in such a way that it threatened community well-being in a major way. Assassination also served as a negative sanction to reinforce deference and amiability in interpersonal relations. In addition, it provided a problem-solving function when other means were not available for social problem resolution. Assassination in Laos was compared to political homicide in the United States. In many respects, the former resembled the classic vigilantism of the American frontier, wherein extralegal execution was infrequently required for community survival. Presidential assassination appeared to have evolved from neovigilantism, a form of homicide with personal, ethnic, religious, and political overtones.

A comparison of amok and other homicide in Laos.

Past studies of amok have focused on the psychopathology of incarcerated survivors; this study, which compares amok with other forms of homicide in Laos, emphasizes social factors as well. Results indicate that objective criteria can be developed for amok and that certain social variables concerning the homicidal person also distinguish between amok and other homicide. However, psychological characteristics prior to amok did not vary significantly for the two groups.

Homicidal deaths in infants and children

H o ra I c i D E generally is not regarded as an important cause of death in the pediatric age group. Yet 349 children under 15 years of age died in this way in 1957 in the United States and 426 more between 15 and 19 years of age were murdered. Of special interest are the deaths during the first year of life. In 1957, the last year for which data are available, 127 infants lost their lives by homicidal violence. Forty per cent of these perished during the first day of life and more than half during the first 28 days. In the United States infanticide is defined as slaying of the newborn infant immediately after birth, up to the moment when the birth is recorded2 There were 51 such deaths in 1957. Included in this category are babies found in trash cans, public toilets, parcel rooms, railway waiting rooms, and the like. Deaths for medical purposes, as in the case of craniotomy for hydrocephalus, are not included. Infanticide is classified as a form of homicide and has the same legal implications. The most frequent method of infanticide is some variety of asphyxiation. Stab wounds through the fontanel, the heart, or the neck, and fractures of the skull, as a result of re-

ABORTION OR FETICIDE VS. HOMICIDE

To the Editor:— I thank you for your fair review of my book The Law Against Abortion (The Journal, January 6, p. 71). You have let me off rather easily. Of course, I did not expect the reviewer ofThe Journalto agree with my views. There are some points, however, in the review on which I should like to be permitted to offer some comments. Your reviewer places feticide, infanticide and homicide on exactly the same level. Why he would tolerate feticide and forbid infanticide and other forms of homicide is not apparent. he writes. May I remind your readers that when I initiated the propaganda for birth control thirty years ago, the same thing exactly was said about the prevention of conception that is now being said about abortion. Many physicians at that time and some physicians even now place prevenception on exactly the same level as murder.